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this was my high school horn..a conn 14k. seems like this was the best sousa i ever played..i could get way more sound out of it than a king, OR a conn 20k. this horn was a beast!! just thought i'd share that with ya.

I agree!! Our school used Kings, but i played on the only Conn 32k, which I think was identical to the 14K except for a couple pounds lighter. But that certainly was the best sousaphone i've played on also. Here are some old high school pics of me with the 32K

My school's norm (kind of) sousas are Yamah YHS411's. We have four of them, that four guys, me included, use. We also have one Jupiter 594L, one King student (I don't know model), and 3 new King 2350's (lacquer)

The Yamahas sound pretty decent, but I think they would sound better if they had been taken care of

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v319/ ... y/FBA3.jpg

I hate those 2350's so much. The weight balance is terrible and I have to break my neck to reach the mouthpiece. The valve springs are like car suspension springs.

For your average, every day, get out there and blow, keep on working, low maintenance, sounds great souzy, nothing beats a 14K, especially all the pre-Macmillian ones. I played its predecessor for awhile, a Conn Cavalier, and was always amazed at how I could change its character from a blow away the far side yard markers with a bowl mouthpiece to immenently tubesque for concert band settings with a funnel. Since they are still made, and since there are so many out there, repairs should never be a problem, as any repair person worth his/her tools and significant experience servicing school music programs will have a boatload of "crash parts" to fix mishaps. They have great overall intonation, good "false" pedals, and if you get an older cousin or sibling with the 24 inch bell instead of the standard 26, it's a lot more manueverable.

Regarding Kings, the pre-UMI ones are good. I first started on a first generation King fiberglass, and got used to it pretty quickly. In my experience, both fiberglass and conventional, they need a little deeper mouthpiece, like the original, HN White old-style King 26 (no relation to Bach), but not a funnel, to help them be smooth with their smaller bore: .687 compared to the .734 for the Conn. Also, the bits are different on a King and each is slightly different, so have to be inserted in the right order.

And yes, I say this every time: if possible on your 14K, have your tech convert the upper loop of the 1st valve tubing into a slide you can pull with your left hand. Then you can tune 1st pure, 2nd pure, pull 3 so 2-3 is in tune, and then for 1-2 pull about a half inch or so, 1-3 about an inch to an inch an a quarter, and 123 an inch and a half or a bit more, and everything will be in perfect tune. Since it lays right where your left hand is anyway, you might as well put it to use. Then with the good false pedals, you don't need a 4th valve, saving all the weight.

iiipopes wrote:Since they are still made, and since there are so many out there, repairs should never be a problem,.

actually they stopped making 14k's in the 60's or 70's i believe

If you do some searching in the archives here you will find that the Conn 14k is the preferred Sousaphone by a lot of us. I find it to be the best playing of any of the sousas out there. One more point. What is with this not carrying a sousa on your left shoulder? I see these bands all the time and their sousa players have the horn in a non playable carrying position. That is ridiculous.

It's a position that is used for lax times to give the left shoulder a rest. Some sections have that as their position when they walk on the field, and then in playing position when the band is called the ready. The tubas over here do something like that where we just switch the shoulders. It helps us out a lot.

I know what it is for. I wonder why you have to do it. I never did. I think it is lazy and uncalled for. Not too mention looks terrible.

Well in that picture we were walking back up into the stands after the show, and I saw no need to have my horn in playing position. It's really not that big of a deal. We weren't going to be playing anytime soon anyway.

I will accept that. I see a lot of bands in parades doing that sort of thing and it disgusts me. If you will take that kind of a shortcut you will take any kind you can.

Well I will remember that next time I pick up a sousaphone!!

CTAYLOR wrote:

iiipopes wrote:Since they are still made, and since there are so many out there, repairs should never be a problem,.

actually they stopped making 14k's in the 60's or 70's i believe

Well, I looked at the Conn website in disbelief, and, drop my mouthpiece, the cyborg has quit making it. Damn cyborg.

iiipopes, how do you like your 38K? I want one really bad.

35 pounds of the best souzy I have ever played. The tone is, well, huge. Truly a 6/4 in the souzy world, even if it only has a 24 inch bell. And since converting the upper 1st valve slide loop to a left hand slide, intonation is spot on. I use a Kelly 18, as it is so huge it can handle a bowl to really solidify the overtones to blend and project outdoors. But being the standard valve block, it doesn't take any more air than a 14K.

Thanks. That's what I needed to hear. Sounds like a nice sousa..and yours is beautiful!! I bidded on one at ebay recently but I didn't win it. Guess I'll have to keep lookin.

me with the 32k again (identical to conn 14K) at Texas stadium back in my high school days