TubeNet

If you can find a good, Conn, King, York Eb helicon it would probably be your best bet for this type of playing. They aren't the easiest thing to find these days, but are lighter than the 26K, and if the valves are in good shape can sound every bit as good. Otherwise I would say that the 26K is one of the best sounding soousaphones for its size.

Jeff,

As a fellow sousaphone player myself, I know what you mean about finding something that won't permanently injure you.

The only thing I could suggest is perhaps try getting an Eb sousa if possible. I had one a few years back, in brass, and it was lighter for the obvious reason it was shorter in tubing. The thing though is whether you still need to play those low notes below the low BBb. Then I'd go for a regular BBb sousa.

Hank74

I would recommend looking into an early eighties King sousaphone. I played one through my university career and it played like nothing else, was light and took abuse like a tank.

OR

If you can find one of the old silver H.N. White Kings they can be great horns and fairly light with a lightweight King brass Bell.

Captain Sousie

This doesn't address the actual weight, but rather the dispersment of the weight. You can attach a wide guitar strap to the the instrument somewhere near the valve tubing and wear the tuba so that the weight is evenly dispersed between the horn on your left shoulder and the guitar on the right. I saw a tubist in an Army Guard band doing this. I thought it was silly and that he was just lazy at the time. However, when preparing my students for the Rose Parade (5 miles), I decided to give it a try. It really was a tremendous help.

FWIW I play parades on an old American Standard (King) Eb sousaphone. 15 lbs with mouthpiece. An improvement over the 13 lb Courtois Eb upright I formerly used....better balance...less back pain...but I DO miss the 4th valve!

I know my school has some older silver finish King Sousaphones that weigh about half as much as the Conn 20K's we got a couple of years ago. The ones that are in good repair have a decent sound too. We have eight of them so there are probably still a few floating around somewhere.

I'm not real sure about the weight on the siver Kings, I'll go look Monday morning.

Ben