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Tuba Tuesday: American Standard, model 230, BB flat sousaphone, 3 piston, c.1932
Posted: Mon Feb 02, 2026 11:05 pm
by bisontuba
Happy Tuba Tuesday. The Museum features an American Standard, model 230, BB flat sousaphone, 3 piston, c.1932.
Serial #: 20356
Bell Diameter 21 3/4”, Bore Size .691.
Model 230. “AMERICAN / STANDARD / HIGH GRADE / MADE BY / CLEVELAND MUSICAL / INSTRUMENT-CO. / CLEVELAND / O.” on bell. Floral design engraved around identification marks.
https://simonettitubacollection.com/ins ... ousaphone/
Re: Tuba Tuesday: American Standard, model 230, BB flat sousaphone, 3 piston, c.1932
Posted: Mon Feb 02, 2026 11:54 pm
by humBell
21 3/4" bell? That's not that large a bell... Leastwise for a sousaphone. Same as the recording bell 1240s.
-rob
Re: Tuba Tuesday: American Standard, model 230, BB flat sousaphone, 3 piston, c.1932
Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2026 6:32 am
by Kevbach33
humBell wrote: Mon Feb 02, 2026 11:54 pm
21 3/4" bell? That's not that large a bell... Leastwise for a sousaphone. Same as the recording bell 1240s.
-rob
It looks slimmer than the King 1250, and researching the American Standard sub brand of the H. N. White site loosely confirms the specs. Iirc, the tenon should be about 5" — vs 6" for the 1250 — so basically a "3/4" sousaphone.
Outside the museum, it would fetch quite a high price, condition depending.
Re: Tuba Tuesday: American Standard, model 230, BB flat sousaphone, 3 piston, c.1932
Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2026 10:22 am
by hrender
Size-wise it's similar to the
King Cadet, shown below. King also made a "Symphony" sousaphone with a 22" bell around the same time.
Re: Tuba Tuesday: American Standard, model 230, BB flat sousaphone, 3 piston, c.1932
Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2026 11:07 am
by arpthark
The specs on the Jumbo are crazy.
68” tall, 32” bell, .812” bore. Yowza!
Re: Tuba Tuesday: American Standard, model 230, BB flat sousaphone, 3 piston, c.1932
Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2026 12:03 pm
by anadmai
funny how they're called Basses and not Tubas. hmmmmm.
Re: Tuba Tuesday: American Standard, model 230, BB flat sousaphone, 3 piston, c.1932
Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2026 1:33 pm
by humBell
"Code word: Fur"
And now i won't be able to hear "free" without thinking of a Jumbo 3 valve king sousaphone.
Especially that one song (now) about free-dom's just another word for playing the largest commercially available american made tuba ever*.
And sorry earlier for being distracted by the fact that you can cycle through a bunch of other simonette stuff with the side arrows on the image in the op.
*I figure if i put enough qualifiers it will eventually be true, being a substitute for actual research.