Expert: Kenton Scott - 12/9/2006

Question
Hello,
I recently bought the 1915 4-valved Eb Holton sousaphone which is pictured on this page http://www.horn-u-copia.net/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1114644997
The mouthpipe is very unusual, and its end is very narrow (none of my mouthpieces fit in). So I bought an old Conn mouthpiece from this era thinking it will be OK. And it is not... So I examined carefully the mouthpipe and came to the conclusion that it wasn't the original (I add that it is satin silver whereas the body is bright silver...). Consequently, I'd like to know how does an original holton sousaphone mouthpipe from this era looks like, and if I can fit a modern one into my old sousa.
Thank you,

Gilles Monfort


Answer
Hi,

The original Eb's came with a smaller shank mouthpiece than what fits on a BBb horn.  So, the first thing to check is whether you have a Eb mouthpipe or something else.  

The old Eb shanked mouthpieces are a bit harder to come by, BUT you can check it by borrowing a large bore tenor trombone mouthpiece or a bass trombone mouthpiece, and see if it fits in the mouthpipe.  If it does, then it is probably the proper size.  

I see I don't have any Eb bass mouthpieces on Horn-u-copia.net.  I can add some, but I'm not sure that will help you much.  I'll try to remember to photo some tomorrow.  

But, you have a couple of choices.  I just fixed up a Conn Eb helicon and I was able to fit an old style BBb gooseneck in it with some minor modifications.  And, it happens to play well with a modern mouthpiece.

But that is not always the case.  I once had a King 4v Eb and it was terribly out of tune with modern mouthpieces, but I found that when I used an old Eb mouthpiece, it played in tune.

More often than not, Eb's play better with Eb mouthpieces.  

Your other choices is to remove the receiver from your horn and replace it with a modern one, and then modern goosenecks will fit.