TubeNet

I have been looking for a plastic toy tuba or sousaphone for my grandson. Why is it that there are trumpets, clarinets, saxophones, drums, etc. but nobody seems to make a toy tuba. All I could find on an internet search was other parents and grandparents looking for the same thing. There are some tree ornaments, but nothing in a quarter- to half-size plastic horn that a kid could pick up and "play". I seem to remember seeing a toy sousaphone in a store back in the '50's - mostly white plastic with some red and blue parts, so it must be possible. Back then it may not have sold as well as the saxophones, but I would think after all Harvey Phillips and our many great leaders have done to enhance the image of the instrument and its players it would be worth another shot. Most of this stuff is made in China now; does anyone have any contact info for Chinese toy manufacturers?

Tubarex in Muncie

Not actually a toy, and the price for a used one I found on the Net seems a bit steep, but Jupiter made a Sousaphone shape Eb Alto as a promotional item. I have one and it actually plays OK!

This seems to be a perfect opportunity for the MW mini F. IF it wasn't so danged expensive...It would be like giving a kid a pocket trumpet, don't you think?

Thanks, David! I actually already have one of the Jupiter mini-sousaphones. Mine plays terminally out of tune with itself (might be the nut behind the wheel) I thought an American company had made one of these for a short run - Getzen? Holton? maybe not

Rex In Muncie

bloke wrote:Has Rex selected me as a "foe", and are my posts invisible to him?

I thought (??) I laid something in his lap that is exactly what he stated that he is looking for... :?

Rex wrote:I have been looking for a plastic toy tuba or sousaphone for my grandson.

:arrow: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0143992781

ENDS THIS EVENING, 7:50 P.M., C.D.T.

so far: no bids, total = $72, shipping incl.

Maybe he didn't understand that this was a live auction link? My toy budget is tapped out for a while, or I would go for it!

Yes, Yes, that's exactly what I am looking for, and would be happy to buy it
if it weren't on E-Bay.
Can't deal with all the dancing around.
Thanks anyway,

Rex (real name) in
Muncie (real place, sort of)

tubarex wrote:Yes, Yes, that's exactly what I am looking for, and would be happy to buy it
if it weren't on E-Bay.
Can't deal with all the dancing around.
Thanks anyway,

Rex (real name) in
Muncie (real place, sort of)

Unfortunately, E-Bay is the only place you are likely to find an item like that for sale.

David Richoux wrote:Not actually a toy, and the price for a used one I found on the Net seems a bit steep, but Jupiter made a Sousaphone shape Eb Alto as a promotional item. I have one and it actually plays OK!

MiniSousaphone jupiter.jpg

Anyone know where I could get one of those? that would be way more worth it than a bass.

Also, I've been looking around for a stuffed tuba...can't seem to find any of those either (though apperantly there was a Beanie Baby named Tuba who was an elephant back in the day)

What do you expect the toy instrument to do musically? The mouthblown accordion disguised as a sousaphone won’t teach no kid nothing about brass instruments.

One poster reported on his 3 years old son buzzing a tubamouthpiece all day and talking about nothing but tubas. The mouthpiece buzz alone is great, yet I optimized the hosaphone idea for the twin boys of a friend. I bought two Kelly 12C trombone mouthpieces and 25 m of 1/2" garden hose. A supplier gave me two discarded trumpet bells (Chinese, but in good shape). I cut two sets of hose lengths. One set for Eb alto and one for Bb tenor.

I tried out the two set-ups, which was pure fun because the sound was very bright and the response immediate. As the mouthpieces are too large to swallow, the kids may be left alone with these instruments. The bell may be damaged, but so what? Or a length of hose may be cut to work without bell, when the kids play on their own.

Klaus

Tuba Guy wrote:

David Richoux wrote:Not actually a toy, and the price for a used one I found on the Net seems a bit steep, but Jupiter made a Sousaphone shape Eb Alto as a promotional item. I have one and it actually plays OK!

MiniSousaphone jupiter.jpg

Anyone know where I could get one of those? that would be way more worth it than a bass.

Also, I've been looking around for a stuffed tuba...can't seem to find any of those either (though apperantly there was a Beanie Baby named Tuba who was an elephant back in the day)

I think we have one of those beanie baby elephants....not used as a collectable though, but as a stuffed toy.

Tuba Guy wrote:

David Richoux wrote:Not actually a toy, and the price for a used one I found on the Net seems a bit steep, but Jupiter made a Sousaphone shape Eb Alto as a promotional item. I have one and it actually plays OK!

MiniSousaphone jupiter.jpg

Anyone know where I could get one of those? that would be way more worth it than a bass.

Also, I've been looking around for a stuffed tuba...can't seem to find any of those either (though apperantly there was a Beanie Baby named Tuba who was an elephant back in the day)

I grabbed the picture from a Bristol, UK brass shop http://www.trevorjonesltd.co.uk/JupirtM ... aphone.htm they want £595 (with case, add more for shipping and customs.)

I guess the reason I started all this was, if kids grew up playing with toy tubas they might be more likely to choose low brass when the time comes to get serious - usually about 5th grade. The hose-horn idea is excellent, but commercial toys get a lot of air time in TV commercials, and draw attention on toy shelves at All-Mart. Kids don't think something is real unless is shows up in their world. There should be a Barbie with a silver tuba in a pink gig-bag, and a GI Joe with a tuba and a "Pershing's Own" uniform. I think that's Hasbro or Mattell (?) Maybe I will send them a suggestion. Otherwise we end up with only guys like me playing the tuba, who never had a GI Joe (or a Barbie) and spent my time making hose horns in the garage.

Rx from M

tubarex wrote:I guess the reason I started all this was, if kids grew up playing with toy tubas they might be more likely to choose low brass when the time comes to get serious - usually about 5th grade. The hose-horn idea is excellent, but commercial toys get a lot of air time in TV commercials, and draw attention on toy shelves at All-Mart. Kids don't think something is real unless is shows up in their world. There should be a Barbie with a silver tuba in a pink gig-bag, and a GI Joe with a tuba and a "Pershing's Own" uniform. I think that's Hasbro or Mattell (?) Maybe I will send them a suggestion. Otherwise we end up with only guys like me playing the tuba, who never had a GI Joe (or a Barbie) and spent my time making hose horns in the garage.

Rx from M

I understand you, but I don’t like that there is somewhat true about what you say.

The hose solution is manageable for kids, and it can be spiced up by a grown up player doing the melody or the bass to the simple harmony lines, that a bugle can hint to. 3, 4, or 5 chords could be implied.

You wish for something visually alluding to a tuba would be harder. Even the band grade plastophones are vulnerable as we learn from another current thread. The sousaccordion very soon would be de-functionalised if left alone with a kid. The same goes for the Jupiter mini-sousaphone.

I don’t have a solution for you, unless you buy one of the sousaphone shaped Eb bass bugles out of Belgium, which pop up on European auctions from time to time.

Klaus

Hi Here is a small sousaphone I made years ago. At the time I think the boy in the picture was 7 years old .He is playing a nice silver Conn 14K now. He is 15 now I think. The small sousaphone was made out of a French Horn Bell and a valves set from a Alto Horn.

Great Harvey!

I certainly understand the big smile he sports. Even better that he still plays.

Klaus,
who still has the soprano trombone you made out of Reynolds cornet and trombone parts

Hi Klaus Thanks... This little guy did a parade in North Caroline the first summer he had the horn. His Aunt who got me to make the horn told me he got to end of the parade were a man said to Him (Little boy were did you get that nice Horn?) He gave a big smiled and said ( My uncle Harvey made this for me) That my friends makes a old heart feel GREAT!!

Tuba Guy wrote:Also, I've been looking around for a stuffed tuba...can't seem to find any of those either (though apperantly there was a Beanie Baby named Tuba who was an elephant back in the day)

From quite a bit of on-board visual documentation one might assume there is no lack of stuffed tubists. Yet there seems to be at least one unstuffing elephant in the tubasphere.

K

Here it is:
http://cgi.ebay.com/OLD-Emenee-Music-To ... 3cb4628f0e