new gear day

[barry grrr-ero]

Being that I play almost exclusively in flat keys these days (and with so little time to practice), there are times I wish I had simply picked up a 2341 and kept my life a bit more simple. But then there are those few magical moments when I do get a kick out of making a big, juicy sound on the Neptune. 2341's seem to be a great bargain among modern tubas.

Barry Guerrero

[Untersatz]

I'd love to be able to point and shoot but i don't expect that.

Expect it!.............They will do exactly that!

[tokuno]

I'd love to be able to point and shoot but i don't expect that.

Expect it!.............They will do exactly that!

Judging from TubeNet postings, I'm about middle-of-the-road in experience with different horns. Over the past decade, I've owned (I know I'm forgetting some) 3 Kings, 3 Conns, 2 Miraphones, 2 Olds, an Amati, 3 Werils, and a Yamaha, and through all those different sizes and brands, a couple oddities of the King 2341 jump out (mind you, might be specific to my horn - I've only played this one sample of the 'modern style' 2341):

1) My 2314 is more sensitive to leadpipe cleanliness than any other tuba (or euph) that I've previously owned/played. The symptom is a loss of attack cleanliness. Every couple/few months, I'll feel frustration with the fuzziness of my attack (What's going ~on~ today!?), I pull the first valve, feed a tubasaver into the valve-side of the leadpipe, (always comes out with some green gunk), and the fuzziness is gone. Pretty sure it's not psychosomatic, but I've admittedly never asked another player to confirm the before and after experience. Yeah, I should keep on top of the cleaning schedule, BUT I pull and have pulled similar gunk out of my other tubas/euphs without experiencing such a drastic playing difference on any of them. The funny thing is that the attack degradation is so gradual that I don't really notice it until for some reason I do, and then the improvement after cleaning is a profound relief.

2) From what I gather on TubeNet, the mouthpiece receiver size varies on the new-style 2341s. Mine is a tweener, in that the euro-shank sits proud and the std shank sits really deeply, and others have posted similar observations.
I played a euro-shank Baer MMVI for several years, but after picking up a std shank Baer MMVI for a different horn and plugging it into the 2341, I noticed (somewhat incredulously) that the horn was slotting much better, especially higher on the staff, with no downside effect of the shank change. I doubted my findings, thinking initially that the change was mental or perhaps due to the 'mouthpiece honeymoon/adjustment' effect, but I've swapped back and forth a number of times, with the same result. I had a couple of each (std & euro), and the results are not specific to a single sample of mouthpiece (wouldn't expect otherwise, since I think the mfg tolerance is pretty tight on the G&Ws). The std shank drops so far into the receiver that it seats poorly and it's prone to falling out, so I wrapped the shank in a single layer of aluminum tape where it meets the receiver, and it stays put and the tape hasn't caused any problems (pleasantly surprised, as it was just a diagnostic/test workaround while I considered a more permanent solution, but it's been working for a while, so I'm leaving it alone).

Both these items might be specific to my horn, how I play, my physiology, or some such, but food for thought on your new 2341.
I really enjoy mine and hope you enjoy the heck out of yours.

One other thing I just remembered. I purchased my pristine 2341 used & sight-unseen at a ridiculously low price, but upon arrival, it played disappointingly ok, but not "right". Airflow felt funny, wide slots, inconsistent intonation. It reminded me of how my horn played once in middle school when I "lost" a bottle of valve oil and it eventually washed out of the horn some time later during a cleaning.
Numerous 2341 cleanings later, no change, until I investigated a bit further and discovered that the silicon-ish seal between the removable leadpipe and the valve-block was mis-seated and partially blocking the air stream. Night and day difference when I cleared that.
Likely you'll never encounter that scenario, but perhaps some other 2341 TubeNetter can be helped by this in a future search.

[Untersatz]

My 2341 definitely has a Euro receiver on it, there's no doubt at all! My Blokepiece Euro-shank seats exactly on my King receiver as it does on my B&S (no in-betweeners about it)
I often wondered if there was supposed to be so kind of seal between the leadpipe & the inlet port on the 1st valve casing, but mine has nothing at all........just a perfect metal to metal fit. And it doesn't leak or seep or ooze or anything!

[tofu]

1) My 2314 is more sensitive to leadpipe cleanliness than any other tuba (or euph) that I've previously owned/played. The symptom is a loss of attack cleanliness. Every couple/few months, I'll feel frustration with the fuzziness of my attack (What's going ~on~ today!?), I pull the first valve, feed a tubasaver into the valve-side of the leadpipe, (always comes out with some green gunk), and the fuzziness is gone. Pretty sure it's not psychosomatic, but I've admittedly never asked another player to confirm the before and after experience. Yeah, I should keep on top of the cleaning schedule, BUT I pull and have pulled similar gunk out of my other tubas/euphs without experiencing such a drastic playing difference on any of them. The funny thing is that the attack degradation is so gradual that I don't really notice it until for some reason I do, and then the improvement after cleaning is a profound relief.

I wonder if that gunk is a personal chemistry issue as I've had mine for 14 years and never experienced this gunk or resulting leadpipe issue. I do clean it once to twice a year but never had this gunk issue.

2) From what I gather on TubeNet, the mouthpiece receiver size varies on the new-style 2341s. Mine is a tweener, in that the euro-shank sits proud and the std shank sits really deeply, and others have posted similar observations.

It is fascinating which mouthpieces fit and don't fit. As far as what plays well I have found the horn to be friendly to lots of different mouthpieces. I personally like the fit and performance of either a Blokepiece (not that Joe S. needs any free promotion) Solo or Imperial with an American shank.