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Guys,

It's so frustrating that I haven't been able to find one competent brasswinds repairman that can fix a sousaphone. My horn is off and nobody can seem to find out why. The biggest reason is none of the repair shops have anyone that can play a sousaphone or tuba. My horn was playing great after I had my lead pipe replaced. Now when I play any note in the higher register the note is flat. I feel as if I have to blow twice as hard to sustain a note and my horn is just flat. It's almost as if I have a resistance somewhere. When I would play for a long period of time I would be able to release tuba gleek from both of my water keys. Now there's never any tuba gleek in the bottom (smaller) tuning slide. Someone please help me. I'm tired of giving my money away and getting no results. Your help is much appreciated. My horn is a 1949 Conn 20K.

thanks.

Travel up to Harv's Happy Horns in Boyertown, PA. He'll put that right.
Last time I checked, though, he said he had run out of gleek.

Do all the pistons return all the way up, when released?

Take all the slides out and flush them with warm water. If that doesn’t help, then flush the whole assembly by putting a hose to the leadpipe. Work the valves while flushing.

I know several repairmen, who do not play sousaphone. If they needed testing, they would ask the player to stand by and test between their procedures,

Klaus

No need to go all the way to PA. There's a very capable repairman just past Williamsburg. I'll PM you the info.

While a hike, owner Dave Fedderley at Baltimore Brass should be able to help you. Dave is the tubist with the Baltimore Symphony, so I would expect he might be able to figure out the problem for you.Just look under the sponsors link up at the top of the page for his contact information. He is a good man to deal with.

Guys,

thanks for the information and suggestions. Please keep them coming. I'm going to try all of these options in hopes that someone will have the time to see me this week. I'm not a professional player but I do play for my church and it's very important to me. I have to play in Columbia, SC next weekend and I need this resolved this week.

Again, thanks for responding to my dilemma.

Since I play a 38K, I agree: have you had the alignment checked? A local repairman "fixed" my corks and felts, and it played worse. I made him refund the money and showed him the alignment marks on the valve stems. I sat in the shop with his assortment of thicknesses of corks and felts and showed him how the old horns needed to be aligned. He thanked me. He still does my other maintenance work, because otherwise, he is a very good tech. He had simply no experience on these older horns.

Have you changed mouthpieces? That can affect intonation. With the wrong mouthpiece, my Besson simply will not center or tune in the higher register above 4th line F. But with its Wick 1, it will not only intonate properly, it is easier to play, in spite of the depth of cup, as high as you want to play it, in tune, with good response and intonation.

Good luck sorting it out. Nothing is more frustrating than a horn that plays well, then for no apparent reason no longer plays well.

Why don't you contact Mike Finn in Va. Beach? He's not a repair guy but he is a tubist and really knows his way around a sousa . http://www.mikefinnmouthpieces.com/" target="_blank oh yeah ... he sells his own brand of mouthpieces too ...

He's a great guy and will help you anyway he can. He may even be able to reccommend a good local repairman.

I know Mike Finn well. I've been using his MF3 for about 3 years. I've recommended his mouthpieces to some affiliate sousaphone players who also loves his mouthpieces and one of them have become a distributor. I was the first one in my church to start using his mouthpieces. You are absolutely correct in saying that there's nothing worse than your horn playing beautifully one minute and then the next it sounds terrible. I took it to one local repairman and he looked at it and said the 1st valve's stem was too high. So he tightened the valve stem down a little and removed the felt under the valve cap. needless to say, this didn't do anything at all. It's still the same. I asked him about the rest because the mark on the stem was visible and he told me that being off by that little bit wouldn't make any difference. I'm just tired of giving away my money and being totally frustrated. I have the only sousaphone in the band so when it's off you can tell. I'm not a professional but it's hard to enjoy playing when your sound is off. I'm going to try to get in contact with another repairman tomorrow and if he can't see me I guess I have no other choice than to take a day off work and drive to Baltimore.

Sorry I didn't post sooner, but give me a call or drop me a line, I might be able to help. (Possibly trade sousas for the weekend or until you've got a chance to get yours fixed? I've got a silver King I'm not using any time soon.) I'm home between 9:00am and 3:30pm the next couple of days.

Mike

Well guys,

I've gotten all of the structural issues straight but my horn still has a leak and nobody can find it. I know it's losing air because I know my horn. I've been playing it for 20 years. I have 2 days to get it right because I'm leaving to perform in Columbia, SC on Saturday morning. So if anyone can think of anything else please respond.

thanks.

humnbass wrote:Well guys,

I've gotten all of the structural issues straight but my horn still has a leak and nobody can find it. I know it's losing air because I know my horn. I've been playing it for 20 years. I have 2 days to get it right because I'm leaving to perform in Columbia, SC on Saturday morning. So if anyone can think of anything else please respond.

thanks.

Go to the hardware store get a new Plunger,Take the handle off. put your horn on a work table with the bell off. Soap up the plunge with dish soap.Put it in the body upside down, till it stops ,You should be able to hold it there with your right hand, Fill a spray bottle with dish soap + water about 25% soap spray the body down with soapy water. Hold the Plunger in the body with you right arm Or get a friend to help.Fill the horn up with air. The soap will bubble were the leak. Hope this helps
Thanks Harvs Happy Horns

Harvey Hartman wrote:Go to the hardware store get a new Plunger,Take the handle off. put your horn on a work table with the bell off. Soap up the plunge with dish soap.Put it in the body upside down, till it stops ,You should be able to hold it there with your right hand, Fill a spray bottle with dish soap + water about 25% soap spray the body down with soapy water. Hold the Plunger in the body with you right arm Or get a friend to help.Fill the horn up with air. The soap will bubble were the leak. Hope this helps
Thanks Harvs Happy Horns

Sounds similar to how we used to find leaks in our bicycle tires, Harv! The soapy water, not the plunger!

Harvey Hartman wrote:

humnbass wrote:Fill the horn up with air.

Um ... I'm no scientist, but unless the thing is outer space or on some strange planet with a different atmosphere, won't it ALREADY be filled with air?

(Sorry, couldn't help myself.)

The leak checking procedure should work, but where would an experienced repairman or an experienced sousaphone owner look first?

In my eyes the most vulnerable spot is the joint between the neck and the lower leadpipe. I have several necks for my 3 Conn’s. Some of these bear mark from damages and from repairs.

If the neck tenon is out of round the joint are bound to leak. Out of round in the neck tubing may lead to a soldering cracking ever so invisibly. The tightening screw works over a slit in the lower leadpipe. That slit may have run down towards the valve block.

Klaus

Thanks again for the suggestions. I will be doing the leak test mentioned above as soon as I get home from work and I'll post the results. In reference to the neck and receiver pipe, I've had the lower pipe replaced and my neck was repaired of all dents and now looks like brand new.

humnbass wrote:Thanks again for the suggestions. I will be doing the leak test mentioned above as soon as I get home from work and I'll post the results.

Try to include the tuning bits in the leak testing.

Well guys the Verdict is in.

The leaks that reared their ugly heads came from the tuning slides, where they insert into the tubing section. This leak test is the best. It even caused some of the tuning slides to back out a little. There was a small leak coming from the second body coupling (don't know the correct name) from the bell receiver of the body but that has probably been like that for quite some time. I guess the only thing left to do is check the valve alignment. Wow, I've never had to go through all of this but hey I thank everyone for your suggestions and tips. I've learned quite a bit.

thanks again.

I previously had the lead pipe replaced. When it was replaced it played great for about a week or so and then it started sounding off and felt like it was loosing air. I thought it was leaking from somewhere but the only air that it was losing was coming from where I mentioned above. I looked at the valves today and they were out of alignment. So I made an attempt to align them. I couldn't play it tonight because I live in an apartment. But I'm itching to see how it sounds tomorrow. I aligned them so that the edge of the port on the valve wouldn't be extended over the edge of the port in the valve sleeve (don't know what it's called). my goal with the alignment was to get the valve port and the port in the valve sleeve as close to being completely open as possible. I hope this is the proper way to align them. Anyway, I'll find out tomorrow when I test it out. Again, I'll let you guys know the verdict tomorrow.

Thanks again.