Martin Sousaphone

[tubamike]

can you tell me something about Martin Sousaphones ?
I don't find anything on the Internet about a manufacturer named Martin in Elkhardt Ind. Does he still exist ?
Is there a Homepage with Serial Numbers ?

thanks in advance for your contribution

Michael

[imperialbari]

Experts will tll you about when Martin stopped production.

A page with Martin serial ##:

http://www.musictrader.com/martin.html

Leblanc reintroduced the Martin Committee trumpet around 1990:

http://www.gleblanc.com/instruments/que ... odel=T3460

Photos of 4 Martin sousaphones:

Thumbnails of a Martin Eb sousaphone with a 24â€

[Dan Schultz]

can you tell me something about Martin Sousaphones ?
I don't find anything on the Internet about a manufacturer named Martin in Elkhardt Ind. Does he still exist ?
Is there a Homepage with Serial Numbers ?

Michael, here is a link to serial number lists:

http://www.musictrader.com/mitconn.html

I don't have exact information on when Martin production actually stopped but the serial number list indicates that there was production up to 1985. That doesn't mean that the horns in question came from the Elkhart plant since after 1971 Martin was owned by LeBlanc (Selmer).

Some say the secret to The Martin brass 'sweetness' rested in their brass alloys. The brass content was supposed to have been higher that other horn manufacturers. I own two Martin sousas. One is a BBb Handcraft 'Mammoth' and the other is a Eb Handcraft 'Medium'. Some sousas had bigger diameter bells (aka Conn 'Jumbo') but the Martin 'Mammoth' has a bell coller that is 7 3/4" diameter. The main branches are said to be the largest made on a production sousa. There is a Martin sousa on the popular auction at the moment. It is advertised as a 'Monster' but I think it is most certainly a 'Mammoth'. I have pictures of my 'Mammoth' on my web site at:

http://members.evansville.net/dschultz

Sam Gnagey does some interesting things with Martin horns. Maybe he will chime in with some more information.

[Biggs]

This is just barely related to the original post, but I have a Martin trombone that is committee model #139665 circa 1910 that is still playable. Can anybody give an estimated cash value for such an instrument?