Here is my Lignatone 4 valve tuba. This one came from Lithuania. It was packed in a very large box and the mail refused to send it to my house. I had to pick it up at the post office. I don't understand that as the mail service has previously delivered larger instruments. I suppose it depends on the carrier and how lazy they are.

The Lignatone is well "patinaed" and shows dents and imperfections from years of use. There is some sort of number written with red paint inside the bell that has been scratched by the previous owner. I probably would have used paint remover instead of a metal instrument. It appears to be an older model Amati/ Cerveny. It is made well and is very heavy. It arrived with the bell severely damaged. There is a very small hole in the bell from one of the severe creases. I pulled some of the dents out by hand and it already looks better than when I removed it from the box. There seems to be something lodged in it or the valves are terribly misaligned or severely worn. It will make a good instrument once it has been tweaked up a bit. I think it is one of my better finds though it will need some work.

After a bit of asking around how to remove a stuck object in a tuba, I came up with several good ideas on how to tackle the problem. I tried a trombone snake (but it was not long enough), 1/2 inch PVC pipe but it was not strong enough to push the object. I then inserted the trombone snake in the PVC pipe and was able to reach the object but it was stuck too hard to free it. I tried then inserting a marble to see exactly where the object was lodged and heard the tell tale "tink". I thought perhaps it may be a mouthpiece at that point. I couldn't move it with the marble, so I tried running water and dishwashing liquid through the horn. That didn't work either so I tried ball bearings. I got 10 or so about 1/2 and rolled them through the main slide until they reached the object. Once they struck the object, I then shook the tuba up and down for about 5 minutes. I felt this was how I would remove the stuck object, but there wasn't enough mass. So, I went back to the machine shop and got a few more slightly larger ones. After adding more ball bearings and a bit more shaking of the tuba, the mouthpiece dislodged! After a couple of turns, an old crusty no name mouthpiece fell to the floor along with 20 or so bouncing ball bearings! I was both amused and impressed!