Sousa stand?

[MaryAnn]

Prolly doesn't exist but thought I'd ask. Is there such a thing as a Sousa stand? I have this Conn Eb three-banger on loan that plays fine but is too big for me. (what else is new, they ask...) it weighs 21% of my body weight, and I could get two of me inside the loop. However other than that, I can reach the valves fine although I'd be better off with a couple more tuning bits.

I know you're supposed to play these things standing up, but does anyone play them sitting down? Some kind of a side stand would seem to be in order, plus an air cushion for the shoulder. It has a flat metal plate for the shoulder, and that is not going to work for my ageing and tiny bod.

MA

[MaryAnn]

I found a Hercules one for $75. Doubt if I'll get it; if somebody locally had one to try, I could check on the ergonomics. Maybe Guitar Center wants to get one in
Thanks for the info.

MA

[Ace]

Mary Ann,

Good luck in your search for a Sousaphone stand. I see that WWBW sells one in the $155 range.

Sousa stands were popular many years ago. My high school band had a few of them in 1947.

Here is a link to a site that shows one in use a loooong time ago.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-phLyFpbka4" target="_blank

[tubaguy9]

I don't know about the sousa stand thing, but as far as a cushion thing goes, it doesn't help. I've tried it when I was a Freshman in High School and comparing the sousa with a cushion and without, the cushion just scratched the heck out of the area because of the metal or plastic buckles on the strap.

[tofu]

--

[WakinAZ]

MA,

I use a Wenger sousaphone chair for my full-size King 2350 sousaphone. I got it off FleaBay for cheap. There is usually one on there. One more thing to schlep around, not light or compact, but the best one out there.

MetroGnome Music here in Tucson used to have a Hercules holding up a sousa from time to time. The Hercules looks to be more of a storage stand than a play stand unless you are a garden gnome. Save a trip by calling and talking to Bo, the manager and a tuba player.

Eric "resigned to two trips back and forth from the truck before and after playing" L.

[imperialbari]

Having a Wenger chair as well as a K&M stand for my three sousaphones I have no doubt at all about which option offers the best playing comfort. The Wenger chair is way more stable than the K&M stand. If the latter shall be set high enough for me, it shall have it vertical telescoping tubes pulled fully, and then the legs cannot be set as widely out, as I want them. The result is a swaying, which makes me uncomfortable, as I get the feeling that the whole set-up will topple over (hasn’t happened yet, fortunately).

The K&M height adjusting wing screw has a comfortable large plastic handle, whereas the wing nut on the screw securing the tilt of the sousa frame is so much too small for my hands to handle, that I use the pliers of my Gerber army tool, which is always on my desk.

My Wenger chair is old and without a back support. That problem has been solved by means of a strap intended to secure wheelchairs in lift-busses. It is woven like a fire-hose and has strong Velcro attachments. I have set the supports so high, that my shoulders are both free of any contact with the sousaphones.

I would imagine that on a wooden stage structure the Wenger chair doubles the efficiency of the sousaphone because the vibrations are transmitted right down to the floor.

Klaus

[tubatooter1940]

I had a K&M - type stand for my sousie all through high school and kolig. I can't imagine crawling up under a Wenger chair thing. Why be inside the sousaphone?
It was so nice to sit next to the horn in a comfortable chair or drum throne.
The only possible drawback was operating the valves with the left hand. When I carried the sousa to march, the valves were under my right hand. Some people might have a problem with that.

[imperialbari]

Yup, bloke I can imagine your entering a Wenger-chair-mounted circlophonium being more full of graze than of grace. There may, like with me, be diametrically opposing dimensions. Like wrapping a lifebelt around a stack of lifebelts.

This very Saturday my home was entered by a much younger TubeNetter, who, in an orderly manner, was like a little boy in a toy store. Only at 196cm Søren isn’t exactly little. We had free choices of each others gear for the opening round of common warm-ups. As expected Søren went straight for my 40K sitting in the Wenger chair (the 28K sits in the K&M stand, and the 26K hangs on an old style K&M tuba playing stand with two forks just to secure a vertical storage).

The Wenger chair was new to Søren, but he spontaneously lifted the bell off the high support, took his seat, and lowered the bell again.

I have transported the 40K in its case on the front grid of my delivery bike. With the Wenger chair on top of the case. The much harder part was to schlep the case to and from my 3rd story previous home to and from the 3rd story rehearsal room.

But you are right, a Wenger chair introduces the need for what every tubist should have anyway: a stage hand.

Klaus

[MaryAnn]

... Finally, (particularly someone of my size) I don't see gracefully slinking in and out of a Wenger chair.

I can gracefully slink out of or into anything that your average 10 year old (or perhaps garden gnome?) can slink out of or into.

No slinky jokes, guys.

MA

[imperialbari]

No slinky jokes, guys.

MA

Who would ever be inspired to make slinky jokes on elderly ladies?

K

[rocksanddirt]

bloke....that picture is the most disturbing image I've seen in some time. And that includes far to much time wasted in other forums.

[Rob]

MaryAnn, I'll offer up a couple of thoughts and experiences.

As for the pads, they may be scratchy as others have said. They do though spread the weight out so that it's not concentrated in one spot. You might also be able to achieve this result with a towel either wrapped around, taped in place or placed upon your shoulder. One thing I did find too is that you should be able to move the spot that it sits upon your shoulder. Wear it for awhile far out on the shoulder(away from your neck), then move it closer in to your neck. You might find a spot that works good, or if a spot gets sore, you can use a new one.

The chairs work good, we had them in junior high school, or course they were also fiberglass sousas so they were lightweight. If my memory is right though, I do think you can sit upon a couch, or perhaps even a big chair and you ought to be able to rest the bottom of the sousa on the couch/chair and let it take the weight. Then my leaning the horn over to the right side a little bit more than normal, I seem to remember you can take the sousa completely off the shoulder or leave as little on as you'd like on. Plus you've probably already got a couch!

Rob "looking for a really big sousaphone so I can skip going to the gym, and a lyre the size of a music stand so I can walk around the neighborhood and practice"


Good luck MaryAnn

[WakinAZ]

...The Wenger chair thing...You guys who are recommending these are not recommending them for portability (community band/jazz band, etc.), are you?...

Nope. They are not particularly heavy, but just kinda bulky. The portability is not a huge issue for me, since I already have my horn inside an MTS case, a music stand, a bag or briefcase and a large hiking type water bottle stowed in various places inside and outside my truck. I just throw the chair in last in the bed of the truck. I'd rather make an extra trip to/from the truck and be comfortable in my best playing posture.

Like Klaus' friend, I lift the horn off the bell support part of the chair to enter and exit. I also use 3(!) tuning bits, to reach me better as I sit up straight and also since I tend to blow sharp in warmer weather.

Eric "who drags a son or two to performances when he can" L.

[tofu]

--

[imperialbari]

bloke, this frame from your home-video with MA in conjunction with this ad

1950JollyGreenGiantsNibletsAd.jpg

suggests that our little old lady may have her roots in the corn belt.

K

[MaryAnn]

So the answer MA is:

Ditch the Sousie, forget the stand and get yourself a lightweight Eb helicon. That one Russ Dickman had for sale sure looked and sounded nice!

I almost bought an Eb 4-valve Helicon, but I reminded myself before the transaction occurred that several times I had paid shipping to find out in the first five seconds that the instrument would not work for me ergonomically. I vowed never to do that again, and only barely caught myself in time.

This sousa is on loan from a friend, locally, so I have time to fiddle with figuring out the ergonomics without the shipping cost expenditure. BTW, I find it surprisingly large bore, especially as compared to my MW 182 F.

BTW, what "model number" is an older brass Conn Eb sousa, with etching on the bell....there is a diamond etched with a lady's face/head inside. Not an entire lady, just the head.

MA

[imperialbari]

To my knowledge Conn only made two different Eb sousaphones. The 26K has 3 pistons, and the 28K has four pistons.

All silly jokes about your size set aside: exactly that sub-average size gives you a larger selection of relevant sousaphones than is available to elderly stacks of tyres like in the old Michelin symbol. King and possibly other US makers made full circle Eb sousaphones, where the Conns have a piece of fake (that is acoustically inactive) tubing in the shoulder rest area. To find sufficient length of tubing for a main tuning slide these makers had to diminish the diameter of the outer circle.

No reports indicate these smallish Eb sousaphones being inferior instruments per se. The only problem I might see with them would be that they possibly are too small to sit optimally in a Wenger chair. Despite my liking of the Wenger chair this point hardly qualifies as a disqualifying factor, but unlike with a great deal of my other opinions, this one will never come to a test on myself. The 26K and 28K cover whatever needs I have for Eb sousaphones, so I see no reason at all to take up any diameter challenges. Disclaimer: the Sales subforum of TubeNet some months ago presented a King Eb helicon conglomerated out of a sousaphone body and a tuba bell much in the style of what bloke did in Eb on a York basis and in CC with Reynolds’ parts. Photos and sound samples really caught my interest.

There also is a 5 valve Eb helicon with rotary valves sitting next to ready for a potential sale in the house of a TubeNetter having a very close relative in your town. I write in code-mode as it is not my task publicly to arrange deals not involving my own money. However if this transaction comes through, it won’t be the first time I have seen potentially successful matches of instruments and players.

K