Mead springs lite ... or not?

[ghmerrill]

I'm very confused.

I thought I'd order the "Mead Springs Lite" to see if I liked them in either my euph or my EEb tuba. The Mead Springs are specifically advertised to be suitable for Eb tuba as well as euphonium.

For some reason, I couldn't get the ordering stuff to work on the Just For Brass site and so I ordered them via Amazon Marketplace from Louisville Music Company. They came today. Very puzzling. Consider the picture:



The original Mead Spring is on the right, and one of the Mead Springs Lite is on the left. The Lite one is noticeably shorter that the original, and it is of a (to me) MUCH smaller diameter. The descriptions of them on the web do often say that "the lite springs are slightly smaller and lighter". But that diameter difference is a bit striking. In addition, the original Mead Springs are not cylindrical, but bulge in the middle. The Lite ones I got are fully cylindrical.

Then there is the issue that the original Mead Springs come designated for specific valves since they are of different strengths. None of the descriptions of the lite ones I have seen say anything different -- only that they are lighter. But there is NO indication with the lite springs that came that they are valve-specific, and indeed they appear identical. $37 (plus $5 shipping) for a set of identical cylindrical plastic coated springs seems a bit much. It seems to me that the two major distinguishing features of Mead Springs is that they are distinctively shaped and designed for different strengths in each valve. These have neither feature.

I haven't actually tried these yet, but was thinking of trying them in the EEb tuba as well as the euphonium. However, given their skimpy size, I'm now a little concerned about doing so. And more generally I'm thinking maybe I should just return them without trying them. The package from Louisville Music, by the way, has a label on it that says "Mead Springs Lite (Baritone) $36.95" and ""justforbrass.com & justforwinds.com".

What I'm really wondering is if anyone has tried these and has any comments. I don't suppose anyone has tried them in a tuba?

[JTJ]

"For some reason, I couldn't get the ordering stuff to work on the Just For Brass site and so I ordered them via Amazon Marketplace from Louisville Music Company."

The JFB people are great, stock a lot of stuff and they ship fast, but their website is wonky and I have struggled with it on several occasions.

john

[davewerden]

The regular Mead springs are too heavy for me these days (particularly the 1st valve), so I ordered the lite. They are MUCH too light in my Adams. Darn.

[bbocaner]

They do make a meadspring that is intended for british-style baritone or non-compensating euphonium. The smaller diameter and shorter length would suggest that is what you got rather than the light euphonium/eb tuba set.

[ghmerrill]

They do make a meadspring that is intended for british-style baritone or non-compensating euphonium. The smaller diameter and shorter length would suggest that is what you got rather than the light euphonium/eb tuba set.

In that case there are definitely at least some marketing issues since all I've seen is the distinction between the regular and the lite -- with no distinction between different types of the lite. If you have links to the light that might work for tuba, I'd be interested, but I'm getting a little leery about dropping this amount of money on springs. For just plastic coated springs, the Yamaha ones would have been cheaper and probably at least as good.

I tried one of one of the lite ones I just got in the EEb tuba and it was way too light. It MIGHT be okay in a smaller non-comp horn. I'll try it in the euphonium tomorrow. At the moment I have the regular SM spring set in my EEb tuba and it seems to work well, although I ended up switching the #1 and #3. I'm not entirely convinced it's better than the standard springs I had in it.

Maybe I will call Just for Brass simply to help resolve the mystery.

[DaveBj]

Where is a good place from which to order the Yammie valve springs? I googled "Yamaha 642 valve springs," but got only one hit (Mouthpiece Express), and this was "may be in stock," with no description.

[davewerden]

FWIW, the Mead Lite don't seem to fit in my 955 well. Its springs are even smaller in diameter.

David B - Try your local repair shop for the Yamaha springs.

[ghmerrill]

Where is a good place from which to order the Yammie valve springs? I googled "Yamaha 642 valve springs," but got only one hit (Mouthpiece Express), and this was "may be in stock," with no description.

http://www.thebandroom.biz/01_item_a...ms.php?id=1282

[ghmerrill]

Well, I tried them in the euphonium this morning. Definitely too light. So at the moment I have the original Mead Springs in the Wessex tuba and the original Wessex tuba springs in the Mack Brass euphonium. All that seems to work well. At some point I'll probably get some of the Yamaha springs. But no rush.

Now I need to decide what to do with these Mead Springs Lite. I've started the return process with the seller through Amazon.

[RickF]

Where is a good place from which to order the Yammie valve springs? I googled "Yamaha 642 valve springs," but got only one hit (Mouthpiece Express), and this was "may be in stock," with no description.

As Dave posted, most repair shops have the Yamaha valve springs in stock. I think it was 'PrototypedenNIS' that posted some time ago that Yamaha has almost 90% of the market share. If it helps, the P/N for the 642 springs is: G0141070

[DaveBj]

Thanks, Dave, Gary, and Rick. As far as I know the nearest repair shop is in Huntsville, but there is a place in town I'll try before hitting the 'net. I also want to replace corks and pads, trying to quiet the valves down a bit.

[Jonathantuba]

Those small springs illustrated are the baritone springs. The normal MeadSpring work great on the Eb tuba, but most people think too heavy on the euphonium.

[ghmerrill]

I also want to replace corks and pads, trying to quiet the valves down a bit.

If this is for your JinBao euph, there is a thread (last year?) somewhere on this forum where I list exactly the corks and pads I used to replace the ones on mine. I use all synthetic ones, including the replacements for the cork washers on the valves. I also replaced the water key corks with synthetic Valentino ones. All these I got from J. L. Smith in Charlotte. If you can't find that thread, message/email me and I'll send you the info.

I sense that you're in the same position I'm in with regard to "local" repair facilities. There are really only three around me (two in Raleigh and one in Durham), and each of these is about an hour and a half round trip, with associated fuel cost (around $9.00 or so at current gas prices). And given the prices for even simple things like valve felts I've been charged on the occasions I've bought them from the "local" places, that whole process tends to be both time consuming and relatively expensive. Too bad, but that's the way of the world if you don't live in an area with easily accessible supply places. Hence my list of providers for this stuff. I don't like paying the shipping fees a lot of the time -- though they're no worse than my gas costs to the "locals"! -- but in a number of cases, for small stuff, that cost is minimal, and J. L. Smith in recent years has really improved their policy for shipping small orders. I typically get stuff from them in a couple of days -- which is only about one day longer than it would take me to drive down to Charlotte and buy it from them directlly .

[ghmerrill]

I have a return authorization for the Mead Lite springs now and so will be returning them. I really wish the nature and intended application of these springs had been made clear SOMEWHERE on the web. I was thinking of just keeping them for an old baritone that I'm planning on refurbishing. But I've finally learned that those projects are totally unpredictable in terms of their scheduling and completion dates. And I've got enough unused parts and scrap building up around here.

[DaveBj]

Thanks, Gary. I'm sure I can find the thread; I remember seeing it, and anyway, there shouldn't be that many mentions of the word "corks" on this site :-P

I'm going to stop by the shop in town Saturday and see what they can do.