My New Jupiter CC Sousaphone

[Bill Troiano]

After talking to a few of the reputable and amazing tuba repair/tech/designers I've come to know, I learned that if you want to cut a BBb sousaphone to CC, Kings, Jupiters and Bueschers are the best candidates because the neck wraps around into the main tuning slide before entering the valve cluster on those instruments. So, there's 14-15" right there that can be removed without affecting the conical taper. Of course, it's surely not as simple as that, as other cuts need to be made after the valves and in each valve circuit. I am grateful to Lee Stofer who offered and took it upon himself to build this sousaphone for me. Knowing what Lee and others told me, I found a Jupiter sousaphone on Ebay. It had a fiberglass body, 3 valves, with silver tubing and a silver brass bell. I bought it and had it shipped directly to Lee. During the course of the process, Lee kept me informed as to the progress he was making with my instrument. It needed some new parts and Lee completely rebuilt the valve section and designed a new neck. During the final stages, Lee called me while I was on a mini bus brewery tour with 15 other semi wasted musicians. (We weren't playing. We were just drinking.) Lee told me he took it to a gig the previous night and that it played really well and that the pitch was right on. I couldn't wait to test drive the new sousaphone.

So last week, I finally received my new Jupiter CC sousaphone via Greyhound. It's everything I had hoped for and more. It plays like a large concert tuba, but with 3 valves. The pitch is excellent and in a jam session this past Sunday, I didn't have to move any slides, and I also found out that I can get decent low F by playing 123 and pulling the first valve slide all the way. It's a decent enough low F to end a tune on. With it's 26 in. brass bell, it has a big, round and open tone. Where I've had to push for volume when not miked on the other horns I've been using for trad. jazz, the notes just pop out of this baby - very free blowing. The pitch is excellent and in this jam session, I didn't have to move any slides, except when going for a low F. Lee's craftsmanship is also a beauty to behold. This is a custom CC sousaphone valve section and leadpipe and should be able to be transplanted on another sousaphone if desired. And, just to make it look cool, I asked Lee to paint the fiberglass section black.

I want to publicly thank Lee for his hard work, and his excellent craftsmanship in designing and building this sousaphone for me. (And, I wanted to show it off on Tubenet!!)

[barry grrr-ero]

Banda baby!

[bisontuba]

Way cool

[Bob Kolada]

Neat!

[toobagrowl]

Nice looking sousa But since the low false/ghost tone Eb pops out almost like a 'real' note on BBb sousas, shouldn't the now-false tone low F pop out on that CC sousa? Seems it would be easier than playing it 123 + long 1st slide pull...(which would still seem sharp to me)

[Bill Troiano]

I've never been one to be able to play false tones. I wish I could. Then, what you're saying should work. Yeah, the 123 with the pulled 1st valve slide seemed to work with the guys I jammed with last week, but when I actually sat down alone and tried it in my house, it was still very sharp. A false tone low F would be nice.