vintage 4v comp B&H euphoniums


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Posted by js on December 13, 2002 at 10:38:09:

Old Boosey / Boosey & Hawkes 4-V compensating euphoniums are remarkable instruments, and even the very old ones with the little 10" bell flairs still have a large bore and a "full" euphonium sound. Here are the main two points of concern, if you're looking on auction sites, etc.

1/ Quite a few - surprisingly many - of these old instruments, particularly the ones with 10" bells and floral engraving, are "HIGH PITCH". This means that they are waaaay sharp and can't be played in modern ensembles without a long main tuning slide alteration or some more nicely-done addition of length to A=440. Rarely does anyone bother to lengthen the valve slides on these also, but I'm not sure that going to that extent is absolutely necessary to have a playable instrument.

2/ Many of these that I've seen have pistons with copper surfaces. Copper is very soft, and combining the age with soft copper pistons and old (of course almost-as-soft) brass casings, the majority of these instruments are in desperate need of valve rebuilding. If the finish on an instrument is nice, one might as well "forget" the nice finish because proper valve rebuilding requires that the 1-2-3 cluster and the 4 "isolated" glob be completely unsoldered from the instrument for rebuilding. Further, the #1 and #3 slide assemblies must be removed from the 1-2-3 cluster as they extend below the bottoms of the casings and are in the way of the machinist who must re-hone the casings prior to building up and refitting the pistons. Of course, this extensive unsoldering/resoldering is usually ruinous (except when the repairman gets very "lucky") to the lacquer or silver finish, so these instruments, regardless of the condition of the finish, should be looked upon as "needing refinishing" if the valves need rebuilding and one requires a handsome instrument.

A complete unsoldering and valve rebuilding on this type of instrument will cost the consumer no less than $500 by anyone's estimate, and relacquering (assuming no dents) no less than $400 more or resilvering no less than $600 more.

In other words, for complete valve rebuilding and refinishing of one of these instruments (assuming NO other problems) count on spending at least $1000 after you purchase the instrument.

If one has purchased one of those "high pitch" instruments, budget another $100 - $300 to bring it down to A=440, price depending on how nicely done and how inconspicuous. Of course, dent removal, crack repairs, part replacement, special problems, etc., could easily mount up several more hundred dollars of expenses.
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Repairmen or those owners who have gone through this please comment if there's disagreement, but I thought this a helpful brief set of guidelines.

Vintage "Imperial" 4V comps are wonderful instruments with a noble sound and remarkably straight intonation. With the right acquisition price, all of this "pain" (provided an available and competent repair person) may be worth it.


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