It's finally here...

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The end is nigh...

Here is where it all stands, been up all night rendering but I've finally got the two edits I was looking for of the workshop and graham playing the quadraphonium in the concert hall. The quadraphonium is complete, the workshop was a major success and 7 out of the 9 pupils have decided to take up brass lessons. My book is complete and printed and I have printed off some more posters that went in to school. The last thing I am doing before hand in today is polishing the quadraphonium to give it a little sparkle. That's all I hope...

The quadraphonium has landed.

Haven't had time to put a photo up until now but the quadraphonium made it to college in one piece thankfully last Friday. On another note I heard back from my father that 7 out of the 9 kids that took part in the workshop have now taken up brass lessons. Really happy about that as it proves my project was actually valid and works.

Book layout at the moment

Working on the final book, some of the spreads still need a bit of work but this is how they are looking at the moment.

All packed and ready to go

The trumphonium is packed up and padded to the max with foam and bubble wrap, so fingers crossed it will make it to college in one piece by noon Friday. I think my parents have finally had enough of me using their garage as a workshop and eating all the food. I'm heading back to London this afternoon but I have everything I needed to do here done and dusted. All that's left now is the editing of the video footage I've gathered. Finish off the manual and print everything out. Also presentation wise I'm looking into proper hard foam packaging for the interior of the flight case but this will all be done in London over the next few days.


And here's a little photograph of everything packed up in the box and me sitting on top very tired and relieved that's going to London.

Showing Off

Got access to my local town hall which has a beautiful concert hall. My father Brass tutor dressed in a Tux and played a couple of tunes on the trumphonium. Im surprised at how well it looks in the concert hall and the sound actually was better than expected. Some photographs of the set up and filming of Graham playing the trumphonium.

Finally removed all the lacquer

I have spent the past 5 days removing all the lacquer from the trumphonium, possibly the most soul destroying job of the whole project, but its looking pretty hot even before a coat of polish.


Bell section before paint and lacquer thinner was applied


Valves with paint thinner applied.


After hours of intense scrubbing finally looks good


Days of scrubbing, finally all pieces have lacquer removed




The Trumphonium properly cleaned and lacquer free. I will take time out to polish it tomorrow so that it has an extra shine.

Thinking about packaging

Drove down to Ballygawley today which is about a hour 30mins drive south to see a guy who makes custom made flight cases for dj equipment and musical instruments. Rather funny reaction to the instrument when he first saw it but he thought there was no problem in making a case to fit it. Had a look at materials and finishes and should hopefully look pretty hot by the time its finished on wed morning. Here is the link to the Andrew's website, the photograph of the cases does not do him justice at all as I was rather skeptical before going down but I was very impressed with the finish of some of the cases he has already made.

Clean up

A few photos of the cleaning process, which is rather long and monotonous. Somehow when I polish the brass I come out of the garage looking like a have been working in a coal mine.

Silverplating & finishing

I was in contact with a number of silverplaters for a top end finish but the estimates were varied between £500 to £1500. Also the other problem is that the process would take at least 3 weeks to achieve. This process involves them taking apart what i have made and individually plating each part and then rebuilding the instrument. Due to timescale and money I have had to look at other options. Peter Arthurs who repaired my dents in the trumphonium suggested removing the lacquer and just polishing the bare brass. It would still achieve the high shine finish I'm looking for to present at the show. Also to verify his suggestion of removing the lacquer and polishing the trumphonium I received an email from the brass specialists Mcqueens who also recommended removing the lacquer and polishing.

Hi Ben



To silver plate this instrument you would be looking at about £500!

If I was you....i would strip all the old and burnt lacquer (with nitromors-paint stripper) and clean up the bare brass.



Kind regards

Rick.


With all that said it looks like I will be sitting in my garage for the next week stripping the brass and polishing.

Ding Ding

Just back from seeing a brass repair guy outside Belfast who managed fix all the massive dents in the trumphonium and he managed to straighten out some of the bells. Great job well done. All that's left to do to the trumphonium is clean up some of the joints and polish the bad boy.

Photos of yesterdays madness

A little bit burnt, but still have all limbs intact

Today went so much better than I thought it would. The kids were a blessing and all managed to make their own bugles, some even went as far to make simple trumpets with valves. Really productive day, photos and video footage to come as soon as my hands have recovered from the 13 year olds blowtorching them.

Almost finished...

The final instrument, just needs some braces and a clean up and that should be it finished. And yes a tuned can be played on it... success!

Trumphonium??

Mouthpipe is fixed, braces applied so it doesn't fall apart and a trumpet bell instead of a trombone bell. Not sure how it sounds at the min but everything seems to be working.

2nd bell

Not sure about this one, I've added a removable trombone bell but it looks pretty ugly at the min. Maybe need a rethink of what bells to add.

The making of a musical monster

Started building my first attempt at a new musical instrument that involves a number of bells and valves.Here's a few photos of how the instrument is shaping up.




This was the first way I had set up the 6 valves but then i realized that you can't physically twist your hand around to play the bottom 3 valves.



Fixed the problem of the valves by switching the position of them so its much easier to hold and work all the valves at the same time.




This is how the instrument is looking at the moment, its basically a 6 valve euphonium and the first 3 valves actually work and play. I'm trying to fit 3 more bell sections onto the other valve section and then hopefully it will be complete. The instrument is remaining nameless at present but contact me if you can think up of a clever name for it.