Sousaphone bell positioning

[Hank74]

Last night while marching with the sousa, it got me thinking about the proper position of the bell while playing or marching.

Usually while practicing on my own Jupiter sousa, I have the bell slightly moved to the left about 10 degrees to the left from the edge being parallel to the player.

So I wanted to ask any of you in a marching band and who plays the sousa how do you position your bell?

Let's start a big thread on this.

Hank74

[jacobg]

can you ressurect the photos showing how its done in the old thread?

[Lew]

As described in the many earlier threads the bell should continue to curve of the body, that is if looking at the opening of the body, the bell should look like it is pointing to the right. My Conn 28K even has alignment marks on the back of the bell and the collar on the body. They are little arrows that indicate where the bell should connect. If they are aligned the bell points slightly to the left when the sousaphone is worn properly. The photo of the marching Illini (or whatever their name will have to change to now) in the thread to which Bloke refered, see below, is the wrong way to assemble a sousaphone.