Bach 50B2 diamond braces to bell: stress less!

[Wilco]

The two diamond braces have been refitted this week. Wiw what a difference!! They where put together way to tight, jammed between valve section and bell. Some material of the braces was removed to make it fit.

I contributed the dark, somewhat covered sound (not bad btw) to the L bell. I was very wrong. Sound is now very clear, rich and open. Best Bach I played up until now.

Do yourself a favour if you have a bach like this. I suspect many have these two braces put together way to tight.

[SwissTbone]

Nice!

[hornbuilder]

It isn't just the braces....

[Wilco]

Obviously, with everything together properly these braces will fit

[Kbiggs]

I've know people who removed those two braces altogether, and replaced them with one brace between the bell ferrule and the F-tubing. Even more resonant.

[Wilco]

I've know people who removed those two braces altogether, and replaced them with one brace between the bell ferrule and the F-tubing. Even more resonant.

We tried, but on mine it wasn’t better. Lost to my mind a bit of center

[Crazy4Tbone86]

Sometimes those braces can actually go from being tension-full to tension-free by simply sliding them up or down the bell just the slightest bit. The bell stem and the portion of the F-attachment tubing that is closest to the stem are not necessarily on parallel planes. Thus, the smallest shift can sometimes remove the tightness and the brace is simply "floating" in its place just prior to soldering.

The only problem with shifting can be the aesthetics. When those braces are shifted to places that are tension-free, the locations might not be equidistant from something like the ferrule that is in between them.

[whitbey]

My Bach 50 was reassembled in the early 1980's. That changed it from a really good horn to a serious horn.
The tech Kevin Powers does that kind of work on a lot of tubas.