"Selfone", Baby Sousaphone in F
Jim Self is over represented in the special projects pages because he is the
kind of guy that is always looking for unique instruments to use for his
musical expressions. When he first saw the Barcone "baby" sousaphone
in my shop he was inspired. The second photo to the left shows this
encounter. I warned him that they play like crap because of the very
small bore for a BBb instrument, but he wanted to try it. He agreed but
quickly came back with the idea of shortening it to F and installing a
larger bore valve section. I told him that while certainly possible, it would
be expensive and purely experimental. I couldn't make any guarantees as
to how much better that the original it would play. Upon being reassured
that it would be at least marginally better than the original, he told me to
go ahead.
I had the body of a Conn 4 valve Eb sousaphone, so that became the
donor for the valve section. Every slide tube had to be shortened along
with normal repairs. The fourth valve tubing had to be rerouted
creatively to fit its new, more compact home but the third tubing was
allowed to hang out at the top. A completely new mouthpipe assembly
had to be designed and built. Most of the third branch of the main,
tapered, tubing was discarded. A 180 degree return crook of correct size
was modified to connect to a newly made tapered branch that curved
back and down to the main tuning slide. All of this work was done while
keeping in mind that Jim had to fit inside it and play it. The last
photograph shows that he fits in it as well as Joe Jackson fits in a standard
size sousaphone. The resulting instrument is surprisingly playable and
indeed, Jim has used it for the cimbasso parts in the opera.
Click on images for larger view.
kind of guy that is always looking for unique instruments to use for his
musical expressions. When he first saw the Barcone "baby" sousaphone
in my shop he was inspired. The second photo to the left shows this
encounter. I warned him that they play like crap because of the very
small bore for a BBb instrument, but he wanted to try it. He agreed but
quickly came back with the idea of shortening it to F and installing a
larger bore valve section. I told him that while certainly possible, it would
be expensive and purely experimental. I couldn't make any guarantees as
to how much better that the original it would play. Upon being reassured
that it would be at least marginally better than the original, he told me to
go ahead.
I had the body of a Conn 4 valve Eb sousaphone, so that became the
donor for the valve section. Every slide tube had to be shortened along
with normal repairs. The fourth valve tubing had to be rerouted
creatively to fit its new, more compact home but the third tubing was
allowed to hang out at the top. A completely new mouthpipe assembly
had to be designed and built. Most of the third branch of the main,
tapered, tubing was discarded. A 180 degree return crook of correct size
was modified to connect to a newly made tapered branch that curved
back and down to the main tuning slide. All of this work was done while
keeping in mind that Jim had to fit inside it and play it. The last
photograph shows that he fits in it as well as Joe Jackson fits in a standard
size sousaphone. The resulting instrument is surprisingly playable and
indeed, Jim has used it for the cimbasso parts in the opera.
Click on images for larger view.