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Yeah.... I read that listing, too. Apparently the owner thought the horn would project better if he cocked the bell transition a bit. ... or maybe he just screwed up when he put it back together!

I thought it might have been made for a short person, and so needed the extra angle...

I fixed a few sousaphones in my time. I found what makes a better playing horn is taking all those dent out. And making the joints right.Some joints will not have any solder in them!!!
I had a customers 20J in the shop with a bad dent in the lead pipe. I told him it would play 50% better and more in tune without the dent in the lead pipe out. He said he found it hard to believe But when the job was done he thanked me said (I was right) he don't think the horn could play any better? I love making old horns play again a lot times I think they come out playing better then when they were New.
Happy Harv.

Surprisingly enough, my tuba (and sousaphone) play just as well, if not better with a paddle in them.

Tuba Guy wrote:Surprisingly enough, my tuba (and sousaphone) play just as well, if not better with a paddle in them.

There is indeed something surprising about this.

bloke wrote: - The body elbow (possibly...or maybe an optical illusion...??) has possibly been soldered back on the instrument at the wrong angle. If this is indeed the case, the bell will not be able to point in the correct direction.

From the auction text -

mingo.574 wrote: I did some modifications to the bell, it was to make it lay a little more back. The modification makes the sousaphone's sound 40% more louder and better than the original. It also lets the player to not blow as hard to make the tone become in tune.

By now I forget where I read this, and it may very well be unfounded, but Sousa is supposed to have been a little disappointed with the horizontal orientation of the sousaphone bell - his preference would have been a compromise somewhere between that and the vertical raincatcher. Maybe this is the correct direction, at last.

I did something like this ON ORDERS from an ill-informed band director a while back. He insisted that the kids in HIS sousaphone section HAD to wear their sousa ACROSS their body instead aligned on their side like it should be... so the bells would be centered above the player's head. Wearing a sousa in this fashion results in the kids not being able to see past the bells. SOOOOO.... he had me tip the bell transition back about 15 degrees. Here's the result:


Like they say.... "if the man wants a green suit.... sell him a green suit!". The customer is ALWAYS right!

TubaTinker wrote:he had me tip the bell transition back about 15 degrees.

So, how did the balance turn out? Doesn't look particularly uncomfortable there.

Donn wrote:

TubaTinker wrote:he had me tip the bell transition back about 15 degrees.

So, how did the balance turn out? Doesn't look particularly uncomfortable there.

I guess the result was about what he wanted. The bell is sort of centered above the players head while the sousa body is 'draped' across the front of the player. This is not how to hold a sousa in a conventional manner.

Here are a couple of pictures showing traditional 'right' and 'wrong'. The 'right' is on the left:


Right, Bloke?

Well, yeah - it isn't the conventional/right way, or there wouldn't be a question of re-soldering the bell transition. But it doesn't look left-heavy, or back-heavy, and the 15% tilt could be a good thing acoustically.

Maybe it's just the 100-watt smile on the face of the model, that makes it look like such a good idea.