Posted by Bill on January 05, 2001 at 15:19:29:
In Reply to: Jumbo Sousaphones--Take 2 posted by Steve Marcus on January 05, 2001 at 09:15:06:
In Junior High School, I had both a normal sized, 3 valve, King sousaphone and a huge
Buescher Jumbo 4 valve sousaphone. These were owned by the El Cajon, California, civic band and made available to me to play at school. I used the Buescher in the school orchestra before I learned to play bass viol well enough to do that. It sounded like 16 bass viols, very low undertone centered. I also played it in the civic band, especially for outdoor concerts. I could not use it in the school band; it was simply too much horn for that group. And I was not a great volume player; it was impossible for the horn to not sound that way. I used the King for school band and marching (it was also a very focused lovely horn, but not a boomer).
I never carried the Buescher in a parade and only carried the thing once, while marching. This was on a bet with the drum major about whether I actually could carry it. 20 minutes cured me but won the bet. The bell was 36" across. I am, by the way, the same size now that I was in 8th grade and would no more want to carry it now than I did then.