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looking for a fiberglass sousaphone for a friend...around $500...

What ya got?

E

Why fiberglass? Is it because of price, or do you just like the trashy sound of it?

tubaguy9 wrote:Why fiberglass? Is it because of price, or do you just like the trashy sound of it?

??

Billy Graham would never do anything trashy -- incontrovertible proof of the heavenly fiberglass sound (and my impeccable vocabulary).



(Ain't it fortunate that somebody hung on to a few of those great docpugh pictures?)

the elephant wrote:Where is he, anyway?

The sousaphone, the suit, or docpugh?

When I looked over in the clipart to link to that instead of linking to one I stole (with docpugh's permission), the docpugh pics were gone. That might be what prompted the question about his current whereabouts. There was a rumor that he might have taken up viola.

Oh, and by the way, I think the original poster is still looking for that fiberglass sousaphone!
(sorry to steal the thread ... but at least it is getting bumped a lot.)

tubaguy9 wrote:Why fiberglass? Is it because of price, or do you just like the trashy sound of it?

Duh.. maybe because it's LIGHTER!?

Lighter or not, I would be most concerned with the sound that it would produce. Naturally a Brass sousaphone would have a better sound than a Fiberglass one would. I personally would rather play on a brass one even though it is heavier. But if you are only worried about confort, then a fiberglass is the way to go.. If only they produced a CC Sousaphone I might do marching band again...

the elephant wrote:I have some photos of a very nice factory CC four-valved sousaphone around here somewhere....... Oh well . . . maybe I will find another horn like this someday.

Why not just make a CC sousa out of a Eb sousa? I sold a York 4V Eb sousa to a fellow a year or so ago who did exactly that. In fact, it might be sort of easy to cut a BBb sousa to CC if you got one of those King jobbies with the tuning slide in the leadpipe.

I must agree, my F has put me into massive debt, but its pretty!

I have played and marched with King 1250's, Conn 14k's, and their fiberglass counterparts, including a 1st generation King fiberglass for all four years in high school. You are better off with a real 14k with a 24 inch bell. What minor bit it is heavier is more than offset by the weight being evenly distributed, and the tone being so much better. If you must get a fiberglass, get a pre-cyborg King, because the narrower bore will help lock in your intonation from basically nonexistant to something approaching intonation. At least that's my experience.