Re: Info about 4 valve sousaphones


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Posted by Frederick J. Young on April 03, 2002 at 15:38:37:

In Reply to: Info about 4 valve sousaphones posted by Patrick on April 02, 2002 at 16:00:18:

I had a 4 valve Conn Sousaphone for many years. I had a 34" bell which was more than 9 inches in diameter at the small end. The bore was about 0.8 inch through the valves. It was in very good condition, silver with gold bell. However, it was very much out of tune. 40 cents sharp on some notes and as much as 45 cents flat on other notes. It was very heavy and loud! I sold it to Bob Pucci and I don't know what he did with it. It was so large he had trouble putting it in the back seat of his car. The best sousaphone I ever played was a Holton fiber glass. It sounded so much better than all of the tubas exhibited that trying instruments on the floor was prohibited after that. Perhaps you could get a Holton and have a fourth valve added or better yet replace all of them with a switch valve and three double valves. I would guess that you could get Dietrich Kliene-Horst at Gronitz to do that at a reasonable price. Then you would have a light and in tune instrument.


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