Conn Sousa With King Body Style

[Eric61991]

I haven't seen many of these and would definitely appreciate any info or history on this horn.

[iiipopes]

What bloke said. The only "Conn" sousaphones currently being made that bear any resemblance to their predecessors are the 20K and the "new" 4-valve 40K (essentially the 4-valve version of the 20K). The horn in the picture is the short-lived post-cyborg version of the Conn 14K, which is the same as a King 2350 but for the engraving on the bell. Worse, the "real" 14K and the "real" 36K ceased production decades ago as cyborg casualties. The current 36K is the same instrument as the King 2370, just with a different decal on the bell.

Nothing new: Old/Reynolds in their last days did the same thing under Zig Kanstul; and the major automotive manufacturers still do cross-platform models based on the same chassis.

[Eric61991]

With all due respect, I asked for info about it. When, why and where it might have been produced.

[iiipopes]

The serial number may give a clue:
https://www.conn-selmer.com/en-us/resou ... mbers/conn" target="_blank

[Matt Walters]

With all due respect, I asked for info about it. When, why and where it might have been produced.

No. You originally said:

I haven't seen many of these and would definitely appreciate any info or history on this horn.

You received some info and history about that horn. But let me re-cap and translate for you.

When is sometime in the past 30 years. It had to have been made after UMI bought both Conn and King. UMI then started rebadging King sousaphones as Conn Sousaphones.
Why is because UMI which later on became Conn-Selmer is a music instrument manufacturer. By definition they build music instruments with the intention of offering a product or service to others at a profit for themselves. Moving the lion's share of the brass manufacture to Eastlake Ohio was deemed by a corporate decision to be more profitable.
Where is most likely the Eastlake Ohio factory that was formerly owned by King and is now part of the Conn-Selmer group.

[Lee Stofer]

What Matt said. From what I saw while in Army Bands, the shield-on-the-side bell engraving (stamp) like that appeared about 1984, either King or Conn, and continues to this day. I do not think they are still offering the King with the Conn 14K designation, because there's no reason to - it's a King 2350, and always was. Because tuba manufacturing is the most labor-intensive and least-profitable portion of a brass instrument maker's line-up, and human nature indicates that people are generally wanting to buy as cheap as possible, the manufacturer will try to make something deemed acceptable, as cheaply as possible. I understand that many mandrels went home with Elkhart laborers as they were losing their jobs, so it would have been terribly expensive to re-tool to make Elkhart-style instruments in Eastlake (Cleveland). Instead, they did what was deemed acceptable, as cheaply as possible. Conn 88-H trombones were deemed to be desirable, but had a King rotor and in other ways were no longer like the Elkhart instrument. Well-known models of Conn tubas, euphoniums and sousaphones became re-badged King instuments if they thought they could get away with it. The Conn 20K sousaphone was a standout, however, and no King was anything like it, so they re-introduced this instrument in the mid' '80's, ditto with the 5J BBb. They were simply picking and choosing amongst the most popular models from the two manufacturers' history, and trying to stay afloat amidst foreign competetion. By the early 1990's American and European manufacturers were starting to out-source from China, and it doesn't take too much investigation to see how that turned out.

[Eric61991]

Thank you for all that info!!!