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...remind me of most tuba player videos on Facebook.

Facebook would have been better without them, and so would the reputations of those who posted them.

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MiBrassFS wrote: Mon Apr 14, 2025 3:53 am The repair “groups” on fb with “professionals” are kinda entertaining (well, not exactly…). Like the rest of society, they seem to be mostly people taking swipes at each other.

I don’t see many (any?) repair videos in my limited fb feed.

Facebook doesn't see that as an interest of mine, so I guess what would be called their logarithm for me doesn't show me much of that stuff, but every once in awhile I stumble across it.

When I do see them, I see unnecessary tools being dragged out and a lot of mediocre results shown with a tremendous amount of pride.

I also see a good bit of unnecessary annealing. Yes, I have to do that more often than I'd like, but I limit it to when I just have to do it. Other times, I see people using a torch thinking they are annealing something and all they are doing is warming something up.

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I also avoid taking tuba bells (as well as bottom bows) off of tubas to straighten them out - unless I have to.

People need repairs. There's a lot of work. I don't need to create work within work.

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It's just that when I often see what people do, the extra steps they take, the unneeded tools they use, and how proud they are, I raise my eyebrows and scroll on.

If you think I'm talking about anything you posted. No, I'm not.

In regards to tools, there are all sorts of tools that have been created to simplify jobs and to speed them up, but there's also a body of tools that have been created that seem to have no purpose other than to sell something to some people who have never done the speciific job before.

We've all seen those tools, and some of them are even in the major suppliers catalogs.

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bloke wrote: Sun Apr 13, 2025 8:01 pm ...remind me of most tuba player videos on Facebook.

Facebook would have been better without them, and so would the reputations of those who posted them.

I can't live without my "Expert Village" tuba player videos on YouTube though.

OK...I knocked this one out today...(Mostly, I mowed until it got too hot outside, but I did this one after lunch...Mrs. bloke had to help with the sledgehammer...but here's an example of what I'm attempting to express...??)

The facebook "instrument repair" typical video "over here at BillyBob's Music, LLC" shows some loud-talking guy straightening out beginner trumpets and trombones...

not horns, not F-attachment trombones, not euphoniums, not tubas, not anything worth anything...

...and they tend to go with "prescribed techniques" rather than for "results".

(again: annealing and facebook videos)
"OK, this bell is really smashed, so we're going to anneal it...See? I can't make these creases budge on this trombone bell !!!"

(while bloke - clicking away or scrolling away - is thinking, "push harder, dude"...or "Why do you think you need that trumpet bell-shaped piece of steel? You're scratching the hell out of that trumpet." ...etc.)

Anyway...
Here's one of those crappy Taiwanese tubas.
The bell was all folded over on itself, the rim was all zigzag and a minimum of two inches down from where it was originally, the bottom bow was smushed in, and - well - these 3/4ish-7/8ish thingies are THICK brass.

We had to take the bow off (I hated to, because there are three one-piece braces attached to it), but - well... - I didn't even un-solder/re-solder their little rib...I just worked around it. No it's not perfect, but it's better than 90% of all school bottom bows (yes?), and (again) Mrs. bloke had to do the 3-lb. sledge thing on it...just as with the other one.

Notice the "sidewalk polish job" on the inside of the bell flare...but its (no, not "restored", but) REPAIRED.
The outside third slide tube (next to the outside of the tuba) was bent downward and cross-brace-dented from the end of the double-thickness portion down to the bottom...I did NOT take that off the instrument either, but straightened it and the inside slide tube slides all the way to the end - easily.

again: I'm a RESULTS person...To hell with "prescribed methods" (and maybe - ?? - I'm a bit that way with playing the tuba...??)

Hey...These scholars are ONLY going to tear these right back up again...




' see those little braces that brace the inner bows to the bottom bow ferrules?
I freakin' HATE those annoying-@$$ braces. They waste my time...

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Wow. Just had one of these "fed" to me on FB. That guy spends far too much time and money on his pointless vids of his very crappy work. It was hideous, and the presentation was such that it was as though he was screaming, "LET ME FIX YOUR STUFF! I'M THE BEST! IF YOU DON'T LOOK VERY HARD. AND IF YOU DON'T CARE ABOUT YOUR HORN!"

SV stinks. Never take your stuff to that shop, wherever it is. I did better patching work as a third-week apprentice than this guy. He must be self-taught and have never seen good repair work.

Yeah. Every once in awhile - when I get bored and start scrolling through reels - I encounter one of those...

... and they're not the only one, just fwiw.

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His "warming" the metal was hilarious. Then he stood there trying to force it over the mandrel before trying to open it up some on a rod…

omfg…

I'm dying…

BAHAHAHA!!!

I always hire a jazz trio to play over in the corner of the workroom when heating up bells with a hobby torch to temperatures that don't do anything...and using gadgety tools that I would never buy.

If he went to a school, I bet I know which one…

If he apprenticed, it was with a woodwind "specialist"…

I bet he is self-taught using Erick Brand, but not the text. Only the line drawings.

bloke wrote: Sat May 03, 2025 9:20 am I always hire a jazz trio to play over in the corner of the workroom when heating up bells with a hobby torch to temperatures that don't do anything, I'm using gadgety tools that I would never buy.

I usually use a tuba-euph quartet for that because they are always available…

I set up a special savings account, and put all the money that I've made playing tuba euphonium/quartet jobs in it.
It's a pretty amazing account that pays 21% per annum.
I've had the account for 50 years.

So far, it has grown to $0.00

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