My King 2341 and Lee Stofer

[TubaRay]

Thanks for your testimonial of Lee Stofer. Those of us who have had the pleasure of meeting and dealing with him know that you speak the truth. I wish he lived and worked a lot closer to me.

[Lee Stofer]

Ray,
I think we could fix that. After three of the more severe winters in history in Iowa, I could probably be coaxed into living in the San Antonio area!

[tbn.al]

Lee, We miss you!

[Bill Troiano]

Lee's the man! He did a fine job in working on the valves on my Gnagey tuba at this past Army Band Conf. They're very smooth and quick now. Thanks, Lee!!

[DavidK]

Congrats on the re-discovery of your old love of music! And the big horn!!!

The new model Kings have a devoted following. Just like the earlier 1241's have a devoted following. Some folks swear by 'em, others swear at 'em!!!
Some times the new model gets a bad rap, because they are deemed a student instrument and don't always receive all the attention to detail that their pricier siblings get. Or the manufacturing is considered inconsistent.

Anyway....
It is amazing what a small investment of additional fine tuning will do to the actual performance of an instrument. My King 2341 has had similar work performed at Dillons. And the valves are great! Fast, smooth and quiet. It is a shame that a few more steps of this nature could not take place at the factory (But then Conn/Selmer would probably charge $7000 for them!!! )

Lee is great. I met him at the Army tuba conference about 4-5 years ago and he is always very helpful. As are pretty much everyone in the tuba community.

[gvtuba]

I am curious-where were the water keys added? Did it eliminate the "King twirl?"
Appreciate the info.

[tofu]

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[Liberty Mo]

I am curious-where were the water keys added? Did it eliminate the "King twirl?"
Appreciate the info.

Lee did this on my horn a couple of years ago. It unfortunately, on mine at least, did not eliminate the twirl.

He did it on the King I owned as well, but it still required the spin. I could never figure this out.

[sloan]

I am curious-where were the water keys added? Did it eliminate the "King twirl?"
Appreciate the info.

Lee did this on my horn a couple of years ago. It unfortunately, on mine at least, did not eliminate the twirl.

He did it on the King I owned as well, but it still required the spin. I could never figure this out.

I get all of my water out with two methods - neither requiring a spin:

a) pull and dump 1&3 (rarely 2) at the top. This can be done in about 10 seconds and doesn't involve large movements visible from the audience (if you are in the back row). If you have time to put the tuba across your knees, you have time for this.
b) hold the tuba STRAIGHT UP and empty the water key on the 4th valve. Gentle rocking gets the last few drops out. This requires less movement, but more time to completely drain.

I've never seen much water at the other water keys. They don't seem to really be "at the bottom" of their tubing - at least not the way I hold the tuba.

I'm still a bit confused about the physics, but I can often pull the 3rd upper slide straight up and have it come out dripping with water. Almost as much as I then get by tilting the horn over my left knee to empty the fixed tubing. But, water literally POURS out of the upper slides of 1 and 3. It's NOT subtle.

Holding down all 4 valves and moving some air seems to help push a lot of the water into the 4th valve tubing, which then empties nicely through the 4th valve water key.

I don't think I've ever produced much water by spinning the King - but that's the right way to get everything out of the Yamaha 621. Of course, it's much easier to spin the Yamaha. For some reason, the Yamaha collects water in the 2nd valve tubing (but the King never seems to have anything there).