March Madness: Blue Thunder Tuba Repair
During my time at Boise State, I spent four years playing trumpet as a proud member of the Keith Stein Blue Thunder Marching Band. Savvy to what entertains a crowd of football fans, the year before I got there, our director, Joe Tornello, had colored LED strips installed in the bells of the sousaphones to give them extra visibility on the field and in the stands. The effect was incredible when all 16 of them lined up together with the drumline (who had matching lights around the rims of their instruments), but it was unsustainable.
Over time, the wires running from the external battery packs to the light strips had been stripped down when the bells were removed for travel or storage and were now short circuiting across the metal surface of the instrument – preventing proper function of the lights, reducing battery life, and causing hot spots that were annoying the players. The battery packs themselves were open holders for six AA batteries that were constantly exposed to the elements and were frequently running out of power. As much as I wish I could have been the one to originally think of putting lights in the tubas, I was still excited to be asked to come up with a better solution to prevent further problems.
The end product, though not exactly elegant, was designed to be durable, cheap, simple to make, and easy to repair. Firstly, we replaced all of the battery packs with rechargeable substitutes. Not only were they more protected from the weather, but they had enough capacity to keep the lights on for longer, and they would eliminate the growing cost for replacement batteries.
As for the wires, I spent a long time scouring hardware and electronics stores for the perfect pre-made solution. Unfortunately, sousaphone lights aren’t an everyday household necessity. I ended up finding a solution in the form of stainless steel cable ties. By sandwiching two lengths of thin steel between strips of electrical and Kapton tape, I was able to bend my custom wires to fit tightly against the wall of the instrument, and hold them firmly in place with magnets on either side. When the bell was attached, its contact with the wires was minimized.
Now, I feel I must make a disclaimer here. Do I recommend this kind of improvised wiring setup for other applications? Not necessarily. I did extensive testing to make sure the cable ties could handle the required power for long periods of time without heating up and causing damage to the electronics or the instrument. Additionally, once in a while the outer layer of tape does need to be replaced from normal wear and tear. As I said above, it isn’t the perfect solution. However, short of drilling holes in a $10,000 instrument, I’d argue it does everything it was designed to do, and as far as I know, they’re still in use by Blue Thunder today!
