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I lived all four years in high school with a first generation King fiberglass souzy, and I agree with bloke completely. In contrast to an all brass souzy, which is mostly soldered together, there are a myriad of places that can leak: The bell attachment or the rings, any seam in the fiberglass, any bolt holding the valve nest to the bugle, the joint between the valve nest and the bugle (I had to epoxy the female end of an Olds to fit so the collar joining them had something to compress against). Not only that, but any small crack, unlike a dent in brass, can run along the layers of the fiberglass and show up internally in a completely different spot, so the inside of the bugle has to be checked as much as the outside; this all in addition to all of the usual brass problems with dented slides, out of round slides, valves and casings, leadpipes being loose and bits not snugging down. Some Kings also have a double bit system where one bit is different than the other, and if you don't have one of each in the proper order you can get leaks right up at the mouthpiece as well. The good point is that most leaks on a fiberglass souzy can be fixed with a thin layer of epoxy, if you can reach it internally!

Since you describe various notes with problems, there are probably a number of spots that need attention, so:

To the tech, to the tech, to the tech, tech, tech!

I own Olds, Conn and King fiberglass sousaphones (left over from the youth band I used to run) and the King is by far the worst playing of the bunch. The one I have is in almost new condition and the old beat up Olds tuperware sousas out play it hands down. I consider them only good for a junior high beginning program. Anyone that can push a decent amount of air can overblow the King and produce a wonderful blatty tone.

Any one want to buy a nice King fiberglass sousaphone with hard case? Make me an offer...

I'm going to throw out the wild idea that the valves you added may not have matched the valve block. The ports aren't lined up the same in all valve blocks so check it out, or have someone check it out, and see if that isn't the problem.

Bandmaster wrote: Any one want to buy a nice King fiberglass sousaphone with hard case? Make me an offer...

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I need a white elephant.

You probably added the wrong type of valves! You put piston valves in a rotary fiberglass sousaphone!

windshieldbug wrote:You probably added the wrong type of valves! You put piston valves in a rotary fiberglass sousaphone!

No, Wait! That's this thread:
viewtopic.php?t=15021

Personally, I think that Vienna-valve fiberglass sousaphones made by Alexander rule!

Yes, but for those with a penchant for pretzel logic, how about a 4-Stoetzel valved helicon/sousaphone with interchangable bells?!