cute l'il Eb sousaphone...

[Kevin Hendrick]

Nice work! Beautiful horn. The only thing missing, as far as I can see, is the "wow!" option on the poll ...

[Dan Schultz]

Shore is purty, Joe. I got one of them Reynolds things around someplace. BTW... I passed your name on to a fellow who got his trombone smashed. I told him you are the only guy in the universe capable of helping him.

[Lew]

I had one of these, although not nearly as purty as yours:



It was a nice horn, but the opening was too small for me, and I couldn't seem to get it to play in tune. It's possible that it was sent with the wrong neck I guess, or maybe the few dents that were left after the local repair guy did what he could with the magnet were a problem, but it didn't work well for me at all.

[Kevin Miller]

Nice job Bloke! Though it seems such a nice overhaul on an Eb sousa is akin to a ground up restoration of a Yugo.

[imperialbari]

I just did a (if I may turn a sousaphonically-famous name into a repair technique) "HHH" quickie overhaul (yank apart / dents / shine / replace missing stuff / HURRY !!) on this Reynolds Contempora satin-bright silver sousaphone as a Christmas present for the dad of a local good-customer band director.

HHH may not be the most sophisticated of repairmen, but he is a nice guy, he is reliable to deal with, and then he is not without an inventive spirit.

I haven’t bought any of his bigger horns, even if there was a huge Martin BBb, which I very much would have liked to own.

However I secured myself a real "one of a kind" from Harvey a few years ago:

Out of a wrecked Reynolds small bore tenor trombone and the bell from a Reynolds cornet Harvey made a Bb soprano trombone. It is tough to play, as it takes a tenor/alto mouthpiece (DW 12CS in my case). So ones support shall be well controlled.

I truly like the visual results of your work on the Reynolds little full circle Eb sousaphone. I wouldn’t have bought it anyway, as 5 Eb basses, 3 of them circular, somehow outlines a limit even for my desires.

And if you can make an instrument look that beautiful by just pulling cheap tricks, why then doing all the intensive and extensive work, which you have invested in other projects? (Of course I know the answers).

But for the "layman" it all is in the buffing and how the presentation shots are taken.

Off course I would like this one also, but these full circle Eb’s aren’t for 80kg+ persons.

Thank you for presenting this beauty to us, and of course I have pilfered the photos (anyway I tend to store them for a longer period, than you do).

Klaus

[ken k]

over the years I have owned 4 Eb sousies (a fact I try not to let too many people know!)

anyway the best player by far was a small Besson which had a small wrap and like your Reynolds, had the actual tubing go over the shoulder rather than a separate shoulder piece. The York and Conns I had just did not center or slot real well and were not fun to play. The Besson was great, probably alot like your Reynolds, although I will admit not nearly as pretty.....

someone got a great christmas present. I should forward this to my wife....

ken k

[imperialbari]

anyway the best player by far was a small Besson which had a small wrap and like your Reynolds, had the actual tubing go over the shoulder rather than a separate shoulder piece. The York and Conns I had just did not center or slot real well and were not fun to play. The Besson was great, probably alot like your Reynolds, although I will admit not nearly as pretty.....

This is kind of fun!

The worst sousaphone, aside from an Amati, I ever tried, was a Besson Eb. No potentials at all, a little narrow-minded thing in my ears.

For 9 years my only "tuba" was a Conn 26K Eb sousa. I wrote some small fun tuba duets for kids’ parties, where I played the lead on the 26K.

When I showed the score to a US tuba player, he noted, that the lead part was so high up, that he would prefer to play it on a euphonium.

Other players have loved the playability of my first Conn (I have 2 more Conn’s now).

Our tastes certainly differ. You want a well slotting instrument. I want an instrument, where I am in control.

Klaus

[Dan Schultz]

Shore is purty, Joe. I got one of them Reynolds things around someplace.

Thank-'ee kindly. You - being an Eb player - should drag out your Reynolds and fix-er-up. .....

I'm gradually moving away from Eb horns... 'cept for a little Conn/Olds 'frankenhelicon' and a King 4V bell-front. I've yet to play an Eb sousa that I could really get along with. The wrap on the Reynolds Eb is just to darned small for my 240 pound frame. So is the King 4V I swapped to a fellow in Arizona a while back. The only 4V Eb sousa I ever played that I liked is the Conn 28K that Klaus now owns... and it was waaay too heavy with all the extra 4th valve tubing. I have a Martin 'medium' waiting for a valve job one of these days. In the meantime, a nice light Conn 36K satisfies most of my sousa cravings. Oh yeah... then there's that 14K with the added 4th valve. Maybe one of these days I'll finish the helicon bell for it.

[Lew]

I'm gradually moving away from Eb horns... 'cept for a little Conn/Olds 'frankenhelicon' and a King 4V bell-front. I've yet to play an Eb sousa that I could really get along with. The wrap on the Reynolds Eb is just to darned small for my 240 pound frame. So is the King 4V I swapped to a fellow in Arizona a while back. The only 4V Eb sousa I ever played that I liked is the Conn 28K that Klaus now owns... and it was waaay too heavy with all the extra 4th valve tubing. I have a Martin 'medium' waiting for a valve job one of these days. In the meantime, a nice light Conn 36K satisfies most of my sousa cravings. Oh yeah... then there's that 14K with the added 4th valve. Maybe one of these days I'll finish the helicon bell for it.

Why are you "moving away" from Eb's? Since I started playing Eb a couple of years ago I find it to be a more convenient horn for much of the playing that I do. On my Besson 983 I can hit the low range from low BBb down to pedal C more easily than on any of my BBb tubas. The high range is also much cleaner and easier to hit consistently. As I get older I appreciate the lighter weight and size of the Eb. If I could only keep one horn to play; I would choose the Eb today.

My Conn 28K is being shipped back from the shop this week, so I can see how it plays in a few days.

Speaking of Martin, did you see the Mammoth Martin sousaphone that sold on that auction site recently? It was huge, with a 30" bell. I seriously considered going for it, but I already have too many sousaphones.

[Dan Schultz]

I'm gradually moving away from Eb horns...

Why are you "moving away" from Eb's? ...... Speaking of Martin, did you see the Mammoth Martin sousaphone that sold on that auction site recently?

Oh... I still use Eb about 50% of the time. I didn't mean to imply that I was eventually going to switch completely. I've played Eb since 1956 and only started playing BBb horns in the last 5 years or so. Maybe I've just not run across the 'right' Eb, but I have yet to play an Eb that can perform in the lower range like my BBb horns. My 4V Eb King 'monster' does a nice job in the low register... but it's nothing like the German rotarys! I use Eb primarily for Dixieland gigs... where I seldom have a need to go below BBb, anyway. I use the 4th valve mostly to get around intonation problems... NOT to extend the low range.
Yeah... the Martin 'mammoth' sousas are nice. I just sold mine a couple of weeks ago. I enjoyed playing the 'mammoth' but only used it four or five times in the past year and needed to make room for some other'toys'.

[iiipopes]

The King and Olds/Reynolds tubas always had curious incestuous relationships...Many times, pistons from one would fit the other...and the bore sizes were nearly exactly the same. The design of this Reynolds Eb sousaphone is EXTREMELY similar to the design of the King. The differences between the King and the Reynolds have been marked (below). In fact, one could, arguably, take that last small tapered branch from a King Eb, transfix it on to a Reynolds Eb, sacrific the tuning slide, and end up with an American F sousaphone.

<img src="http://tinypic.com/ipv474.jpg">

I wonder if that has anything to do with H. N. White hiring Reynolds away from York to design the upper brass in the early days?

[WilliamVance]

Great work, and, wow, what a great looking horn. Got any before pictures?

[MaryAnn]

Well, I expect one of those little Reynolds Eb sousies would fit me pretty well. But....what do you use one for? I just can't think of anything.

MA

[tuba kitchen]

wow! very beautiful horn.

how are the reynolds contempera Bb sousaphones? better than conn 14k? i am not very excited about the kings.

i am looking for a Bb sousaphone (14" bell) or helicon that plays in tune and is not too heavy.

[eupher61]

hey , Bloke...might you have some tuning bits for a Conn Eb souzie? Unknown vintage, but it takes the typical early 1900s small shank mouthpiece.

I really need a couple. Or, anyone else??

[eupher61]

I'll have to dig my leadpipe out, but I know it doesn't take the normal BBb bit. OK, it seemed a likely time to ask, since I keep forgetting to do so!

thanks...