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7th grade, Faribault MN. Conn short-action fiberglass sousaphone.

After my orthodontist made me give up the clarinet after 6th grade (a good move), I switched to baritone in 1963. It was a beat-up silver upright (King, as I recall) with U.S. Army stenciled on the case, probably WW2 surplus, and played it in Jr. High.

As a freshman in 1965, I volunteered to switch to Sousaphone and played an Olds fiberglass and marched all 4 years with it.

In the spring of 1966, my band director bought the school's first tuba, an upright Besson 3-valve compensating, and I played it through high school. Loved the sound of that horn, and loved that my band director believed in me enough to buy it with his limited budget.

Heinrich Hermuth was this master instrument maker in Gelsenkirchen, Germany.
Dad owned various (old) brass instruments, and quite a few of them were of Mr. Hermuth´s making.
When I was in primary school, he retired and let his assistant take over the company.
Mr. Sokollies kept the firm´s name, but concentrated on repair work rather than homegrown manufacturing.

My first flugelhorn I started aged 13 was a Hermuth original, and a few months before High school graduation I picked up this old Hermuth tuba that had been decorating our house for ages, cleaned it and started tooting.
So that was a 3/4 sized 3-valved BBb with very accessible "false tones" and enough tonal flexibility to make it sound nice in trombone choir. It must have been built short after WW2.

Around my 8th grade graduation, the HS band director asked me to switch to tuba (I was a sax player up until then). I got a 3/4 convertible Yamaha and had to march a parade 5 days later. Quite a start

My first tuba/sousa was in 4th grade, when I started. It was an Olds or Conn (I'm guessing) fiberglass sousaphone in white or white and red (I seem to have a memory of a red bell) that was mounted in a special sousaphone chair.

Something like this:



My first tuba, was likely a Yamaha 103. My middle school had a few Yamaha 103 tubas and a couple of larger (I want to say bell front King 2341) horns that no one really played.

I have a fond memory of when my middle school band director ordered me a brand-new 103 for home. My mom picked it up from a warehouse or something and brought it home. I will never forget the feeling of unwrapping the plastic off the horn and the smell of the new horn (metal, oil and slide grease) and new case.

I started in 4th grade on an Olds Baritone Horn. In 8th grade I switched to tuba and played an Olds O-99 until grade 10.

best,
Mark

of all places, I picked up the Baritone/Euph in the schools. I had played Cornet since age 4 or 5, but it was 7th grade which convinced me to switch.

For the first 2ish years, I played a BUNDY. 3 valves. Non-compensating. I always thought it was a baritone. In 1986, my parents ponied up $125 and bought me my first instrument. A 1906 Henry Distin 3v non-compensating Euphonium...which I still have to this day. Two years later, I had improved to a point where it was strongly suggested I get a new horn. My parents paid $2100 for a brand new Besson/B&H Sovereign. 37 years later I still have the horn.

In 2022, I returned to playing after 27 years and found myself playing 2nd Baritone with a local brass band. I picked up a Sterling Virtuoso baritone..only to find out it's the only one of its kind in North America. Custom made with a heavy brass bell. A gorgeous horn.

Since this is a tuba forum, I guess I need to mention my Eb Bass. In 2024, I grew weary of 6 euphoniums in a concert band I decided to go out and buy a Dillon 981...a clone of the Besson 981. It's a good horn and I'm slowly growing into it.

In sixth grade I was issued a Conn 14I baritone. It was extremely long in the tooth, likely over 20 years into its public school tenure, parts held on by some sort of stretchy translucent glitter tape. The valves worked... sometimes, even after I stretched the springs. Literal tears of frustration were shed by my 11-year-old self. That might have been the first and last year of band for me, but the summer before seventh grade my aunt discovered one of her coworkers had a nearly new Yamaha YEP-321 stuffed in his closet, unused since he'd graduated from high school years earlier. My aunt practically forced my parents to buy it (for a great price). By the time I reached twelfth grade, red rot was causing serious issues, and we had to get the valves replated. Six years of heavy use, and the biggest dent in it remained the nickel-sized one in the bell just below the receiver that the original owner put in it. I loved that instrument. And the POS that I nearly quit over is why I get angry about lousy student instruments. Beginners don't need pro-level instruments, but they do need good-quality instruments that are in good repair.

As for tubas, the first one I ever played was a brand new all-brass 3-valve sousaphone (not sure of the make/model), in twelfth grade. As an aside, I've played numerous sousaphones since, and while fiberglass has the advantage of being light and not denting (it chips and breaks!), the sound is so disappointing that I'm surprised anytime I see positive mention of them on this forum.

Aside from the Continental Colonial and YBB 102 being my first sousa/tuba, my middle school also had an old Conn 20k and a new-ish King 1140.

I actually started middle school on percussion, then trombone, finally tuba/sousa. My late mother told me "you better make sure, because this is the last time you are switching instruments"

The local high school at the time lent us an old, dented up, tarnished gray and black King 1250 sousa that needed service. We added another sousa player for parades, so that's why the high school lent us the beat up spare King.
At the time I thought that King was ancient.

The next year -- in high school -- me and another freshman had to play loaner sousas -- an old Conn 38k?, and a fiberglass Conn 36k. I was on the 36k. The upperclassmen were on refurbished King 2350 sousas.
A few months into the year, the old King 1250 and King Giant were back from being refurbished/overhauled. The upperclassmen got first dibs. One of them didn't like the 1250 because of the new style neck, and went back to his 2350. I was more than happy to play that just refurbished, wonderful shiny silver King 1250
Later I had my choice between it and the King Giant

Olds Ambassador bell-front baritone with a Bach 11* mouthpiece.

My first tuba experience came in college. I was a trombone student and my teacher felt my playing lacked rhythmic drive. At my second lesson he handed me a Conn 3-valve Eflat that he found in the basement. He announced that I was going to play this in the Folk Dance Club band. He said, “When you have rhythm issues in a lesson, the only thing that happens is I get pissed off. When you have rhythm issues playing for dancers, they run into each other and fall down.”

*Since Bach was years away from moving to Elkhart, it had to be a Mt. Vernon model. If I still had it, somebody on TromboneChat would probably give me enough for dinner for two at a pretty nice restaurant for it.

Reynolds (Emporer or Contemporer?) 3 valve, bell front, (detachable) baritone horn. 5th grade, 1963, Fairport, NY. Mr. Sherrill & Mr. Woodruff, band directors
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I'm amazed at the recall of so many tubists -- to remember model numbers from so long ago. For some maybe not so long. Anyway, all I remember is that the high school had two sousaphones.

I played horn in the concert band and the same kids marched too but we didn't march with french horns. So the band director got me to play baritone my sophomore year and handed me the baritone bass clef folder. I think there was an adjenda there because he knew I didn't read bass clef. By my sophomore year I was 6 feet tall and a whopping 135 lbs. I think he believed I would grow into a bigger guy by the time Doug, the 1st susa/tuba player, graduated in 1964. When he did we were short one bass player and had four baritones for marching band. By then I could read bass clef and weighed 150 lbs. So I played horn in concert band and orchestra and sousaphone in the marching band for fotball and parades and for basketball games. Sitting in the bleachers with a sousaphone is not comfortable, I discovered. The school had money enough for band uniforms and bought pretty good instruments. I played a Reynolds or King horn, while 1st chair got a Conn 6D, and I believe I played a King sousaphone.

During my baritone transition the assistant band director lent me his double-belled euphonium for the Victoria Days parade in the B.C. capital. It was great fun to hear the trombone bell echoing off the walls of the downtown buildings. The next year it was hot and I carried one of the sousaphones with much less drama and a great deal more sweat.

1 Ton Tommy wrote: Fri Jun 06, 2025 9:42 am I'm amazed at the recall of so many tubists -- to remember model numbers from so long ago.

More like, I am (and others are) now a complete nerd when it comes to this kind of thing and I now know dozens and dozens of tuba models, so I can cross-reference things in my memory to figure out what they were in retrospect.

~25 years ago for me, so probably not nearly as much as some!

I began band in Grade Seven. My first horn was a YBB-321. I needed to put a chair in front of me and lift the horn on to the chair as I was not strong enough to hold it in my lap. The horn had seen better days, however I loved it and played it for three more years until my King 1240 recording bell tuba arrived courtesy of Mr.Keemer Wetzel. Mr.Wetzel was a high school band director in Utica, New York. I purchased a YBB-321 three years ago from Facebook Marketplace. It was in just about the same condition as the one I played so many years ago. A thorough ultrasonic cleaning, several patches and general maintenance as well as a new gig bag has made it into a useful rehearsal tuba. I know these are not popular, however it was the starting point for me and why I purchased the above horn!

Eutubabone54 wrote: Fri Jun 06, 2025 9:27 am Reynolds (Emporer or Contemporer?) 3 valve, bell front, (detachable) baritone horn. 5th grade, 1963, Fairport, NY. Mr. Sherrill & Mr. Woodruff, band directors
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"Contempora"