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I'm not even talking about the old 30 lbs. ones.

I'm talking about the ones made over the past thirty or more years that are thin sheet metal and lightweight, yet continued to feature substantial bracing (but before they went to those weird braces towards the very end)...

I dealt with one today (brown and all beat up) that seemed to fearure endless loose braces and even a loose body joint, yet it wasn't TORN up... It was actually sort of difficult to find all the loose braces, because they were all still completely contacting the surfaces from which they were loose.

This one even had a one inch crack in the body elbow (which I brazed) from being smashed in and straightened back out so very many times.

All of the bell screws were gone, and they had whacked all three of the bell screw flanges against door jams. I had to resolder two of them to the bell receiver and re-tap the threads on all three, but I didn't have to replace any of them.

As with most King sousaphones, it just seemed as though it refused to allow itself to be pulled apart.

Agree 100%. I had an early 90’s vintage for an entire military band career. I inherited it from my predecessor and I am sure my successor played it. Such a terrific horn that took a 25+ year beating and just kept on going.

Why do people buy anything else?

Also, those Chinese King copies are pretty nice too. I’d take one of those over a Yamaha or (barf) modern short stroke Conn.

King Sousas are the Rasputin of Sousas. I have an Eb that has a severely crushed outer branch, is painted with metal flake paint for some reason (it’s brass, not fiberglass!), bell screw flanges long gone so I just threaded the bell collar. Still, it plays. My Bb King Sousa keeps breaking one brace on the bottom, what the heck, put some zip ties on it…..