"Sousaphone" engraving

[Lew]

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.

[imperialbari]

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

[Paul Scott]

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?

[WilliamVance]

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.

[windshieldbug]

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.

[imperialbari]

40K: 2397XX
26K: 2402XX

[Paul Scott]

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.

[pjv]

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

Have fun.
-Pat

[Kirley]

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

Bell Engraving.jpg