Rotary Sousaphones

[markrubin]

I owned a very lovely 4 valve rotary Sousaphone and eventually sold it to Emile Francis of New Orleans. I showed pictures of it to the Cerveny shop manager in Prague when I was touring through there a few years back. He swore up and down that they never made any Sousas, but took it back when I showed him the pic (can't find it today!) It was not a slap dash instrument, it was very smartly laid out and very free blowing. I was sad to see it go, but travel restrictions mean no more Helicons or Sousa's on tour for me.

[imperialbari]

I looked at my disk and found some shots of a Cerveny BBb sousaphone from before WWII. The source htm file has gone bad, so I don’t know the history behind this instrument. The shot will come in no particular order.

Klaus

[imperialbari]

3 more shots of the pre-WWII Cerveny sousaphone:

[imperialbari]

Last two. Could produce a shot of the captain:

[markrubin]

RubinAgain.jpg

This is the same horn Klaus posted pictures of. I bought it off eBay, played the hell out of it and sold it to Emile Francis of New Orleans. When he bugged out during Katrina, he took it with him only to have it stolen along with his van in Houston a few days later. Thankfully, the van and it's contents were returned unmolested a few days later. He calls it "The Czar."

[iiipopes]

I dont know why rotary sousas never caught on, but someday I want to get a 20K/38K sousaphone body and mount a 25J valve section on it. Nothing cooler than a 4 valve short action sousaphone.

Knuckles. let me say that again: knuckles. As the picture indicates, yes, the valve configuration is the same, but to get the spread on the sousaphone as opposed to the spread on a tuba, the knuckles coming out of the valve block are totally different. By the time you have invested in the rebuild of the valve block, you could have bought another project souzy.

Besides, the flattened ports of the short-throw valves flatten the 5th partials. If you want a large throat souzy that plays in tune, wait for a 40K.

[TUbajohn20J]

I dont know why rotary sousas never caught on, but someday I want to get a 20K/38K sousaphone body and mount a 25J valve section on it. Nothing cooler than a 4 valve short action sousaphone.

Knuckles. let me say that again: knuckles. As the picture indicates, yes, the valve configuration is the same, but to get the spread on the sousaphone as opposed to the spread on a tuba, the knuckles coming out of the valve block are totally different. By the time you have invested in the rebuild of the valve block, you could have bought another project souzy.

Besides, the flattened ports of the short-throw valves flatten the 5th partials. If you want a large throat souzy that plays in tune, wait for a 40K.

Yes, I realized that. Also Mr. Hartman has made a couple of 4 valve 20K's. I would like to see a pic of those..plus, I already HAVE a 40K!

[Mike-ICR]

Many American makers used the same front action sets for their tubas and sousaphones (at least for a while). Did Conn make a 4v front action set in .773? One of those might fit. The top action sets COULD be converted but it wouldn't be easy. The models with the loop style valve circuits would probably be easier to convert.