King 3 Valve Eb Tuba

ggdadams · Post by **ggdadams** » Fri Feb 16, 2007 11:26 pm

I have one for sale at:

http://cgi.ebay.com/King-H-N-White-3-Va ... dZViewItem

iiipopes · Post by **iiipopes** » Sat Feb 17, 2007 2:51 pm

When you say in your listing that it plays a little flat across its range, do you also mean open as well?

ggdadams · Post by **ggdadams** » Sat Feb 17, 2007 7:42 pm

Yes, it is surprisingly consistent across its whole range, including the Eb and Bb open positions, 10-20 cents flat (depending on the mouthpiece used and my lip). That includes the usually sharp 1-3 and 123 combinations, (F and E natural for example). I assume it was made that way, tuned to a lower A than 440?

I have a 1932 King 3 valve bell front that has great intonation across all valve combinations (purchased recently from Dan Schultz). I don't know if his work on the horn's lead pipe helped bring that one up to A440 tune or it was made that way.

Thanks for the compliments! The small King Eb is a nice horn but I just bought a Martin Eb from about 1930 (3 valve, large 0.68 bore) and I need to make room so one of my horns has to go!

Lew · Post by **Lew** » Tue Feb 20, 2007 8:47 am

Yes, there was a low pitch standard that was lower than the modern A=440, just as there was a high pitch standard. I think low pitch was A=432 and high pitch was A=452. You just need to have the main slide cut a bit, and may have to cut the valve slides a bit too, for it to play in modern pitch.