The tuba whisperer works his magic!

Ironically, about a month after Steve Dillon shipped me an 1899 C. G. Conn American Model Monster BBb Bass from his shop, gifting it to me as a surprise (click here for that story), I took it right back there to meet with his "tuba whisperer," Matt Walters, to see if we could get this vintage beast playable again.

I was able to clean and polish the instrument (click here for that story), but the valves were a mess, and various joints needed soldering, and, well, I just wanted it to sound as good as it now looked! Here are a few photos from my wonderful morning with this dear friend at Dillon Music:

While Matt allowed me to hang with him most of the morning, and consequently I got to hear much of his life story, I missed some of the work he did, as Steve and I took some time to catch up (he and I have collaborated on a number of historical tuba projects, and if you get us talking, it could go on for hours!).

Prior to my arrival, I had sent Matt a short list of what I thought could be done, at minimal cost, to get the horn playable again, but, my goodness, he went well beyond my list! After about three hours of outstanding work and life-giving conversation, he refused to let me pay him, saying that Steve wanted the work to be a gift as well. I was stunned - and gave Matt a big hug!

Here's what she looks like now - and she plays beautifully (for a 123-year-old, that is!):

Restoring the luster of my 1899 tuba

Here are are a few photos of the 1899 C. G. Conn American Model Monster BBb Bass that was graciously given to me a couple of weeks ago. To begin with, here is the transformation of the silver plating:

But let me chronicle the whole process . . . Here's how it arrived at our home, which was almost a complete surprise to me (a couple of dear friends had told me they were sending me a special gift, but I never imagined it would be a tuba!):

And yeah, there were a lot of foam pieces and tons of packing peanuts, along with miles of bubble wrap!

But here's what was inside (stand included, to my further surprise!):

While it was terribly dirty and tarnished, the engraving on the bell was incredible - including the name of the original owner, "Rev. Robert Fansler Killgore" (for his story, click here)!

Here's how the bell polished up:

But I'm getting ahead of myself again. The other notable detail on the horn, of course, was the serial number stamped on the second valve:

I first thought that 66235 put the date for the horn at 1898, but I now have the firm word of Peggy Banks, of the National Music Museum, and an expert on all things Conn, that the number places it squarely toward the end of 1899. So, 123 years old!

The first part of the cleaning and polishing process involved a thorough washing, and then a number of rounds of wiping down the silver with Tarn-X, and then rinsing the horn thoroughly, getting the finish this far:

But then I ran out of Tarn-X, as well as daylight, so the remainder of the work would have to wait. When the time and decent weather finally arrived, I continued with the Tarn-X wiping, until all of the nasty looking tarnish was gone. I then gently brushed the body with a baking soda and water paste, getting it this far:

The final step consisted of polishing the finish with a tarnish-inhibiting silver polish, and I ended up using Hagerty's, and here is the final result again:

The worst of the tarnish was in the valve cluster, which looked like this, even after I had washed the horn thoroughly:

And here it is now, minus the valves and slides, and I still need to work on them a bit:

Here's another side-by-side before-and-after shot:

And just for fun, and this was before the polishing, I placed this horn next to my long-time tuba, which is an F. Schmidt (= VMI, or B&S) 3301. It turns out that they are similar in size, with the vintage Conn being just a bit taller, but with a slightly smaller bell, and, of course, having one less valve:

Next up is seeing if I can get that old horn into reasonable playing shape. I've got an appointment with Matt Walters at Dillon Music to see what can be done - without spending too much money! Stay tuned!