Concert tuba conversion to marching tuba

[Davy]

DFr 5 years of Marching band, I used a Yamaha Convertible tuba. At the time I thought it was a cool contraption. After playing a true Contrabass (designated Only for marching) I found the convertible tuba to be very uncomfortable to play and to hold, mostly because the valves were horizontal to the ground. this meant you had to turn your wrist at a god awful angle to be able to use the valves. It was after that that I really didnt care for those convertible tubas anymore, but thats just me.

[iiipopes]

Nah, please don't ruin a good tuba. Use a Conn 20K souzy instead, or fix it up properly and use it like the 20J Marching Southerners do.

[Mike-ICR]

I've used both styles and I also find the convertibles to be very uncomfortable. I've also done this kind of conversion before. The easy way is just to get a marching style goose neck and add the extra tubing to get it into the valve section (then cut down the main slide if you need to). The other option (what I would do... maybe not to a nice horn like this) is to remove the valve section, cut off the 1st and 3rd slides, redirect them to look like a contra section, fit the new goose neck to that and then fit that into the horn. A long process but well worth it IMO.

[Dan Schultz]

Nah, please don't ruin a good tuba. Use a Conn 20K souzy instead, or fix it up properly and use it like the 20J Marching Southerners do.

Well I figured since I already have a sousaphone I dont need another one, and since I would have to find a recording style bell, on the super extra special cheap side, I figured it would be easiest to just determine some way to make a removable marching leadpipe, similar to a convertible but better since its already a great concert tuba.

Do everyone who likes those 2XJ tubas a favor and sell them outright and then buy something you want to march with. It would be a big mistake trying to convert those horns to a shoulder-fired marching configuration.

[iiipopes]

And as heavy as a 2XJ tuba is, a 20K would actually be less weight to haul around, especially since you already have one. What tubatinker said.

[Bandmaster]

A Conn 2XJ would make a lousy contra style horn to carry. Contra style horns are designed for balance by wrapping the main bugle to make it longer (taller). Plus you need to leave some open space in the tubing to see through otherwise you might run into the guy next to you while marching. So unless you are up to unbending the wrap on that 2XJ and doing it over again, I would try something else. If you could re-wrap the bugle, I would suggest taking the valve section off of a 20K and substitute it on your project to make them more accessable while the horn on your shoulder (playing position).

If you want to play a contra, I would join one of the alumni corps in the area, unless you are young and eager enough to do junior corps. You will get anything from a piston/ rotor contrabass (the real thing!), to 2V, 3V or even 4V Kanstuls (these are big).

Just a side note... there was only one prototype 4 valve GG Contra bass bugle ever made by Kanstul. It was made right when the junior corps started changing over to BBb horns, so no one ever ordered any. It has only been used in one DCI performance, by the Kingsmen Alumni Corps in August 2007. One of the contra players was a friend of Zig's and talked him into loaning it to him to use for the event. I have had a chance to play it on several occations. It plays very nice but it IS heavy!

[The Big Ben]

Here's how the JSU Marching Southerners do it with the 20J:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClLnbuMn ... re=related" target="_blank

[iiipopes]

I played a Conn, brass Souzy in high school (mid-50's). Don't know the model--it had 3, short stroke valves, and played like a dream--which I realized many years later. It was heavy. I played it seated in concert band and carried it marching. I loved that horn.

Tried a shoulder carried, "bazooka tuba" once. That was enough. The Sousaphone was designed for marching.

55 years and as many aches and pains later, I'll play any parade seated on comfortable chair on a flat bed truck with my tuba on my lap.

I question why anyone would carry a tuba on his/her shoulder. That's just my unsolicited, not-so-humble opinion!

Hey! I resemble all those remarks! The souzy was a 20K, and I played an old one as a practice instrument for field marching in grad school. I had a large towel folded up and duct taped to the bugle to ease the shoulder. I now play an even larger souzy, a 1930 38K, for parades, and, like you, only on a flat bed trailer.

I have seen only one rational argument for using a contra over a souzy: on certain styles of marching, including high stepping, the knees/thighs can occasionally bump the bugle causing mouthpiece wobbles. But I did just fine with all that, including 270 degree turns, bell dips, and everything else. I agree with the shoulder thing to. In order to make it bearable, the contra or tuba has to be so much smaller in size and bore that you can get good projection, but the tone is strident.

Yes, I resemble those remarks.

[bearphonium]

Based on both personal experience and watching the bands during the college bowl season and the inaugural parade, I have to ask...Is there such a thing as a gooseneck and bits that DON'T require extra hand support?

[iiipopes]

The only reason I had a towel taped to the bugle was on the insistance of my chiropractor. All these years later, I don't use one on the 38K, which, at 35 pounds, is actually heavier than a 20K.

Yes, we also did a different show for each home game, and took whatever the particular show was coming up next when we went to marching contest, and usually won over the bands who did nothing but one show all season.

As to weather, our director was more machiavellian in this regard: we had the wind and bad weather also. If we flinched or lost footing at anytime during the season, we automatically dropped a letter semester grade. You learned to anticipate the wind and lean into it.

[iiipopes]

Yes, when I was a freshman my high school band band marched 4 souzys. One particularly cold rehearsal before school our valves froze. Mine froze open. Another with 1st down, etc. with different combinations. When we realized what had happened, we looked at each other, shrugged our shoulders, and continued to play the notes we could play extra loud. We covered enough of the parts the director didn't stop rehearsal, just thought the cold was making it a little harder to get a good deep breath. When we told him what happened, he was complimentary of our continuing to work at it to get it done.

[tubatom91]

Yes, when I was a freshman my high school band band marched 4 souzys. One particularly cold rehearsal before school our valves froze. Mine froze open. Another with 1st down, etc. with different combinations. When we realized what had happened, we looked at each other, shrugged our shoulders, and continued to play the notes we could play extra loud. We covered enough of the parts the director didn't stop rehearsal, just thought the cold was making it a little harder to get a good deep breath. When we told him what happened, he was complimentary of our continuing to work at it to get it done.

it would have been great if you could've gotten together enough for every body to play their (one) specific note(s). Now that would be a sight!

[Tubaing]

Mine froze open. Another with 1st down, etc. with different combinations. When we realized what had happened, we looked at each other, shrugged our shoulders, and continued to play the notes we could play extra loud.

Slurring must have been hell.

[iiipopes]

Yes, when I was a freshman my high school band band marched 4 souzys. One particularly cold rehearsal before school our valves froze. Mine froze open. Another with 1st down, etc. with different combinations. When we realized what had happened, we looked at each other, shrugged our shoulders, and continued to play the notes we could play extra loud. We covered enough of the parts the director didn't stop rehearsal, just thought the cold was making it a little harder to get a good deep breath. When we told him what happened, he was complimentary of our continuing to work at it to get it done.

it would have been great if you could've gotten together enough for every body to play their (one) specific note(s). Now that would be a sight!

We weren't playing anything that wasn't in a "near" key, and nothing too low, as our director knew notes that were too low did not project well. So we about had that anyway, as all four of us were in a single platoon. That's why the director didn't stop. He commented he heard all the notes, just not as solid as he usually heard us play.

[bobsacks]

Here's how the JSU Marching Southerners do it with the 20J:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClLnbuMn ... re=related" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank

This a good video but with my computer I can't see the tubas very well.

Here's a pretty funny sousaphone section battle. I wish I could have seen it live.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtwCRaLm ... L&index=47" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank

BTW this a very interesting thread. I'm learning a lot about convertible tubas. I just got a Besson (B&H) 700 with the marching leadpipe but not the concert one
As many others have stated , it seems very uncomfortable to play it on the shoulder.
I hope I can find a concert leadpipe for it.