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Reading about all the helicon conversions lately has me thinking. Would it be possible to get a bell to play my 28K as a helicon and would it need anything like bloke's expanded gooseneck or different tuning slides?

It is possible to convert a bell to turn your 28K into a Helicon. You shouldn't need a different neck if you aren't changing the pitch of the instrument. This assumes that the bell is the proper length.

A bell being long enough to keep the pitch down may cause this Eb sousaphone to go front heavy as a helicon.

Schleppy’s helicon had 3 donor instruments, which could only be made into something useful this way. Destroying a somewhat rare and fully functional instrument to make a helicon isn’t necessarily the right thing to do.

Klaus, whos 28K stays a sousaphone

A bell being long enough to keep the pitch down may cause this Eb sousaphone to go front heavy as a helicon.

Schleppy’s helicon had 3 donor instruments, which could only be made into something useful this way. Destroying a somewhat rare and fully functional instrument to make a helicon isn’t necessarily the right thing to do....

On an EEb Conn sousaphone you will be removing about 21" ***I THINK***? That's taken the off bell and next bow were horn the become straight. You can very easy take measurements of those parts. Before You take it apart. Just measure down the center of parts. You Can bend a piece of wire to make the shape of the parts. After you know what size bell you want & you need to start looking for it. It may take a little time. Tape the horn toghter Before you Solder it together and play it for pitch and to see if you like it !!
I say if you want a Helicon Go for it!!
I did Build Schleppy's Horn out of 3 Donor Horns and thats OK too. But if you keep your old parts Bell and the Bow You can put it back toghter as a Sousaphone again if you want...
I Think you will not need to build a special Goose neck, or a new tuning slide. But if you Do Thats ok just keep the old parts if you want to go back to a Sousaphone sometime in the Future. The Conn Goddess will forgive you for taking one of Her sousaphones apart!!!
Thanks Harvs Happy Horns ,
http://harvshappyhorns.blogspot.com/201 ... licon.html" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank

NO CHAD, Don't do it, just don't do it. Find a EEb Helicon, but don't cut the 28K.

Sorry for any mis-understandings, please let me try to clarify. I would not dream of cutting or otherwise damaging this beautiful horn. What I was hoping was that I would be able to have someone build/modify a different bell that I could just slap on in place of the sousaphone bell. If that is not possible without majorly messing up the horn than my answer is no.

I guess I'll just have to keep saving my pennies and wait for that elusive 4 valve Eb helicon to show up or have Harvey build me one when I get the cash together.

You could have a Rain Cather horn, By just putting a stright Bell on the sousaphone body.
Thanks Harv.

Harvey Hartman wrote:You could have a Rain Cather horn, By just putting a stright Bell on the sousaphone body.
Thanks Harv.

Ok, now I see where I screwed up in this question. I completely forgot that where the bell attaches is already turned up rather than still to the side In the words of the immortal Homer, D'oh!

Ok, so let's try Harv's idea. If I were to look for a straight bell to give this the raincather option, what would I need to be aware of in my search? I would assume similar diameter for sure. How would I measure the length of the bell to make sure I get the right length though? End to end it is a different length because of the bend.

Chadtuba wrote:

Harvey Hartman wrote:You could have a Rain Cather horn, By just putting a stright Bell on the sousaphone body.
Thanks Harv.

Ok, now I see where I screwed up in this question. I completely forgot that where the bell attaches is already turned up rather than still to the side In the words of the immortal Homer, D'oh!

Ok, so let's try Harv's idea. If I were to look for a straight bell to give this the raincather option, what would I need to be aware of in my search? I would assume similar diameter for sure. How would I measure the length of the bell to make sure I get the right length though? End to end it is a different length because of the bend.

As Harv suggested, use a piece of stiff wire to measure the length of the sousy bell, including the bend. Put a yardstick across the big end of the bell so you can get an accurate idea of where the bell ends at the rim. the length of the wire should allow you to get a beel of the right length.