remarkably well-assembled frankentubas Holton E-flat and York 4/4 C

[bloke]

underpriced, in my view...

https://www.dillonmusic.com/used-holton ... 69205.html

https://www.dillonmusic.com/used-york-c ... 05703.html

[UncleBeer]

Is that a bread tie keeping the main slide on the CC from falling out?

[Kontrabasstuba]

I'm thinking to buy the Holton Eb.
Anyone tried the instrument yet?

[bloke]

I have a brake on my main slide, due to the alignment being perfect - and not wishing to screw it up simply so it won't fall out. So far - no one has ridiculed it...
... but do your best:





Isn't there some 6/4 handmade German C tuba which features a bunch of little black leather straps?
I guess they're cool, because they're not string.

I have a couple of videos of some Asian-made/NOT-the-lowest-priced tubas whereby - when slides are pulled out - they do a "tuning fork" thing. I've got them marked private, and I don't think I'll share them.

[Tubajug]

Is that a bread tie keeping the main slide on the CC from falling out?

That looks like the price tag to me.

[UncleBeer]

I have a brake on my main slide, due to the alignment being perfect - and not wishing to screw it up simply so it won't fall out.

Can't see the cord in your pic, Bloke.

I always thought the black factory cords looked a little...effete.

[bloke]

referring to these (not the brake lever on my own instrument)

bare.png (113.63 KiB) Viewed 1408 times

...and I agree that the string must be the price tag.

Recognizing the builder (from the quality of the build seen in the pics), "string on slides" is not one of their typical features.

[arpthark]

Are these Matt Walters builds?

[bloke]

Are these Matt Walters builds?

Matt does nice builds, but no, I'm certain they are not.

[aarongsmith]

Are these Matt Walters builds?

Those have some hallmarks of Martin Wilk's builds, but I'm not 100% certain. Martin really likes to make the leadpipe detachable from the valve body like on that York. A good example of something that we know was built by him is this little Conn that was listed for sale: viewtopic.php?p=82006&hilit=martin+wilk#p82006

[matt g]

I’m pretty sure Matt would’ve redone the first valve slide layout if they were his. Just a guess, but all of his builds (including mine) seem to have this feature likely so that the player has as much slide as possible to pull for low register stuff.

[bloke]

neither, and not me - LOL - but (again) assembled remarkably well

[Yorkboy]

Both of those horns seem to feature fixed-brazed downward facing knuckles into the port of the 1st valve. Maybe the builder didn’t want to cut them? The E flat appears to have a Conn 4J set, which has an exceptionally tight bend there. Cutting that one would be inviting trouble, as I see it. On the CC horn, I think if you made the 1st valve pull any longer it might not clear the bell.

With the aid of a properly set up 5th valve, those lengths look plenty long enough to me.

[bloke]

32-inch-tall York and Holton tubas - with the valve set mounted in the ideal position (considering both the hand position and the main tuning slide position - in regards to the chair seat or player's trousers - depending on the size of the player) - are going to limit the range of the first valve slide... so - of course - Yorkboy is right about the bell limiting the first valve slide range. It would be a mess without that lower loop. Even with that lower loop on my own Holton (a bit longer lower loop, since my instrument is a B-flat instrument), I've gone ahead and put a water key on the #1 slide UPPER bow, because it's still a nuisance to get that slide out, as it comes within about a quarter of an inch of the bell before it's freed. As can be seen in the picture (below) being a valveset from one of the early 2341 tubas (vs. 1241), the valveset features lead-soldered casing knuckles...so it would have been quite easy for me to rid the tuba of that lower loop (yet would have been a really dumb thing to do).

That having been said, I put a good bit of thought (likely, along the same lines/logic as the builder of the Dillon consignment instruments) into the overall #1 circuit length, as well as the maximum possible range of the upper #1 slide. After the instrument was built/playable, I found - a bit ironically - that I only need about an inch of that tuning range (with very little movement hovering above or below a 3/4-inch pull). Yet another thing I was going for - though - was a different/exceptionally comfortable way to manipulate the #1 slide. Notice the defined "D"-shape: I don't hold on to the slide. Rather I just stuck my entire hammy fist in from the back of the instrument, don't grasp anything, and move my entire hand to move that slide.


The upper #1 slide - in this position - is about 3/32" from the bell, and at the very cusp of being free from the instrument:

My build differs a good bit from most others (using this same-size contrabass frame: Holton/York 4/4) because I was having just a bit of fun - seeing just how skinny - front-to-back - I could make this instrument (as it was already so very short - top-to-bottom...the mouthpipe pass-through - between the #1 slide and the 4th bow - being no wider than the o.d. of the mouthpipe tube itself )...Besides very short front-to-rear bow braces, I even (as is seen) tossed the King top caps, and screwed on Olds O-99 caps - as that strategy dropped the forward extension of the valve stems by 1/8th of an inch. ' placing the entire 4th circuit over the small side of the bottom bow...?? That was not any sort of an original idea; I stole that one from the design engineers of the Miraphone model 98.
detachable braces? none
rotor body easily accessible for cleaning/maintenance? yes


Maybe (??) only those who've done quality builds should comment on the quality of a build - as well as the logic of it.
guessing who built it: Who built your B&S-made tuba: Frederick, or Johann...??...and did they built it the first day back from Oktoberfest...??

[Tubajug]

I like how neatly wrapped all the circuits are. Nothing sticking out, nothing odd. Very pleasing to the eye.

My Franken Eb has a Conn 12J with a fourth valve grafted on. The bore is also 0.656. It plays very nicely. I imagine this one plays just as well, if not better.

Eb:



CC:

[arpthark]

Very nice looking tubas!

[Sousaswag]

I notice a patch on that Holton’s main tuning slide. Probably nothing to be concerned about, but it’s there. Nice looking tubas.

[tubaing]

Were these put together by the guy who goes by "Victor Herbert" on Facebook?

[BenM]

I bought the Holton Eb in March. It's definitely very well assembled, and plays very nicely (much better than I can play it, but that's not saying much). From perusing the facebook frankentuba group, it seems that it was definitely made by "Victor Herbert": he posted a picture of this specific tuba, saying that he built it from a Holton bell, York branches, and Conn 4J valves.

Also, there's another very similar Eb tuba almost certainly from the same builder for sale at Dillon now: https://www.dillonmusic.com/used-king-c ... 71750.html.

-Ben

[catgrowlB]

^ Bloke posted that King monster 5v Eb in the main section.
If I had the money and need, I'd snap up that King. I have a soft spot for old American monster Eb tubas with at least 4 valves.

Made my own Franken Eb (Holton body, HN White/King 4-piston valveset, Inverted Yamaha mouthpipe) 8-ish years ago.
Have it in storage now, but it has an amazing response and beautiful, yet chunky colorful sound. Intonation is decent - above average. It isn't as pretty as the monster tubas here, though.
I like to use it on more casual quintet gigs.

My 5v silver Holton monster Eb is used much more frequently and on more 'serious' gigs. I've done a little work on it, but it was 'Dillonized' (by Matt Walters) about 25 years ago, including a custom added 5th valve and other previous work. It plays and sounds great and is perfect in chamber and quintet work.