Reviving a "Hackbut" Project

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Cmiertschin
Posts: 47
Joined: Dec 23, 2022

by Cmiertschin »

Newbie here! As the post title implies, I am starting a project for the new year! Recently acquired a 1937-ish King Liberty 2B that someone converted into a sackbut... thankfully it was a very low-cost investment, and upon receiving the horn it doesn't seem to be quite as scary as I thought it might be. The slide is decent considering what I paid for it, and not all that much of the original bell is missing. Here's what I'm looking at to get this horn into good playing shape:

- Slide cleaning and alignment

- Fix and unstick main tuning slide

- General de-denting

- Fix the "hackbut" part of the horn. Not sure which route I'll go just yet, but here are my current options:

- Get the bell converted to screwbell at BAC and purchase 1 (or more) flares from them, preserving original bell tail as much as possible

- Send the bell section to Dave Butler to get a carbon bell put on (with screw rings)

- Replace the bell with another small bell, 2B or otherwise

There should be a couple pictures attached here; let me know if you have any advice or ideas! Since this is a low-cost instrument that would be ruined otherwise, I'd like to get it to playing condition and have a little fun with it (though I do want to preserve original parts as possible).

<IMGUR id="a/gYc6V6B">https://imgur.com/a/gYc6V6B</IMGUR>
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officermayo
Posts: 654
Joined: Jun 09, 2021

by officermayo »

I saw that horn and seriously considered snagging it.

Glad to know it found a good home.
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Cmiertschin
Posts: 47
Joined: Dec 23, 2022

by Cmiertschin »

It did! And I'm looking forward to reviving it and hot rodding it a bit as we go. I'll be sure to document progress here as it goes.
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LeTromboniste
Posts: 1634
Joined: Apr 11, 2018

by LeTromboniste »

Goodness gracious! Please do revive this instrument as a non-hackbut! Such a shame to mutilate an old trombone like that.
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Finetales
Posts: 1482
Joined: Mar 23, 2018

by Finetales »

My vote would be for the screwbell Butler flare.
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Burgerbob
Posts: 6327
Joined: Apr 23, 2018

by Burgerbob »

[quote="Finetales"]My vote would be for the screwbell Butler flare.[/quote]

:clever:
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Cmiertschin
Posts: 47
Joined: Dec 23, 2022

by Cmiertschin »

Haha, budget-allowing, that’s the dream <EMOJI seq="1f64c-1f3fb" tseq="1f64c-1f3fb">🙌🏻</EMOJI>