sousaphone

[MikeMason]

Thinking of playing a little sousaphone.Any suggestions? any for sale near south alabama?

[windshieldbug]

Thinking of playing a little sousaphone.

How little?

[imperialbari]

Thinking of playing a little sousaphone.

How little?

Buggy minds are the funniest, but this little thing wouldn’t do for Im tiefen Keller.

K

[jamsav]

Buy old, buy brass- I just upgraded to a "new " horn. Swapping out my 75 yr old for a 30 yr. old...my new King plays great and it was under a grand !! It is the last sousy I will likely ever buy and this will have paid for itself before Memorial Day !!
Jazz, dixieland, funk , parading, its a bit heavy , but a ton of fun !! ( no pun intended)

[MikeMason]

Bug, u r sooo right! It will probably b very little

[TUbajohn20J]

Conn 20K, 32K, 14K, 38K, 40K or even 22K. period

[imperialbari]

Conn 20K, 32K, 14K, 38K, 40K or even 22K. period

These fine Conn’s as period instruments? I would have considered many of them a bit heavy for the ladies.

K

[bloke]

Though I spent a silly amount of time adapting an old 40K 4-valve valveset to it, I've finally settled on the good-ol' FIBERGLASS (Elkhart) 36K (.734" bore).

- It's (truly) lightweight, and not just fiberglass.
- It puts out righteous (monstrously loud) sound (quality/quantity).
- It doesn't "r-i-n-g" like some brass-belled sousaphones.
- The pitch (except for a suck 1st valve 5th partial C) is excellent.

If you want something that requires even less work and that offers good intonation, try a King fiberglass.

I have some of these (both) lying around, in various states of repairable disrepair. I cannot respond instantly to a request.

The less cosmetic work that is done, the lower the price.

(If I receive ANY p.m.'s regarding this post, I would prefer that they ONLY come from Mike Mason at this time...Normally I only advertise for sale things that are READY to be sold. People become annoyed waiting for things for months and months.)

[TubaTinker]

In my current 'stable', I have:

- custom-built 4V Conn helicon.
- Conn 4V 'jumbo' sousaphone.
- short-action Holton sousaphone.
- Conn 36K 'commode-o-phone' painted red, white, & blue.

Guess which one I play most and is the most fun? Yup... the plastic Conn. I even use it in an educational program to introduce ten-year-olds to music. The kids love it! It's fine for stand-up Dixieland stuff... and I can just toss it in the car without having to lug around a case or worrying about it getting 'dinged up'.

[windshieldbug]

Buggy minds are the funniest, but this little thing wouldn’t do for Im tiefen Keller.

K

Niemand überhaupt gesagt dem Verstand von diesem Keller war tief

[iiipopes]

Indeed. Pre-Abilene Conn or Pre-Cyborg King. Occasionally you'll find a good Reynolds Contempora or similar Olds, but they are few and far between.

[bloke]

Indeed. Pre-Abilene Conn or Pre-Cyborg King. Occasionally you'll find a good Reynolds Contempora or similar Olds, but they are few and far between.

The Olds/Reynolds (virtually parts-interchangeable, except for cosmetic and bolt-to-the-fiberglass issues) are "in between" the Elkhart-issue Conn 36K and the King; The Olds/Reynolds has a larger (roughly Conn 36K-size) body, but retreats to the smaller 11/16" valveset bore size (as is experienced with the King).

As a more-the-occasional purveyor of used sousaphones, I try to avoid buying and selling the pre-1980 Olds/Reynolds fiberglass sousaphones for the following two reasons:

- Olds/Reynolds fiberglass bodies (and plastic bell flares) tends to be more brittle/less flexible (particularly over time) than King or Conn
- the Olds/Reynolds (and in particular the Olds) system of attaching brass to fiberglass is, frankly stated, dubious.

I'm not saying at all that Olds/Reynolds fiberglass sousaphones are bad instruments. I'm just saying that I don't want to sell them, thereby intimating responsibility for them.

bloke "who would tend to avoid Holton fiberglass sousaphones, yet has a pretty-yet-damaged one here that could be sold as-is, needing some gluing and other issues"