Sale price is $1750
Or
Trade for 4/4 or larger, BBb, 4 valves. No project horns, nothing weird... open to hearing options. Just something solid and more usable for me than a Sousaphone. By now, most of y'all know what I like!
This is a 1925 Conn 38k, in satin silver w/gold wash bell. 24" bell and bore... I need to measure the bore. The catalog says .719", but I think it's a little bigger than that. Needs a cork for the 3rd valve water key, but otherwise in great playing condition, recent valve alignment, and ready to go.
Nice, thick, warm sound, just a real joy to play -- thick old-school metal construction, so it doesn't break up and get all ratty like newer thin walled horns. Low range pops out, upper range is easy. Nice valves! Not sure what else to say, it's just a good sousaphone, and to me, it feels more like "tuba" than "sousaphone."
I spent a good amount of time cleaning and polishing it, but didn't go crazy to get every last little bit of the valve block. It's difficult to represent that accurately in the photos. Some small dents in the places you'd expect for an old sousaphone. A few spots of silver wear and evidence of a few minor repairs along the way. It's 100 years old, after all.
Neck and bits -- with some help from a friend, I have a set of functioning neck and bits for this. The neck has no brace, and a non-Conn receiver. The bits are both dented, one silver and one lacquer, but they do the job. I think it would play even a little better with a new set of bits without the dents. Brand new, a new neck/bits would cost around $250, and if this was used regularly, I think that would be a good investment. A few people replied to me on the board here with various used offer for these parts... So if you get this from me, perhaps you could still buy something from them.
It's missing one of the bell screws, but I have a thumb screw of the correct thread size as a placeholder now.
Located in Minneapolis.
Here are a few photos ... It's pretty hard to take good pictures of a sousaphone, and hard to get a good photo of the gold washed bell. Much easier to see in real life. I've tried to make everything look as bad as possible in the photos ... Meaning that the tuba looks quite nice in person, and from a few feet away it looks even better. If I were to need a sousaphone, this is just what I would want ... enough wear to suggest that it's a good playing tuba that has always been worthy of frequent use, while also being in pretty good shape overall and especially for being 98 years old. The bell, especially, is in nice shape without a bunch of damage or marks from being rolled, dented, bell folded, etc. As I understand it, the tuba sat unused/unplayed for quite a few years.
I also have a few walk-around videos, and can send a link to those if interested. I have no idea who "Sanford" is.
