King 1241 bell tuning differences

The bulk of the musical talk
Post Reply
User avatar
Dan Schultz
TubaTinker
TubaTinker
Posts: 10423
Joined: Thu Mar 18, 2004 10:46 pm
Location: Newburgh, Indiana
Contact:

Re: King 1241 bell tuning differences

Post by Dan Schultz »

The 'pit' King is a different animal but it's been my experience with the 'normal' Kings that the horn is about 30 cents sharper with the recording bell. King used to stamp the last three numbers of the horn serial number into the main slides. There were at least two lengths of main slides.
Dan Schultz
"The Village Tinker"
http://www.thevillagetinker.com" target="_blank
Current 'stable'... Rudolf Meinl 5/4, Marzan (by Willson) euph, King 2341, Alphorn, and other strange stuff.
User avatar
Dan Schultz
TubaTinker
TubaTinker
Posts: 10423
Joined: Thu Mar 18, 2004 10:46 pm
Location: Newburgh, Indiana
Contact:

Re: King 1241 bell tuning differences

Post by Dan Schultz »

KiltieTuba wrote:Hmm... I need to have a new main slide made as I need to pull out an inch and a half as it is now - that’s with two bits already.

I’m thinking of bugging Kanstul to either make me a bell or use one of their existing bells, I’ve been getting the hand a lot in rehearsals with the recording bell.

Any chance someone can measure their King bells for me? I’m curious where the throat ends and the flare begins in both. It would help narrow down where I would need to cut an existing bell or make a new one... even though the upright bell for the Pit Tuba would need to be longer, as the existing recording bell is longer.

Thanks Dan!
Kiltie... a longer bell will help... but just a little. What you need is to replace the ferrules on both ends of the branch just before the mail slide with ferrules for the current 2341 tuba. That will add almost 3" to the open bugle. I can send you images of my King if you want to email me. Pictures are on my Facebook page along with the following text:

"Ever had an older King 1240/41 or 2340/41 that played sharp? Over the years prior to the later fixed-bell King... there were some modifications made to the open bugles, leadpipes, and main tuning slides that have been next to impossible to document. Conn-Selmer parts TU04014 and TU04016 will lengthen the parts right behind the main slide by about 2 1/2". It's easy to remove the old ferrules and incorporate the longer ones. This is on a King that I built and kept for my own use. The first time out for a 4th of July concert... the pitch was out-of-control high because of the 95 degrees temperature. I had to use TWO tuning bits to get the pitch down! A=440 is just fine now with the main slide out about 3/4" at around 75 degrees. It's a 'keeper'!"
Dan Schultz
"The Village Tinker"
http://www.thevillagetinker.com" target="_blank
Current 'stable'... Rudolf Meinl 5/4, Marzan (by Willson) euph, King 2341, Alphorn, and other strange stuff.
Post Reply