TubaForum.net

In a few days, I'll be picking up my new F tuba, pictured below:

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This is an older Willson 3200, before the whole XS/XL were introduced, and before that small compact model came out. I believe it's quite similar to the Kurath that Elephant is working on, just with some updates. This is just one of several photos from the current owner. I'll take more on Saturday when I get it.

Today, I just paid Willi Kurath for a new thumb ring, if you remember, I was trying to decide what I was going to do about that, and decided to just go with OEM. I was sort of holding off until I had a solidified pickup date for the horn as I didn't want to just blow a bunch of money for a horn I don't have yet. Hopefully it gets here soon-ish! I have an Easter gig coming up that I'd love to play on this tuba. My MRP will be much too big for an 8-person ensemble.

The price was 102 CHF for the ring and another 28 CHF for shipping/PayPal fees. So, figure about $140 USD. I don't really know if that's expensive or not. My ignorance tells me that for a little ring for a tuba that's a lot of money. But, I know it's going to be extremely well-made, and I'm happy to support any tuba maker in any way I can. The other side of me says, well, that's what these things cost! I'm okay with it. Willi was extremely friendly and easy to deal with, and I thank the fact that he's willing to supply parts for ALL models, not just the ones currently available! In fact, I think they might have had to custom-make this part, in which case the price is more than fair to me.

Anyway, that's my ramble for today. I look forward to writing another more formal review about this tuba as I get to know it, and share the full story of how I found it and the buying process, etc.

I hope you enjoy!

Bravo and congratulations, sir!

Those things are powerhouses.
They require some power to play them, but - with an adequate carburetor - those things WILL do some rpms and generate some torque !

You will have fun !

bloke "notice: no football analogies"

Next time down if I can make room I’ll bring my 3400 and we can do some duets if you pick some easy ones for me.

I don’t know if I would pay that for thumb ring, but I would be OK with charging that for one.

bloke wrote: ↑Thu Mar 31, 2022 6:13 pm I don’t know if I would pay that for thumb ring, but I would be OK with charging that for one.

That’s my initial thought. Wow, that’s a lot of money for a little thumb ring. Admittedly this is the first part I’ve ever bought and I’m new to this!

Regardless, I was going to buy it anyway so why not make it sooner rather than later? I hate not having a thumb ring so I’m happy I bought it regardless

The thumb ring I bought from Willson wasn't cheap either. Plus, I had to pay both shipping AND handling.

bort2.0 wrote: ↑Thu Mar 31, 2022 7:53 pm The thumb ring I bought from Willson wasn't cheap either. Plus, I had to pay both shipping AND handling.

How long did it take to get here? More so curious than anything, although I never like paying for something and waiting several months for it to arrive. My impression was that he has it in stock now, though so I won’t be waiting for it to show up.

I don't remember... A few weeks? Not too long. Emailing Willi to get the parts was a several month adventure though.

Terrific! We always enjoy the "show and tell" portion of TubaForum.net. Enjoy that great horn when it arrives!

JRaymo wrote: ↑Thu Mar 31, 2022 6:09 pm Next time down if I can make room I’ll bring my 3400 and we can do some duets if you pick some easy ones for me.

I missed the original posters identity. My bad.

Picking up the horn today. Very excited! I will update this post late tonight when I get home!

I've played the horn for about 20 minutes. Great player!

Badly needs a cleaning. Everything is really clanky, especially the fifth linkage. It works fine, it's just noisy. I will probably clean it to the best of my ability in my tub. There is also a whole lot of dog hair all over the case and the tuba. Does anybody have suggestions on how to clean a cordura Cronkhite bag?

The felts on the pistons are way past their prime and are pretty much hard as a rock now, so they're loud.

This tuba has some parts that *may* need to be patched, I'm seeing some pink on the second slide crook that could be rotted. I'll deal with that when I get it cleaned. The horn plays in tune, there's no leaks, but it's definitely seen use. Oh well. For what I paid for it, not a problem.

Some photos below. I will share about my trip later today. It's lunch time!

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Looks like a great user! Congrats!!

It should clean up quickly and nicely, and you'll be all set.

(PS... I always hope to sell my instruments in the cleanest and best condition possible, and hope that others do the same. Sorry for the extra surprises you had there. Leather gig bags are great for pet hair prevention!)

Okay, I’ve spent some more time with the horn. Here are my first impressions:

It needs a cleaning. Bad. It’s going in Tuesday. The valve springs are *so* heavy that it’s hurting my hand to play for extended time periods. I’ve ordered Yamaha springs to solve that problem.

And again the valves are super loud. There’s some bell dings I want taken out as well, and we’ll discuss if I need a patch on that second slide crook or not. If it can wait, it will wait. I’m not looking to spend another $800 on this thing right now. Maybe after a few more paychecks. I’m more concerned with the loudness being taken care of.

The horn itself is pretty heavy. Not as heavy as their big horns, but it’s pretty comparable to a small CC in weight, I think.

I want my thumb ring to come in. I hate not having a thumb ring.

Playability is really quite good. No trouble down low, which is what I wanted. Low C has zero issues. Up high isn’t nearly as challenging as I thought it might be. It’s no Symphonie, but I’d rather have a horn that has a good low range than a euphonium-like high range. How often do I play up there anyway. Up until G above the staff is really good, and above that takes some work. I am fine with this.

I fall into the school of thought that I want my F tuba to be easy to play. I’m not looking to sound like a euphonium player. I have a euphonium for that. I wanted this to be my main gigging horn. As such, it needs to have a good mid and low register. I also want this to be the horn I teach with, whether it be on tuba or whatever other instrument. I am loving my new CC, but I don’t like carrying it around everywhere. Something physically smaller is good for me.

You might ask, why do I need a super nice and expensive CC tuba? Truth be told, I don’t. I don’t even really need an F tuba. As I finish my degree and become an educator, I really don’t need such nice tubas, much less two of them. However, I intend to return to school to pursue a performance master’s and I would love to do freelance and quintet work on the side. I just can’t afford that right out of undergrad and would rather teach for a while! I live in a pretty suburban area that makes this possible. Tuba is my first passion and I’m lucky to be able to have these nice instruments.

Anyway, pitch is also quite good. I wish the fourth slide was routed pointing up for that 5-2-3-4 low G. I don’t know why he designed it that way. Bottom line Bb is a little high, but first moves well and is vented. It’s not so high that I can’t lip it, either, so I may very well be lazy. The open F-C-A are all very good and closely in-tune. A works well open too! I’m using a Parker Titan that I got for a steal used with a Bloke #2 32.3mm rim that I’m really liking so far!

Future modifications?

This horn does actually have a rotax 5th valve. I wasn’t aware they were using that at this time. As bort has mentioned, it’s pretty clunky. Maybe I’ll have that cut into a normal rotor.

I’ve purchased some Yamaha springs for this tuba. They’ll either stay or go. Never used them in a front action horn, and, having switched to a rotary C, hadn’t thought about them until now. The springs in it now are what I assume to be stock, and seem to be made for the Hulk himself. Jokes aside, I think lighter springs will make a HUGE difference for me.

Re-routing the fourth slide wouldn’t be the worst idea in the world. I’m not convinced I even need to really pull that slide much, if at all, but it would certainly be nice to have that option.

As I mentioned, it might need some patches on the second and maybe third slide crooks. No holes, but it’s beginning. In due time, I’ll either have those patched or replaced altogether. I’d love to re-tube it in nickel like Elephant is doing. This will not happen for several years, in reality. The patches might happen sooner.

Lacquer is pretty patchy. I might consider stripping it off. In all the photos of lacquered Willson tubas I’ve seen, their lacquer just seems terrible! Wouldn’t it be cool to silver plate this after I do a whole bunch of extra future work to it? A buff probably wouldn’t hurt it due to how heavy it is… Again, wishful thinking. I’m in no financial position to do this anytime soon.

That’s all for now. I’m thinking of sharing about my trip to get it if anybody is interested in hearing about that and seeing some photos.

Where do you live? Wondering who might be local to handle these things for you. Congrats on the new tuba. Sorry it'll take a little more work to get it ready, but it will be worth it!

I’m near Chicago. I’m taking it to Keith Polito at Keith Polito Brass Repair. He did all the work for me on that Eb I owned briefly and did a stellar job. I used to take it to Dana Hofer, but Keith lives 10 minutes from my house and does great work and is able to handle any of my requests!

That's awesome!

Martin Wilk did the Rotax cutting, popped out the valves and mailed them to him to do his work. Worked great, but if you don't like the linkage, you'll need your person to change that, too.

I owned one of these for almost 20 years. I had some mods done that make it play more nimble, colorful, and still maintain the qualities I loved about the horn.

1) get a normal rotor in 5. Low register is still open, but stays even in/out of any combinations that use 5
2) reverse the main tuning slide right out of the valves. helps keep the horn more centered, responded quicker down low. I also had my MTS spit valve closed, cause i never got spit in there.
3) lift the leadpipe off the bell, adds color without losing the depth

FWIW, I used a Giddings DiCesare mouthpiece on it and loved it. Could do between quintet, solo, and orchestra with no issues.

best of luck with the horn

Tom, thank you so much for the modification list! I’ll add those to my own!

I’m VERY impressed by the playability of this tuba as it is. I do feel like I will be un-rotaxing that rotor fairly quickly. However, right now I’m quite happy! Pitch is really good as I mentioned with minimal slide pulling. I just spent some time playing whatever was in front of me and really thoroughly enjoy this tuba.