Posted by Joe S. on June 09, 1999 at 20:44:42:
In Reply to: Sousaphone on eBay? posted by Mauro on June 09, 1999 at 16:37:42:
E-mail the owner about the pistons. The nickel plating on these Selmer U.S.A.-made sousas is notorious for wearing off prematurely. Theirs, hopefully, is free of brown tarnished areas where the plating is worn down to the (tarnished) raw nickel-silver underneath. (I did not check out the one on ebay to see if it is actually what you said it is.) The Selmer (Signet/Bundy/Buescher/whatever) U.S.A. IS a pretty good sousa, in other respects. It has a bore that is well over .700" - unlike all most all other sousaphones, except mainly for Conn. I personally would wait for a good Conn 36K (old style) if you want a good fiberglass sousaphone. This is the standard 4/4 size Conn with standard pistons. In my opinion, with a good player and a good mouthpiece, the 36K's, in some ways sound better than Miraphone 186 tubas and many other respected tubas (he says as the crowd goes oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!).