Holton with Short Action Valves

[Tubaing]

These don't come up too often

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Holton-BBb-Elkh ... 1c31e4ede2" target="_blank

[Dan Schultz]

Yup. I have a Holton short-action sousie. This might be fun to add to the fray!

[pjv]

Dan, I thought you were trying to sell off some of your cattle. Now your talking about buying this.
Are you sure you're not addicted?

[Dan Schultz]

Hat Dan, Is this like a super giant, or just an extra large horn. ? 5/4 or 6/4 ?

I'd say it's a large 5/4.... comparable to a Conn 2XJ. In fact... the bell will interchange with the 2XJ.

I have a short-action Holton sousa and would rate the horn about 80% to a Conn 2XJ. The action is nice but I think the Holton is just plain 'stuffy'. The piston circuits are pretty clean (no 'bumps') but all of the circuits make very tight 180 degree turns.

Nonetheless... it might be fun to own another piece of history whether it plays well or not.

[Dan Schultz]

Dan, I thought you were trying to sell off some of your cattle. Now your talking about buying this.
Are you sure you're not addicted?

I've thought about selling some horns but most of the stuff I own is pretty special. I'll let my widow deal with my horns!

[Dan Schultz]

Update.... I received this 'short-action' Holton this afternoon.... took out a few dents.... and went to a German gig with it this evening. It's an awesome horn!

I've had a Holton 'short-action' sousa for a couple of years and never spent enough time with it to give it a proper evaluation. I bought it as a curiosity since there were only a handful made. When this 'short-action' tuba popped-up on Ebay, I figure it would be sort of fun to have the pair.

It appears that this 'short-action' Holton is the same body as the big Holtons everyone raves about. I'm REALLY impressed with the performance of this tuba! (Maybe I'll start paying attention to the SA sousa now).

[Untersatz]

Good news Dan! I'm glad it turned out to be a winner

[pjv]

Congratulations! I once owned a Frank Holton 130 sousaphone from 1940. A real nice player with a tuba-like sound. 26" bell with a .750 bore, I believe.

Sold it to pay for my 40K. That was hard.

Good luck.

[Dan Schultz]

Congratulations! I once owned a Frank Holton 130 sousaphone from 1940......

Here are a few images of my 'short-action' Holton sousa. I never paid a lot of attention to this horn and only got it because of the unique valve arrangement. These last few weeks I've discovered that it shares a lot of characteristics with the Conn SA sousa except of the piston configuration. In fact... the bells will interchange.

According to the serial numbers... the tuba was made in 1936 and the sousa was made in 1941.

Does anyone know the production years for the Holton 'short-action' horns?

[T. J. Ricer]

Congrats, Dan - I was in the bidding because I was pretty sure those were the bows that Holton later "copied" from York! Glad it found a good home (but do PM me if you get tired of it ).

Some of the inner bows are higher or lower in relation to the top and bottom bow than on the 345, but the taper/relative size looks the same. Check this one out for comparison (if it's not already at your house): http://www.ebay.com/itm/Holton-Tuba-Par ... 0888865294" target="_blank

This may be its own thread, but, do you think that this type of bottom bow/bell stack would fit the various modern York copies? As a person who lives a long way from anywhere, I was thinking it might be nice to be able to put the bell and body of a horn in separate cases so they could be under-size and under-weight for flights. This would also help to minimize the risk of bell damage because of the weight of the horn itself. There is probably a reason that modern makers don't seem to offer detachable bells, but having the option of upright or front facing and traveling safer (if with an extra piece of luggage) seems mighty tempting.

Just thinking out-loud... no need to flame me for destroying a cool, vintage horn or a $1X,XXX modern horn as I don't have the means, parts, or skills.

--T. J.

[Dan Schultz]

... Some of the inner bows are higher or lower in relation to the top and bottom bow than on the 345, but the taper/relative size looks the same. Check this one out for comparison (if it's not already at your house): http://www.ebay.com/itm/Holton-Tuba-Par ... 0888865294" target="_blank" target="_blank ....

Yes... I saw the 'parts' Holton on the Dillon auction. I thought about bidding on it but it was soooo rough. I didn't like the annular patch on the top bow, either.