New/Old Horn Arrives!

[The Big Ben]

Went to the post office last night and there was a note in my box that I had two packages. I knew what they were: the bell and body of my eBay King 2340.

I took it home and put it together. The body is in pretty good shape- a few dents and, unfortunatly, some dents which appear to be vandalism. The bell still looks like a bell but it has vandalism damage. A few weeks ago someone posted about 'dent contests' in a HS band. The bell appears to be a victim of such contests.

Thing is, the lacquer is still really nice. I'm guessing that 80-90% of the horn still has intact lacquer. It's just those vandalism dents in the bell and the outside branches, mainly below the leadpipe. The bottom bow has a couple of dents that look like the typical bottom bow dents. The guard is bent a little bit as is the wire. I hope some dent work can be done without damaging the lacquer badly.

The center body is in great shape- lacquer is fine and the slides work great! Valves are a little bit noisy.

Now, playing... I could tell right away that this is a better horn than my King 1140. I played it for two hours and immediately found it was easier for me to play in tune and it was easier for me to play both soft and loud. My articulation is cleaner, too. Valves are a little noisy so I'll have that checked.

One thing I wasn't counting on is the difference in my vision. I've had 'lazy eye' since I was born and my left eye does not see very well as compared to my right eye. I've had glasses since I was 18 months old and had surgery and the whole nine yards. The 1140 is a top loader and I have the bell facing to my right which causes me mainly to read the music with my left eye. Sometimes the music on the bottom left hand side of the page is blurry and I can't read it accurately. The 2340 is a frontloader and I read the music mainly with the right eye so I'm pretty happy about that.

So, I think I did OK for $430 plus shipping. I'm going to take it to Herr Oberloh and see what can be done about the bell. The rest is tolerable so I most likely will leave it.

Jeff "How many tubas *does* a guy need?" Benedict

[windshieldbug]

How many tubas *does* a guy need?

I dunno, how many you figure there are?

Enjoy!

[iiipopes]

Congrats!