Posted by Joe S. on February 03, 2001 at 18:39:24:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Out of touch posted by Rick Denney on February 03, 2001 at 15:34:36:
Actually, a guy who was a year older than me (who went out of high school into the "President's Own") went to All-State with a 36K. I didn't try out until the 12th grade, because I didn't even know what "All-State" was when I was younger. When I was in the 12th grade, I took the cobwebbed old King 3-valve "Symphony Bass" off the back shelf, took the GOOD pistons out of the old King brown-brass sousaphone (back on the same shelf), and swapped them with the WORN-OUT pistons in the King tuba. I beat out the horrible dents in the lower bell stack of the tuba with a big metal cooking spoon, and sort-of rolled out the bell flair creases with my Mom's maple rolling pin. I also took off the old crease-cracked lacquer off of the bell with 000 steel wool and Brasso, and then BRUSHED on some clear lacquer that I found at the hardware store. Back then, judges were not behind screens and someone told me that there would be bias against me if I took a fiberglass sousaphone to the tryouts. (My family didn't have a lot of money...I guess that's why I've tryed, since I've been on my own, to be in a better situation.)
I do like the 36K / 14K feel and sound, as I have stated many times.