Antique Musical Instruments/Elkhart Sousaphone

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Expert: - 10/19/2010


Question
I have an old Elkhart sousaphone. I noticed that the instrument has the best tone and sound quality out of all the sousaphones in my band so i googled the name of the bell engraving "Elkhart IND. USA" and found a link to a historical site with a 1926 elkhart sousaphone. When i compared the picture to my sousaphone i noticed that they are identical in tubing orientation. I found a serial number on the number 2 valve "926550". Is it possible that this is a 1920's sousaphone? I found a 63 elkhart online that had much fancier engraving so i don't think its any newer than that.

Answer
The Elkhart Band Instrument Company was started in 1924 by Buescher President Andrew Beardsley. After Beardsleys death in 1928, Elkhart Band Instrument company was merged into the Buescher Company. Elkhart used Bandmaster, Tempo and Windsor as tradenames. Buescher used Elkhart Band Inst as a trademark.  

Antique Musical Instruments

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Kenton Scott

Expertise

Please note: My area is BRASS instruments, not other wind, string or percussion instruments. I will provide information on antique, obscure and out of production BRASS instruments. 1) Please don't ask for evaluations, I'll not provide them on this site. 2) I am often asked very similar questions, so I'd invite you to first check on Horn-u-Copia.net. Much of the information I have garnered about this topic, I have posted on this WEB site.

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I perform in several historical bands, have informally researched the area, repair brass instruments, and operate a Forum dedicated to the topic at http://horn-u-copia.net

Education/Credentials
B.S. Ed, M.S.

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