I just got a free sousaphone!

[tubatom91]

Over the fourth I marched in the local parade in the local legion band with a borrowed sousaphone from my high school. I had the pleasure of finding out that the legion owns two old sousaphones. Since I'm out of high school I jumped at the opportunity to borrow one of these for parades and other odd gigs. I anticipated a complete junker that I would spend more time fixing than playing, but to my surprise it's a fantastic old King (H.N. White) silver Sousa with a fantastic engraved bell. I'm not sure how old it is nor do I know what model it is; and for that reason I shall post some horn dorn for the experts to look at.

[tubatom91]

C

[SousaSaver]

I LOVE these old Kings but HATE HATE HATE the U braces that connect the 4th and 6th branches and the 2nd to the 5th.

Every single one of those I have ever worked on has been BROKEN when I got them. On the other hand, it has given me the opportunity to practice brazing.

[tubatom91]

All the braces are solid but I did find a 2 to 2.5" crack on the tube right before the elbow to connect the bell (1st branch?) and some dings and dips, I did polish it tonight (before I get flamed; I knew the risk of silver loss, I know it had a nice patina, and I know I could have destroyed something, none of which bug me). The bell face is killer, bright shiny silver very clean and nice, the engraving was bright silver and the rest of the bell satin, the body was probably satin at one point, there are several bare brass spot on it but the big tubes' finish are mostly intact (aside from the bottom and guards). The valves are decent and work well. I need to go through and straighten all of the slides and pull the valve section away from the body by a fraction of an inch as the 1st valve top slide contacts the body before it pulls out completely, make a patch for the crack, and take a dent and probably a crack out of the 3rd valve bottom slide as it is smushed in a bit, of course new felts and corks (PVAK? ). With all of it's faults, I must say it's the best sounding and best balanced/fitting sousaphone I've ever played.

[SousaSaver]

The silver on those old Kings is REALLY good. It is much more robust then newer Kings. They don't make 'em like they used to.

[tclements]

MAKE A MAILBOX OUT OF IT!!!

[sloan]

Since you are borrowing - be sure to return it in BETTER condition than you got it.

[bearphonium]

Sweet horn!!

[tubatom91]

Anybody have 2 bell screws for this? I have but one!

[acjcf2]

Nice score. "Free is me" as they say.

[tubatom91]

Here are some pics, post polish:




the crack: