I have been a loyal member of this website for yearsI have recommended this site to so many people that I cannot begin to remember them all. A lot of good information, advice and knowledge is exchanged therein, and I hope I can benefit from some of that now.


I bought a B&S Perantucci PT-37 compensating euphonium with trigger from the Custom Music International store in Ferndale, Michigan. It was very expensive, but several hundred dollars cheaper than the Sterling or Hirsbrunner euphoniums they had in stock at the same time. I am an amateur player who played tuba in high school and who started playing music again 25 years later when my dad gave me a Yamaha 3-valve euph for Christmas. It took a long time to relearn what I lost and learn anew much that I had never learned to begin with. I like the PT-37 because it had a tuba-like wide bell, a big bore that I could not over-blow, and a full and melodic tone. I have taken care of this horn like a baby and have not suffered any serious mishap until now. As is often the case, it was a momentary lapse of good judgement and only took a second to occur. I laid it on my chair for a couple of seconds to collect some sheet music, and it fell off. It landed on my parquet wood floor and snapped the 4th valve stem clean off.


Although it is a clean break, flush to the top of the piston, the threaded insert is still in the piston. I took it to our local brass repair guy here in San Diego, but he had nothing like it in stock and did not know where to find the missing part. I called Custom Music and discovered they no longer do repairs or maintenance on B&S, or anything else, even though they still advertise their merchandise on their web site. They are clearing their inventory of all Sterling, B&S, and Hirsbrunner horns. Buffet-Crampon has taken over control of all sales of their instruments in North America, and Custom apparently is not part of their current business plan. So I found their office in Jacksonville, Florida, and they essentially blew me off.


So where do I get parts? Not only valve stems, but the small, attached plastic valve guides which I should replace before long. I called Woodwind Brasswind and several well known music stores and found none of them do maintenance any longer. Really? Internet searches only yield lots of adds to buy new horns or accessories I do not need.


My questions:



  1. Buffet-Crampon also owns Meinl Weston and Besson. I understand that other companies, such as Sterling, also get their valves from the same factories. Might B&S stems be the same as those? Who would know?
  2. Who is doing tuba and euphonium repairs that include spare parts like these, and where do they get their parts?
  3. Has anyone on this list ever had to have a part machined by a professional machinist? If so, any advice before going that route?



I have the exact measurements for the stem as performed by our principle trumpet, who has taken up wood turning in retirement and has an amazing collection of measuring tools.


Stem Length: 32.55mm long Stem Diameter: 6.48mm
Bottom Length: 6.26mm Bottom Diameter: 4.89mm
Top Hole Depth: 7.58mm Top Hole Diameter: 3.89 mm


I can still play, but boy do I miss that 4th valve! Thanks for any assistance or advice you can give.