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Should the valves all be the same height? I have a student who bought one of these bell front behemoths Ebay and when ever you depress the 1st valve it feels very airy almost half valved. If they are supposed to be the same does any one have a valve laying around or for cheap i could purchase for him?

They don't necessarily have to be the same height, but they usually are.

If the valves are drastically different heights, and the horn hasn't been serviced since being purchased off of eBay, the instrument probably needs a valve alignment.

Also, new valves need to be fit if you buy one. Post some pictures if you can.

Dan, you can get that fixed locally. Contact Bill or Ryan and either can fix your student right up for not too expensive a cost. I'd first check to see if the corks and valves have deteriorated. I'd next check to see if it is actually the proper valve in the proper casing.

I recently worked on a 3-valve King that had the guide channel in the 1st valve casing about 3/8" off from normal. It played terribly, then I realized that the valve ports were not properly aligned. I measured, drilled, tapped, and move the guide to the right place to line everything up, and it plays normally now. Check out every possibility as to what could be wrong - you never know. . . .

Lee Stofer wrote:I recently worked on a 3-valve King that had the guide channel in the 1st valve casing about 3/8" off from normal. It played terribly, then I realized that the valve ports were not properly aligned. I measured, drilled, tapped, and move the guide to the right place to line everything up, and it plays normally now. Check out every possibility as to what could be wrong - you never know. . . .

Lee,

Do you think the piston was original or a replacement? I have seen that before when a modern King piston gets put into an older style valve section or vice versa.

I have also seen the same problem when installing a modern Conn piston into a VERY old Conn Sousaphone.