ID of 2 sousaphones - 4 & 5 pistons

[imperialbari]

These came up on FaceBook (on a wall where I cannot write) with no indications of brand. The dimensions look slim in a way mostly seen on Czech or on Brazilian sousaphones.

The first one is in Eb.

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At first I thought this one was in BBb, but now tend more towards the pitch being Eb. Hard to activate all 5 pistons at the same time.

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[windshieldbug]

At first I thought this one was in BBb, but now tend more towards the pitch being Eb. Hard to activate all 5 pistons at the same time.

Not if you can reach around with your left hand like with a 5 valve double-belled euphonium...
(and with only one bell, the intonation may be so bad that you need some combination of the 5 for almost every note... )

[Donn]

Chinese or whatever - not someone with generations of experience making sousaphones or tubas. I could be wrong, especially if there's a water key somewhere I missed.

[ralphbsz]

Among piano players, there is a story that Mozart (who was a practical joker, with a pretty sick sense of humor) wrote some piece that required one to use more than both hands: the hands are busy at the top and bottom, and in the middle, a single note has to be struck. Young students are told that it is to be played with the nose, although the adult version is that Mozart intended the male 11th digit to be used.

On a sousaphone, this doesn't seem practical. Not with the nose, nor with any other body part.

[Wyvern]

The first one looks a reasonable Eb, but unusual with that cutter on the outside of the bow.

The 5 valve job looks like a hand-made job to me. Almost looks like someone made tubes from copper water pipes with angular bends.

[Lee Stofer]

I'm thinking that these two instruments might be prototypes. The first looks more like a conventional Amati-type Eb tuba, interesting in that there are no water keys, nickel-silver inner- and outer tubing, and no finger button pearls. I believe the second instrument to be an attempt at a 5-piston CC sousaphone, where the bottom piston is the 5th that could be left-hand operated. It is also interesting to note the bell is removable on the second instrument, and the lower bell bow is also removable, with another set of screws. This might allow for more flexibility in bell angle and placement, but could be a nightmare in daily use.

I'm thinking that they were very possibly made in Brazil, or in Asia somewhere.

[imperialbari]

Lee, I agree with most of your observations, only not with the CC-pitch. This is alone from the length of the 1st valve loop, which is the same on both instruments.

And reaching over with the left hand for the fifth pistons would take more acrobatics than I ever could come up with. If the 5 valve idea should work as a two-handed project with me, then the 5th piston should sit before the 1st. Or even better it should sit after the main tuning slide in a wrap similar to that of the Conn 28K.

Klaus