Pricy conn 40k(s) on reverb

[EmptyCase]

https://reverb.com/item/85012709-c-g-co ... sousaphone

He’s asking $5500 each… in my messages with him he also said he had a conn artist 48k jumbo sousaphone for sale at $9800

I don’t know much about pricing but my gut says this guy’s prices are steep. or he doesn’t actually have these horns…

[York-aholic]

There’s been a guy in Moreno Valley selling sousaphones for years (probably close on 20 years). His name was Frank. I went over once and bought a Martin euphonium 4v missing its 4th piston for what I considered a good price. I remember him showing me a Martin mammoth sousaphone and a Holton short action sousaphone, which he said was his pride and joy (the Holton). He had a tarnished silver Martin monster Eb at the time. I really wish I had had the scratch for that one.

The same seller has a Holton short action also for sale on Reverb (perhaps the same one I saw so many years ago:

https://www.tubaforum.net/viewtopic.php?t=10178

That Holton is pictured on the same A/C condenser as the 40K referred to in this thread so I’d say he does have possession of them. In the above tubaforum thread @jose the tuba player says that the current seller is Frank’s son. I don’t know, could be. Other pictures this Arlen has posted for sale previously jive with my memories of the interior of Frank’s house.

I remember picking up a tuba or two at the Riverside (closest) Greyhound station and always seeing a sousaphone case or two there waiting for pick up. I always asked if they were addressed to Moreno Valley and they always were. That station was bulldozed and is the site of the new city library.

Sh, the memories…

[jose the tuba player]

i have seen his son post tubas on offerup in the paramount and Moreno valley area. Last i knew frank moved on to setting up a recording studio in his house (this was roughly 10 years ago). there seems to be quite a few resellers that have popped up in recent years to fill the void and drive up prices on used sousaphones. I have seen one who partnered with a local shop to push foreign made clones of venerable instruments simply because they have a social media following.