Posted by Joe S. on November 08, 1999 at 02:21:32:
In Reply to: Re: Contrabass vs Sousaphone...... posted by Lee A. Stofer, Jr. on November 07, 1999 at 20:01:12:
Sorry, but just like on the McLaughlin Report, "LEE IS CORRECT". The Conn Elkhart-style sousaphones, either the discontinued large 14K or the still-made 20K extra-large are the pinnacle for outside use. All I see in over-the-shoulders is chronic excessive damage (particularly badly-flattened second branches - "Gee, I wonder if smashing a tuba against a collar bone over and over is detrimental to the condition of anyone's neck and shoulders?"), and torn-up conversion pipes. I hear far more round sound out of a good sousaphone with a good player behind it than I do with a Yamaha M-series, or whatever brand of large shoulder-mount (although I've heard a few exceptionally good players - probably approaching the quality of Leland - make shoulder-mounts sound good.) Plus, shoulder mounts will KILL you, unless you are some kind of Superman, or just don't care if you have thousands of $$$$'s in Chiropractic bills starting when you are about 35 years old.
Incidentally, about 99% of the people that I see playing sousaphones route the gooseneck at bits BACKWARDS. Most all sousaphones are designed to have the gooseneck head off to the player's LEFT, and the bits should work their way back to center FROM the player's left. If one readjusts the bell to accomodate this, a much better all over "fit" to the human form will be realized and soon appreciated. (WHY did I tack on this last comment? In order to chuckle at all of the Ann-Landersian-toilet-paper-over-the-top-vs.-under-the-bottom sub-posts that it could generate re: "the proper angle of sousa goosenecks". :-)