Cases for Jumbo Sousaphones

[RenoDoc]

I bought a jumbo-size York sousaphone a few years ago. The horn doesn't fit in the MTS or SKB cases or even a Protec gig bag. The hard case that came with it is a very, very old Conn case that's seen better days. Any leads on a hard or soft case that would work for this horn would be appreciated.

[bloke]

I bought a jumbo-size York sousaphone a few years ago. The horn doesn't fit in the MTS or SKB cases or even a Protec gig bag. The hard case that came with it is a very, very old Conn case that's seen better days. Any leads on a hard or soft case that would work for this horn would be appreciated.

I seriously doubt it, and the much closer fit of the cases of old (built with more time/trouble/care - with far more curved wooden parts) likely would define that - were you to find anything - it would be some sort of boxy "trunk" that would only fit into the largest types of vehicles which individuals tend to own (pick-ups, full-size vans, etc.)

I would look into (original type) Gorilla Glue, staples (to hold the Gorilla Glue for an hour or so), perhaps some wood glue (such as TiteBond II) for some of the edges which are only loose and not damaged, fiberglass cloth (with epoxy resin or polyester resin) for areas where wood is actually missing, Bondo (to build up over hardened fiberglass cloth), new hardware, and possibly even (for straight edges) long 90-degree angled pieces of extruded aluminum as reinforcement...all to restore that distressed old case.

If you're not interested in taking on that project, I might encourage you to find someone to take it on for you.

[RenoDoc]

Thanks- I definitely know I need to rip out all of the insides. Might make a good project for when the weather gets crappy.

[bloke]

Thanks- I definitely know I need to rip out all of the insides. Might make a good project for when the weather gets crappy.

An electric knife does a good job of cutting foam rubber, and the charcoal-colored foam rubber is typically the most dense (compresses the least under impact or weight).

When upholstering the foam rubber shapes with black "plush", "triple velvet", "crushed velvet", or whatever type of cloth you choose...

...don't use contact cement, but use the YELLOW hot glue gun sticks (which is what MTS uses at their factory). Use this same glue to glue the upholstered foam rubber pieces to the wooden case interior. Have a few heavy things ready (clean bricks?) to hold the upholstered foam rubber pieces in place as the hot glue cools.

Of course - if adding wheels - add an extra thickness of wood on the interior (if room available) - since that area will be under more stress.

If the tolex (or other type of covering) is in bad shape (and you can get it off the exterior, and maybe even sand off the glue) experience tells me that truck bed liner sprays on surprisingly thin.

I've never tried this on a wooden CASE...but (if you buy some of that zinc paint (for home exterior gas pipes which are beginning to show rust or other zinc-coated things such as old garbage cans, attic vents, etc.) that stuff will actually LAYER UP (and potentially hide case flaws)...BUT it is NOT designed to adhere to wood...so you would need to do some research on some intermediate primer, etc. Of course, it's battleship gray, so (If you decided to play around with it) that's the color, unless you paint over it with some satin black (and the grey would show through wherever you bumped things hard against that behemoth and knocked the black off the gray...Realize that grey is a fairly common color for large plastic percussion cases.)

When cutting out the foam rubber shapes, do not strive for a tight fit, as - eventually - repeated insertions of the instrument could tear it loose (forcing the instrument past it over-and-over). Also, ALLOW for the added thickness of the cloth upholstery you use (both on the sides that show, and those that don't show).

If the sousaphone slightly moves around in the upholstered case, you're not going to suffer any instrument damage (unless there's some really severe impact, but I believe you already know this).

soft cases: (my opinion)
not the best choices for large brass, as large brass instruments are often no thicker than small brass, and - thus - considerably easier to dent...
...and - the larger the tuba type of instrument - the worse becomes the size-to-thickness ratio.