What’s on My Bench? A Bb Tenor Sousaphone

So, remember how I said a while ago that we would be featuring some super cool stuff from our personal collections? Well, here’s your first installment - this beautiful horn is part of Matt’s personal collection, and I think it’s probably my personal favorite.

This little guy is a Buescher Bb Tenor Sousaphone, which basically is a wearable baritone horn. It plays in euphonium/baritone horn range, and takes a similar mouthpiece, but has a beautiful extended pedal range. It’s also super cute and is about a third of the size of a normal sousaphone. (Just for reference, I am 5’ 3.5” and can wear it comfortably.) It’s just soooo much fun to play! Even though we don’t really have the correct mouthpiece for it, I suspect it has a proprietary shank size, kind of like some of the early Olds cornets. A small shank is a bit too small, but Euro or large shanks are too big.

There’s not very much information out there on these horns, and it appears not many have been made. If you have one or know more, please let us know! We’d love to learn more about it. Matt bought this one because he’d never seen another, and he’s seen just about everything! Serial number dates this one at 1927, and it has a very happy home in Matt’s collection, though I’d sure love to have it in mine!

Stay tuned for more gems from our collections!!

Wishing you a bit of history in your day!
Amanda