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Happy Tuba Tuesday. Today, the Museum features a Keefer, BB flat sousaphone, 3 rotary, c.1920.
The Museum’s ONLY rotary valved sousaphone!

Bell Diameter is 24″ & the bore is .729.”

“Brua C. Keefer / MAKER / Williamsport / pa” on bell. Emblem and ornate floral enraiving around identification marks. Floral engraving around clock spring housing.



https://simonettitubacollection.com/ins ... ousaphone/

NEVER seen another.
Wonder if there are signs of bell swap or frankenvalves?
No indication of serial #, either...

Main tuning slide and leadpipe seem Keefer to me.

And the 1st and 3rd slides also stack roughly as they would on a piston version. The difference seems that rotary valves lack the depth, so everything is kept in a plane above the wrap of the instrument, whereas the piston slides run below it.

That means this does a better job draining moisture to the water key.

But yeah, neither have i seen another rotary Keefer (or Diston, i think?)

Wicked Cool!