Fitting a bell to Edwards section

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bassbone1993
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Fitting a bell to Edwards section

Post by bassbone1993 »

Has anybody been able to retrofit a bell to an Edwards valve section/tuning slide? I've seen a lot of Shires and Bach retrofits, but not Edwards.
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Burgerbob
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Re: Fitting a bell to Edwards section

Post by Burgerbob »

Edwards are very big in the tuning slide. That large leg is way bigger than almost any existing bells out there.
Aidan Ritchie, LA area player and teacher
bassbone1993
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Re: Fitting a bell to Edwards section

Post by bassbone1993 »

Gotcha. I'll be coming into possession of a bell that isn't set up to be mounted to any maker, so the bell receiver isn't set up for any maker. Similar to the O'Malley bells on their website
hornbuilder
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Re: Fitting a bell to Edwards section

Post by hornbuilder »

It is absolutely possible. You just need the appropriate tuning slide receiver tube/bell ferrule. As Aidan mentioned though, there will be a BIG step down in diameter from the tuning slide receiver tube to the top of the bell diameter.
Matthew Walker
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Former Bass Trombonist, Opera Australia, 1991-2006
bassboneman69
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Re: Fitting a bell to Edwards section

Post by bassboneman69 »

Edwards sells mounting kits.
$175 + shipping.
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elmsandr
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Re: Fitting a bell to Edwards section

Post by elmsandr »

I put a 50B on an Edwards setup. Liked it better than most the Edwards bells, but I overall preferred to also have a Bach tuning slide. That back end on the Edwards basses is huge.

Cheers,
Andy
WGWTR180
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Re: Fitting a bell to Edwards section

Post by WGWTR180 »

bassbone1993 wrote: Thu Nov 07, 2024 11:27 am Gotcha. I'll be coming into possession of a bell that isn't set up to be mounted to any maker, so the bell receiver isn't set up for any maker. Similar to the O'Malley bells on their website
You might want to think about changing tuning slides too. It can be done as others have said but you'll be moving down quite a bit from the tuning slide to the bell through the hardware. Might blow funky. Funkily? Well you get it.
joe029
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Re: Fitting a bell to Edwards section

Post by joe029 »

Burgerbob wrote: Thu Nov 07, 2024 11:19 am Edwards are very big in the tuning slide. That large leg is way bigger than almost any existing bells out there.
In terms of intonation, there are no problems if the difference in size between the tuning slide and the bell is somewhat greater?
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Burgerbob
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Re: Fitting a bell to Edwards section

Post by Burgerbob »

joe029 wrote: Thu Feb 27, 2025 2:52 pm
Burgerbob wrote: Thu Nov 07, 2024 11:19 am Edwards are very big in the tuning slide. That large leg is way bigger than almost any existing bells out there.
In terms of intonation, there are no problems if the difference in size between the tuning slide and the bell is somewhat greater?
I'm not entirely sure of your question
Aidan Ritchie, LA area player and teacher
joe029
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Re: Fitting a bell to Edwards section

Post by joe029 »

Burgerbob wrote: Thu Feb 27, 2025 4:20 pm
joe029 wrote: Thu Feb 27, 2025 2:52 pm

In terms of intonation, there are no problems if the difference in size between the tuning slide and the bell is somewhat greater?
I'm not entirely sure of your question
Hey Aiden,
thanks for your quick reply.
You meant that the tuning slide on the bell side is very large on Edwards. The Shires and Bach cups are probably designed for a smaller tuning slide. My question was if this is noticeable in the intonation? In other words, whether this can lead to problems if you play a Bach bell on an Edwards, for example. Perhaps it has no influence at all.

Sorry if my English is not so good.
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elmsandr
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Re: Fitting a bell to Edwards section

Post by elmsandr »

No intonation issues other than like switching any flares.

And yes it is bigger on the Edwards, but having the ferrules fit going from one to the other is something than can be done in minutes with the proper tools. For example, I know that I changed over my Holton cut bell from Edwards mounts and tuning slide to match my Bach/ Thayer mounts in like an Hour. Little bit of work, but not difficult.

Cheers,
Andy
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Matt K
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Re: Fitting a bell to Edwards section

Post by Matt K »

I did this with a 7YLW8 bell (tenor not bass obviously) and it turned out great.
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