Sousaphone mouthpiece

[Donn]

Not just for sousaphones by the way - all kinds of tubas. If you're lucky, there may be as many or more old mouthpieces that size, as there are tubas that need it, they're just waiting in a drawer in some music shop or estate sale. Also, Josef Klier claims to offer a 12.5 mm shank option for their mouthpieces, which is probably close (their standard is 13.5 mm.)

[Uncle Markie]

New Orleans Brass Band sousaphones -

My experience is limited with this (haven't been to that lovely town in a while), but - sousaphone players in those bands work pretty hard. They keep time and get the band cooking; real rhythm section work, and play all the time.

Most guys use either a Conn or a King. The Kings seemed prevalent to me since they were LIGHTER and spoke better. Some guys like those short action Conns; the weight would gotten to me in that humidity, etc.

Since you play constantly (keeping time - not "ein Heldenleben") something with a cushy rim and open backbore so you don't fight with the horn should be the ticket.

Try a King 26, Conn 2,, or a Bach 18. Something with a gentle chamfer in the inside of the rim. Don't fight the horn. Conn and King have made many more sousaphones than Amati ever will - try and get one.

Mark Heter

[Schedonnardus]

i always used a conn helleberg mouthpiece back when i was in marching band.

[Uncle Markie]

My thinking is match the equipment to the gig - if you can. The original post indicated "New Orleans" style brass band. Those bands get hired for funerals, processions and parades - not unlike the old Italian Feast Bands we used to have in NYC that played processions in front of a statue of a saint collecting money all morning, then climb up onto a bandstand and be expected to perform an entire concert version of a Verdi opera after slogging through the neighborhood all day playing Italian "Marcia simfonicas".

The typical work for the NOLA bands entails long processions to the cemetery playing dirges like "Westlawn", hymns at the graveside, and letting loose on the way back to town with a variety of tunes where the band gets "hot" and people follow in the "second line" dancing around celebrating the departed's "crossing over". It's utility work - not a concert - and most times due to budgets and attempts to limit musical anarchy (conflicting bass lines resulting in the "Queen Mary" effect) and since there usually aren't any charts of flipbooks - the sousaphone player works alone whilst the trumpets and trombones can "spell" each other.

What I'm saying is - set up to be comfortable. Fighting the equipment on grind jobs is awful.

Mark Heter

[JohnPolka]

Hi all,

It plays pretty ok but finding the right intonation is still a bit hard, probably because the 24AW he got with the horn as well as my 32E barely fit, they go in the receiver for about 1 cm, where my tuba almost swallows the mouthpieces. Is there some sort of different size shank for sousaphones that I'm not aware of? At the shops I checked online I couldn't find different sizes of shanks. Thanks!

You didn't mention if you are using tuning bits with your sousaphone. If you're not using these, then perhaps what you really need to be looking for are the tuning bits. My guess is that the tuning bits would take a standard mouth piece.