Happy Birthday to me....

[Rick Denney]

Rick,

Could this sousaphone model of mystery be a CONN 32K BBb Lightweight, 3 valve built in 1931-1943.

Being it doesn't really fit the 14K or 20K descriptions.

That was going to be my guess, a 32K. If the serial number on the valves is low enough, i.e. pre-1950s, that's what it could be.

Here's a 32K, does it look like this?

http://www.xs4all.nl/~cderksen/Conn32K1943image.html

Could be. Frankly, though, I can't tell the difference between the 14K and the 32K on that site. All have the same valve-branch configuration, and the fatness of the outer branches isn't really enough to tell much from the photos. Mine does not have the attached shoulder rest shown in your picture.

I have looked all around the instrument for a model identifier, and can't find it. There's a serial number on it, but I haven't noted it, yet. I also need to measure the bell ring and the bore to make it easier.

What were the relavant measurements between the 14K and the 32K? Both had 24" bells, and both weighed 24 pounds.

Rick "who had not considered all the possibilities, apparently" Denney

[Rick Denney]

Happy Birthday Rick,
I own a Pan American sousaphone that now uses a Conn 14K bell.
I believe that this brass sousaphone weighs LESS than the fiberglass
36K that I also have in my "collection" Measure the bell flange 6 1/4"
would be the 14K/ or any other Conn stencil horn( Elkhorn, Capitol, Pan American) The bore should be .735, it's a big bore valve section in a slightly smaller body with the 24" bell. Joe S wrote a great post about the Conn 14K's a while back calling them 5/4 size and the 20k with a 26" bell, a 6/4 size.

I also wondered if the body was a Pan American. It's entirely possible that the body is fabbed up from several sousaphones. The bell is definitely not original on this instrument.

I haven't measured the bell ring, but I do recall when he got this instrument we were foolling around with the bell on his (new to him at the time) King 1241. He thought the sousa was a King, and that made us want to turn it into a raincatcher by putting the King 1241 bell on it just for fun (I'm middle-aged and he's well into retirement--in some things you never grow up). The King's bell ring was quite a bit smaller than on the Sousa. I'll measure it up tonight.

Rick "who sizes it as a 4/4 rather than a 5/4 instrument" Denney

[Rick Denney]

Okay, guys, the bore is .730 as expected, and the bell ring is around 6-5/8 or 6-3/4 inches. 14K or 32K?

Rick "who was distracted by the phone before remembering to get the serial number" Denney

[Rick Denney]

From one Southerner to another:
When are you gonna quit fartin' around and start playing the damn thing?

Surely you have noticed who has been winning all those Dukes of Dixieland LP auctions this week.

And you have to have something to do after the shoulder starts to hurt.

But I think I answered my own question. The serial number starts with C, dating it to around 1964 or '65. Unless the valve body didn't come with the outer branches (which is possible, I suppose), it's a 14K, because I don't think the 32K's were still being produced by that time.

Rick "the type was too small; did you say one smartass to another?" Denney

[Lew]

With a "C" serial number it must be a 14K. The 32K sousaphone was only made until the 1940s.