King 1261 Eb low pitch solved keeping it stock.

[JRaymo]

I seem to remember possibly on the old forum there was a picture or thread about someone who had one of these full circle king Eb sousaphones they converted to a helicon. Anyone remember and or have pictures or info on this?


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[bloke]

There are probably a few different bells that would work. If you waved enough money around here, there might be someone who has one of those great big 80 - 90 year old King or Cleveland bells that they might offer you for sale. By the way I don't have one, except one that's been cut down too short and thus too large to fit up next to your first branch.

[JRaymo]

There are probably a few different bells that would work. If you waved enough money around here, there might be someone who has one of those great big 80 - 90 year old King or Cleveland bells that they might offer you for sale. By the way I don't have one, except one that's been cut down too short and thus too large to fit up next to your first branch.

I’m considering using my Holton helicon bell. I don’t know if it’s going to be the correct size but it looks pretty close to correct. I remember seeing a picture of one of these that someone did this to but it was a long time ago. Could not find the picture in a search.


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[JRaymo]

This is a picture of the sousaphone. The bell is a 24 inches. My original one from years ago had the optional smaller 22 inch bell. Looking at pictures of the elbow connection I am not sure how the collar would fit. The helicon bell is approximately 14 inches long and 5.5 inches at the body connection. I’ll post a picture of it next.


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[JRaymo]

I kind of hate to scrap out a playable horn like this but just wondering if this bell would be long enough. I thought of this because the sousaphone still plays about 20 cents flat with newly overhauled valves. My original king also had this issue. The main tuning slides on these are very short and can only be cut about an inch (2 inches total removed). My old one played fantastic but had to have the shortened tuning slide all the way in to play modern pitch. The helicon bell would shorten the length to help with that issue and also reduce the weight.

I am wondering if I need to look for a tuba bell that is longer or if this one has a chance of fitting.


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[JRaymo]

After taking some more accurate measurements looks like I will need to look further for a Bell for this project. So if anyone has a vintage King Eb monster bell in silver thats available I will be looking for one in the future. Someone wiser than me "aka Bloke" suggested using a vintage King bell to keep the original look and possibly better resale value. So I am in no hurry on this. I will probably play it for a year or so unless a donor bell appears sooner.