Among the most obvious things that needed to be fixed were the bell, the second valve slide, and the valves:
Matt worked from the inside out, in order to always have a reference point. Here is how the work began, using bean bag chairs to cushion the instrument:
So far, so good! Matt seemed encouraged!
The bottom bow, it turns out, weighs almost 18 pounds - and makes a nice fashion accessory, as Steve Dillon discovered:
But alas, the stylish belt buckle was returned to the bottom of the horn:
Now, about that very messed up bell - it started with a mild annealing process, to soften the brass as it was burnished and rolled out:
It continued with a modified rig to roll the bell:
Finally, Matt added a little hand burnishing:
Thank God, the bell survived all of that manipulation - and Steve didn't miss the opportunity to preach it with style!
After polishing it up, the bell went back on:
And then Matt added a few final touches:
Oh, and one last thing - a new, proportionally correct mouthpiece was created!
And there you have it! Here is Matt and Steve with the newly restored Harvard Tuba!
And finally, here is the entire team that did the work - from left to right, Fred Harvey, Evan Judson, Matt Walters (hiding behind the horn), Vladimir Friedman (who created the mouthpiece), Steve Dillon, and Perry Sutton:
This amazing instrument was then carefully hauled back up to Harvard (those bean bag chairs came in handy again!), where it was put back in its corner of the band room (the following photos are courtesy of Mark Olson, director of the Harvard Band):
It now awaits its new display case, and the opportunity to be played in concert for the first time in October, in celebration of the Band's 100th anniversary.
The full story of this horn's glorious restoration will appear in an upcoming edition of The Brass Herald, written by yours truly.
