Posted by Lee Stofer on November 11, 2003 at 20:19:49:
In Reply to: sousaphones: Conn 20K vs. King... posted by survey on November 10, 2003 at 14:18:29:
I forgot to mention one big qualifier - size of students. If you have small, or out-of-shape students to play the sousas, then a smaller, lesser instrument will do fine. My high school had naked lady Conn 20K's(no intonation problems, we tuned all the time), my university band had all Conn short-action sousas, and the better Army Bands I had the privilege to serve with had Conn 20K sousaphones. Of course, in each case, we had large people playing them for the most part. They worked out really well. In the case of the old King sousaphones, they were really sweet-playing, somewhat smaller instruments that were almost as good as the Conn 14K, but neither of them are available any more. To my knowledge, the only sousa made in the US is the Conn 20K.
Lee Stofer