Sousaphone Panel

[Steve Marcus]

--- David Schmuck <daves@mccormicksnet.com> wrote:
> Our sousaphone covers are made of a 200 Denier
> Dupont Nylon which is porous
> enough for use on a sousaphone bell. The price for
> a plain cover is $22.00.
> A custom cover would range anywhere from $60 to
> possibly $180 depending on
> what you would be planning to have put on it. If
> you have any further
> questions, please feel free to contact us at
> (800)323-5201 or at
> daves@mccormicksnet.com.
>
>
> Dave Schmuck
> Sales Executive
> McCormick's Enterprises, Inc.
> PO Box 577
> Arlington Heights, IL 60006
> (847)398-8680 ext. 200
> http://www.mccormicksnet.com/

[Mark E. Chachich]

At the University of Miami (Fl.) we marched with sousaphone covers (including a large orange and green U). It was back in 1975 that I was in the marching band, so this is what I remember. The covers were something like a cheesecloth with the symbol made of cloth. A rather thin elastic band (dia. slightly smaller then the bell) was used to fasten the cover around the bell. I marched brass and fiberglass sousas that year, it seemed to me that the fiberglass sousas were more muffled by the cover then the brass sousas. I ended up playing even louder and that partially worked. In my opinion it had a negative effect on all sousas more then just attenuating the sound as the instruments did not respond correctly. However, with this said, I am not sure if the deteremental effects on the sound were not outweighed by the visual effect. The speaker cover that you mentioned sounds like a promising idea.

I hope that this helps,
Mark