I'm going through a set of sousaphones, and most of them have two or three broken braces, and other solder joints that are worked loose (often: 4th to 5th branch). OK...These are crappy sort-of off-brand sousaphones (though they sound OK), and I'm not going to mention the maker...but - that having been said - do any of you band directors have any idea how hard I would have to pull on a brace (even a not particularly sturdy one) in order to break it?
local/state/federal funding (which comes out of my paycheck, out of teacher's paychecks, and out of everyone's paychecks) is paying for me to fix this stuff...
Most of my own jr./sr. high school's sousaphones were Conn 36K fiberglass sousaphones, which featured small-gauge "delicate" braces. This is how many braces and solder joints on sousaphones were broken at my school, between 1968 and 1974:
