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https://boston.craigslist.org/gbs/msg/d ... 38522.html



Very strong suspicion (as yet unconfirmed) that i know the seller...

Nice shape!

arpthark wrote: ↑Fri Jun 02, 2023 9:07 amNice shape!

I agree. Sousaphones do look best when they're shaped like a circle.

Sorry...I can't help myself...

Tubajug wrote: ↑Fri Jun 02, 2023 10:01 am

arpthark wrote: ↑Fri Jun 02, 2023 9:07 amNice shape!

I agree. Sousaphones do look best when they're shaped like a circle.

Sorry...I can't help myself...

Sure beats the square ones—awful on the shoulder!

Well ... ha ha, to be sure, but the really comfortable shape is oval. Round lacks positive orientation. If the balance isn't way off, oval will sit on my shoulder hands free, where round rotates. Classic bass helicons are a good example. As far as I know, none of the contrabass helicons ever came out that way, so I wouldn't guarantee it would work so well with a sousaphone.

Those are a wonderful compromise between a King (.687" bore) and a Conn 14/36K (5/4 size body).

I'm looking for a c. 30-year-old (really lightweight, only two acorn bolts, REAL fiberglass, pebble finish, aluminum branch ferrules) King sousaphone in good shape, but it's a low priority, and my pocketbook is more oriented towards "finding one whereby someone is in a real hurry to sell it".

As to Olds/Reynolds, those are (at their youngest) 45 years old, and the brass-to-fiberglass bracing system (even before the fiberglass became old and brittle) was tenuous, at best...

...I'm not saying that I don't like them - they're quite nice and nice-playing, but I'm not into "now what am I going to do?" types of potential problems.

PLUS...There's yet another one of those amazing vintage stands...and it appears to be one from towards the end of production.
I seem to recall (though I can't remember their name, as that's a severe weakness of mine) that the person who made them made them in the basement of their home (??)