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Someone should take a close look at this one! It's not a Conn at all. But... one of those rare Holton short-action sousas. Good price but I already have one.

Sorry. Forgot to post the link:
http://cgi.ebay.com/SOUSAPHONE-CONN-MON ... 5ad51b249d

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hrender wrote:Dan -- which one? There are a bunch of sousaphones up on Le Bay labeled Conn.

Sorry. Forgot to post the link. It's there now. Go back up to the top.

I just received a call from the fellow who bought this horn. He mentioned that the bell engraving appears to look 'Conn-ish'. I did a little checking by swapping some of my stuff around. A 14K bell is waaaay to small to fit my Holton short-action sousa. However... the receiver on the Holton sousa is very close to that of a Conn 2XJ. In fact... the 2XJ bell fit onto the Holton short-action sousa just fine. So.... my conclusion is that the bell on the sousaphone in question is actually one off of a Conn 20K.... making the seller's mistake in identifying the sousaphone understandable. Provided the horn is in good shape... the buyer probably got a deal.

hrender wrote:

TubaTinker wrote:Sorry. Forgot to post the link. It's there now. Go back up to the top.

No sweat, I was just wondering how you could tell. .....

The biggest giveaway to me is the 2nd valve wrap. Most conventional sousas have the 2nd valve circuit 'on top'. The 2nd indicator is the flattened ports and lack of an open bugle port through the valve section.

BTW... I think the REAL demise of these horns is the fact that there is very little seal surface between the piston ports... and also that the actual seal surface is quite long compared to conventional round ports. This makes for more pronounced 'leak conditions' and sets the horn up for the vertical piston alignment having to be perfect.

One thing that was probably overlooked is that since the pistons are all the same.... wear on the #1 piston could have been minimized by rotating the pistons to different bores over the life of the horn.