Got an upright for my bead-blasted King 1240!

[Tubajug]

Gotta love TubeNet! I purchased an upright bell from a gentleman on here. From what he told me it was taken from an M&M Tuba and cut to fit the King bell tenon. It's about 16" inches tall and across. I like it very much! Here's the pic!

[iiipopes]

Nice! I have a St Pete upright bell cut to fit a 186 tenon on my tuba so I can also use both bells. For example, to get the best out of each bell, I have Curry 128D with a hybrid funnel cup for the 16 1/2 inch upright and a Kanstul custom 18-style with a more rounded cup for the 22 inch recording.

You may find that the "mechanical impedance," or the way the bell reacts with the horn is different enough to need a different mouthpiece. What is your current mouthpiece?

[Tubajug]

I would describe the sound as "compact" and/or "focused." I really like it.

I've just been using my Helleberg mouthpiece (it's the only one I've got). Maybe I just didn't have the recording bell long enough, but I haven't noticed any big differences using the same mouthpiece between the two bells. But now this is the only bell I have, and I like the sound with the Helleberg, so I'll just stick with that!

Being in Lincoln, NE there aren't gobs of mouthpieces (certainly not horns) available for "test-driving" so I bought a Helleberg years ago and it's suited me very well so far.

[iiipopes]

The Helleberg is a very good mouthpiece for both bells. Glad it's working out for you.

[tubaguy9]

If you're in Omaha often, go visit Thompson Music in Elkhorn. They have a rather large selection of higher end mouthpieces.