TubeNet

I don't know the full range of years, but the 40K that I just sold had the word "Sousaphone" on the bell and it was made in 1926. The 28K that I had didn't say "Sousaphone" and it was made in 1924.

I took a look at my 3 Conn sousaphones, even if I had no memory of seeing the word Sousaphone on their bells.

To my immense surprise the 40K and the 26K (both from 1927) both had the Sousaphone engraving. I didn't find that engraving on the 28K from 1946.

Klaus

Well, we're closing in on a date! My 1928 40K does NOT have the word sousaphone on its' magnificent bell. So perhaps it was dropped in 1928?

The Jumbo 46k I had and sold earlier thus year had sousaphone engraved in a cursive-like script font. I don't have ther serial number in front if me, but I did date the instrument to 1926.

All of the ones I've that I've seen that have the script "Sousaphone/Made By" have had serial numbers greater than 200000 (1923) and have either been 1926 or 1927.

40K: 2397XX
26K: 2402XX

According to Margaret Downie Banks' book Elkhart's Brass Roots, Conn attempted to cut down production costs in the 1920s. As a result of this, the engravers were discouraged from personalizing their work in any way and the engraving became more standardized. The engraving process always created a bottleneck at the Conn factory and they probably cut down on things to speed up production as well.

So perhaps the word "sousaphone" was dropped for these reasons.

My 40K doesn't; serial # 206xxx (1923?)
My old 46K didn't either; serial #214xxx (1924?)

Have fun.
-Pat

My 1924 38K does not have it.
Serial #: 2178XX