OK...
Today, I'm trying to get this valveset in shape, so that it can be polished/lacquered.
Mrs. bloke has agreed to do the "ragging" (polishing of areas that the buffing machine cannot reach, as she has completed the university woodwind instruments, as well as some of the community college woodwind instruments).
This had a layer of ancient gold paint, a layer of grey primer, and (on the bottom) about half of a (obviously, re-lacquered at some point) coat of nitrocellulose clear lacquer...and thank goodness that we can still buy (real) paint stripper from industrial suppliers.
...so what you're looking at is the today-stripped valveset (with little bits of paint still in place, but the torch will easily dispense with them) and a chem clean job.
One of the three pistons was slightly "suck" so I fished through my box of Conn short-action stuff and found a nice replacement (no weird areas, and no sticking).
The ancient RE-lacquer job obviously involved a bunch of filing, sandpapering, and buffing on the lower mouthpipe tube, as it is (too thin) "toast".
These days, they are quite expensive, but I managed to find a thick/used one online (along with a new receiver, as the original was cracked below the tension slot), so I was able to economize there. The replacement lower mouthpipe only had a few small dents, which (duh) I removed prior to swapping it out with the crap-original.
Lately, I've had TWO opportunities to work with these Elkhart-vintage cast braces, which are such a pleasure to work with and so much stronger (as well as more flexible) compared to the new-era little-craftsmanship-required "arch" braces (which are easily torn away, with all sorts of other stuff - then - immediately trashed at the same moment the "arch" braces are defeated by young scholars.
There are still some things to address prior to handing this over to Mrs. bloke...5th branch dents are easy ones to remove, but - well - have not yet been removed. The lowest of the #3 upper return bows has a patch on it, so I'll be replacing that one with a good one. The upper #1 bow has a nice juicy dent in it. There are a few other dents, and the #3 outside slide tubes need both alignment and brace-resoldering.
The fiberglass body is "OK", but (in my view) repainted too many times, so I pull down a different 22K body (which looks to be either less or never repainted). These are VERY EARLY ORIGINAL ERA 22K bodies - with the FOURTH brace being parts of fiberglass body (and no part of the valveset (see pic, below).
If this is a boring thread, give it a thumbs down: (copy/paste)
and I'll abandon this thread.
Here's the trashed/removed oem lower mouthpipe tube (now in the recycled brass).
So far, here's the replacement (used/repaired) lower mouthpipe tube with oem cast braces reinstalled and new/old stock receiver.
ONE LAST THING ABOUT THE CAST LOWER MOUTHPIPE BRACES:
There are three distinct sets of these: (ie. different individual sets of shapes, and not compatible with the other two)
> OLD 38K, 32K, etc. (standard-action valves, with the slighter-style lower mouthpipe tilted very far to the player's left)
> SHORT-ACTION style...20K/22K
> Pan American and LATER 14K/36K style (standard-action valves, whereby the slighter-style lower mouthpipe tube did not tilt so very far to the player's left)
(me...?? In high school, I marched - and played indoors - a 36K fiberglass, and in kolij I played a 22K fiberglass. I played a King BRASS 30 lbs. sousaphone in 8th grade indoors/outdoors - too heavy for me, and I put it together incorrectly. I'm certain that it contributed greatly to cervical vertebra arthritis...but KIng are THE BEST-sounding, as well as THE BEST in tune.)
and I'll abandon this thread.
