That One School Horn......

[WilliamVance]

My high school bought five used conn 11J convertible tubas my freshman year. They had been used for about 15 years at the Local University who had just purchased new sousaphones. Two of the horns had crumpled bells which had tears in them. The bell on my horn came unsoldered during a rehearsal... Then I was stuck with a King 1140 that smelt terrible. The upperclassmen told me that some pizza had been shoved down the bell as a joke the prior year. I'm not sure if it had all gotten out. Lastly, the Pan-American sousaphone I learned how to play on had NO bracing left on the lead-pipe, but it stayed pretty solid. I never marched that horn, just sat in my room and annoyed my mom. I thought maybe the horn was 20 years old... then later on I found out they were bought in the 40's or 50's... and that was 1995! Has anyone ever had their bits stolen by other bandmembers and then told they make cool pipes for smokin' weed?