B.B.B.

[bloke]

yup...the ol' Besson Ball Buster

weird, too tall, and (per typical) was smushed into the bottom bow about 1/4".

This tuba belongs to a very enthusiastic 5'3" lady tuba PLAYER.
I believe they are a recent military retiree, did NOT play tuba in the military, but own SEVERAL tubas.
This is a recent "bring"...(I've worked on some of their other instruments already.)
Apparently, they traveled the world in the military, and bought this satin silver 3-valve compensating Besson B-flat (great valves, NOT in really bad shape) at a pawn shop in London.
I'm supposed to remove dents, clean up the black off the silver, and clean out the inside.

She and I figured out that - if she duplicates my person-seat/tuba-rest (made from a cheap portable keyboard chair) that she will be able to play this tuba - once the smushed-into-the-bottom-bow ball is removed.

OK...I removed it. Mrs. bloke (rebound technique) helped me with a bunch of bottom bow dents (double-thick metal under the cap, and both layers are INDIVIDUALLY thick).

Afterwards, I burnished the bottom bow to smooth dents out better. and (rather than grinding off the ball and reinstalling the "football" flange) - since it is already double-thick - I'm just going to lead-solder and piece in a little 1 inch long piece of guard wire (to fill in the gap) and just let that football shape on the bottom be raw brass.

...I'm sort proud of the results of our dent removal efforts in this particular area - considered how caved in it was (from the ball-think pounding the floor over-and-over through several decades).

two-dimensional pictures, so you can't see how distorted/smushed-in the ball-thing (removed from the instrument) is, and nor can you really be able to tell how nicely I smoothed up the area in the cap (formerly under the ball and flange)...

[jtm]

And the ball was originally there so that ... you could spin the tuba on it as part of a dance routine?

[bloke]

And the ball was originally there so that ... you could spin the tuba on it as part of a dance routine?

Yes.

I'm told that it can become pretty addictive.

[Jperry1466]

I played one of these in high school and was about that height as a freshman. My solution was a cushion from an old slat-bottom rocking chair folded double, placed at the back of the chair where I sat and put the ball on the chair itself. Ya know, back when I could put a tuba between my legs on a chair... It was still a logistical nightmare, and my band director was not about to let me cut that ball off (they did cut it off several years after I graduated). I like your fix and wonder why Besson didn't build it that way to begin with.

[bloke]

I played one of these in high school and was about that height as a freshman. My solution was a cushion from an old slat-bottom rocking chair folded double, placed at the back of the chair where I sat and put the ball on the chair itself. Ya know, back when I could put a tuba between my legs on a chair... It was still a logistical nightmare, and my band director was not about to let me cut that ball off (they did cut it off several years after I graduated). I like your fix and wonder why Besson didn't build it that way to begin with.

Towards the end of the Edgware Road days, they were still putting that stupid football-shaped thing on there - but no brass ball. I'm just going to match that narrow rib, cut the ends on the bias, splice a piece in, and call it done.

There's other dent removal to do, but it's really not all that bad (the bell is in fine shape), and then I'm going to get some of that sulfur stinking stuff on a rag or a sponge, wear rubber gloves, and get the black off of the tuba.

Mrs. bloke (as can be seen) did some really good whacks with the 3 lb sledge, today. I would tell her to hit really hard or hard or medium or soft or a tap or a tap plus, and - every time - she did just what I asked.

I've got to play some Copland, some Gershwin, and some other stuff over in Tupelo, Mississippi this weekend, and the owner of this instrument (along a Sovereign euphonium that I'm also working on for them) lives only an hour south of there, so it would be nice to pick up a check for the concert as well as some money for these repairs on the same outing
(and - hopefully - also chat with a band director over that way about some big long-term deal we were discussing last summer).

My life is sort of random, but it beats having a job.

[tofu]

[

[BramJ]

I had a Willson TA-4 BBb (non comp) for a while that had a ball on the bottom bow. It was from late '90 or early '00

I always sat it on the chair and the height was correct for me, so never really had an issue with it. It was easy to spot which of the (wooden) chairs were used by the BBb players after a while

[bloke]

@tofu

I have a lot of respect for these 17-in bell or 24-in recording bell instruments. The sound is very nice, the potential amount of generated sound seems limitless - particularly with the recording bell, and the only problematic pitch and the whole range of the instrument seems to be the E-flat and the staff which is sharp... probably remedied by playing it with one and three.

I have a four valve compensating system (removed from another instrument) that I would like to transplant onto a 3-valve detachable bell instrument that's here, and the three valve body not only has a 24-in bell, but I also have a detachable 17 inch upright bill that I made for out of a genuine Besson male collar and an early manufactured Yamaha 201 bell, which I cut (and was purchased for a song, because part of the small end of the bell had already been cut off - for whatever reason - by someone).

This is the future project, but right now it's playable as a three valve compensating. I don't seek out 98° F outdoor band gigs, but when I do play outdoors in a band or orchestra - which I occasionally do, this tuba - with its 24-in recording bell - is the one that goes. I don't believe there's ever going to be a British style brass band formed around here in my lifetime, but I'm ready, and - as everyone on this site knows from my endless posts about moving from C to B flat again, I'm B flat acclimated, and have been able to read treble clef for several decades.

[bloke]

OK...
I believe I figured out why my customer got such a good deal on The Sovereign euphonium. After I gave it an acid bath, freed those two really badly stuck slides, and started play-testing it, everything that involved second valve on the compensating side of the horn hissed... so I'm making the assumption that it was a return, particurlarly considering the super high condition of the cosmetics. I'm pretty sure there's a leak in that loop on the back of the second valve casing, and I've got to find it before tomorrow night. I've got a couple of ideas about how to find it, one involves a light bulb in the second valve casing in a dark room, and the other involves cigarette smoke.

[Twoconnguy]

I’ve had success find leaks by plugging the bell with a round plastic bottle or jug with foam tape around it, and compressed air into the mouthpipe, regulated down to just a few psi, and spraying soapy water, watching for bubbles like checking for gas leaks.

[bloke]

That sounds like something else that could work, but my wife and I are a bit too lazy to pursue a tack such as that, I fear.

After about three minutes, we determined (smoke, followed up by her placing her ear near the smoke area) that the absurdly sloppy second valve slide was the culprit, so I expanded the longer inside slide tube. No more hissing.

She's always telling me that she's not sure that she can help, but then it's always her who ends up being the rock star.