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Got a Fiberglass 36k recently and have been using it as my main busking axe since, but the long hours I like to play do a number on my shoulder. In the winter my jackets were so thick it wasn't much of an issue, but now I'm irritated by it digging in to my shoulder. I've used a gardening knee pad, scarves, and towels, but they all have their issues. What have people found to be the best shoulder pad for their sousas? Store bought, or homemade?

This is not one of those “I’m a tough guy and can take it“ posts, but I’m going to ask you these things:

How many days has it been bothering you ?
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Several years ago, I was hired with a band to parade around the convention at the baseball all stars game week. The sousaphone hurt my shoulder like hell for about two days, and for the last three days it quit hurting…my feet on the convention center concrete floor remained an issue… But whatever.
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My next question is this:
How are you putting your instrument together and “wearing” it?
If the bell is nearly hitting your forehead, and your tuning bits approach your mouth from your left, you’re probably resting the sousaphone on your neck vertebrae, instead of on your shoulder, and (saying this as a friend) you’re going to F yourself a bad if you continue to do that. A whole bunch of high school kids do that, and end up with issues (often: neck vertebrae arthritis) for the rest of their lives.

PADS:
I’ve never found any of them did a damn bit of good. It’s still is the same weight on my shoulder.
Actually, the pad adds a little bit more weight.

this post:
You might not like it, but I really am trying to help you.

One other thing to consider is that the horn might also be slipping around causing problems. While it provides no cushion, maybe a piece of that grippy shelf liner stuff might add some stability and help?

The thickness/softness of the pad doesn't matter.

What matters is weight dispersion.

A cheap, thin, vinyl one came with mine. It helps.

Right, dispersion. My Conn has it built in - just a brass saddle platform under the tubing - and it does the job pretty well, despite the sousaphone being on the heavy side. Padding will deliver the weight to about the same point, so it really doesn't change much - good for impacts between two hard surfaces, but that isn't usually the problem.

I’m not claiming that everyone is the same, but – with me – that muscle just inside the clavicle hurts for about two days - if I’m holding a sousaphone for several hours a day, and it doesn’t matter whether I’m using a 20/38/40K (with that flat piece of metal), a King sousaphone (with just the regular round third branch resting on that muscle), or whether either of those is covered with some sort of pad.
After a couple of days, that muscle toughens up, heals from the soreness, and it doesn’t bother me at all anymore.

I’m thinking that the people to ask are the military people - who work in DC in the boneyard bands.

I believe in anything that "Bloke" says, but to answer your question, I bought and like the Yamaha shoulder and bottom pad. The bottom pad helps me protect the tuba from the ground as well as my leg. Yes, weight added but it did help spread the load. I would like to figure out how to make something to hold it when I am just standing still.

I am done with marching!!!!
CCC

The first smart thing you did was get a 36k!!

I've had it for two months now, playing many hour busking sessions. I think my posture with it makes sense; It's just inside the hump of my shoulder near the end of my collarbone, and is angled reasonably. I don't have to do any awkward reaches to get to the mouthpiece, which seems like the main indicator that the set up makes sense.

I like the idea of a type of pad or attachment that disperses the weight over a wider area, more than just adding padding. Some of yours seem to have attachments that either came with or are part of the instrument. I wonder if a hockey or football shoulder pad could do the trick?

OK…
If someone really DOES have a problem with this, they are NOT holding their sousaphone sideways, and NOT hanging it off of their neck vertebrae… and that muscle does NOT stop hurting after two or three days…

You’ve got me thinking about a fiberglass thing that fits (custom fits) over a specific person’s left shoulder to protect them from the sousaphone, to ACTUALLY distribute the weight over a MUCH larger area, and perhaps with an indention in it, so that the sousaphone hangs in the indention securely…

Perhaps it even straps around the right ribs underneath the right arm, to keep it from falling off…

?????

I think deadlifts and barbell shrugs would help more than just about anything else. Maybe farmer’s carries also? Get some meat on the traps.

A Conn 38K with shoulder plate -



It isn't much, but makes more difference than you might think. Something like this will stay securely on your shoulder like the bare tubing does - you don't want it sliding around up there.

For what it's worth, I'm little more than skin and bones, and my 40K is over 30lbs.

.

non-requested information:

I am fairly confident that the previous generation of King fiberglass sousaphones
(NOT the first ones, and NOT the current ones, which have been oddly altered in design - and possibly in materials)
were the lightest weight sousaphones ever manufactured.

What about getting a cast made for your shoulder? It is well padded and light weight, and you can get it in any color you want. You can sport tape it under your shirt so it will not move.


You could also put makeup on it to wear without a shirt!
CCC

I'll try some of the above suggestions. I'm not dying out there - just wondering about options to have even more fun than I already am. Mine is ~17lbs so not the end of the world. Doing some shoulder press again wouldn't hurt. I mean, it will literally hurt, but presumably in a good way. You win some you lose some.

Thanks all.

Neotech sousaphone shoulder pad. I put them on my sousas which are all brass and heavy. They don't bunch up if secured properly and aren't pieces of ****. It doesn't make the sousa less heavy, just more comfortable when it shifts around from stepping over cracks and potholes, as well as a little side stepping of horse manure, as I do frequently in parades.