King Altonium... with C slide?

[J.c. Sherman]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Super-Rare-Reco ... 3a898db067" target="_blank

I know he says Eb slide, but the math don't add up. I'm thinking C.

[Donn]

Early in the morning and slightly hung over, but to me it looks like it would lower the pitch by a 5th. That would add up, if they really did come as F/Eb. Looks nice, awful skinny though. And there might be some tuning troubles with the valves, if you actually used the alternate slide.

[MaryAnn]

I'm thinking whoever put this price on this horn thinks there is a fool born every minute.

[Donn]

It isn't a fire sale, that's for sure. As mentioned in a previous post - it really is HN White, several generations later. Not making anything these days, but they have a collection of premium condition King instruments for sale, and I bet they don't care how long it takes to sell them.

[eupher61]

Nope. They were made in F with Eb slides of some kind. I've not seen one with just one big slide like that, the Conns and Kings that were used in my home town band had extensions for all the slides. Usually they were played in Eb, and pretty badly

That said, C would make no sense whatsoever. Horn parts in classic band music of that era were printed in both F and Eb, thus the changeable pitch.

[Donn]

Nope. They were made in F with Eb slides of some kind. I've not seen one with just one big slide like that, the Conns and Kings that were used in my home town band had extensions for all the slides. Usually they were played in Eb, and pretty badly

That said, C would make no sense whatsoever. Horn parts in classic band music of that era were printed in both F and Eb, thus the changeable pitch.

Sorry, I don't entirely follow -- you're saying this is an Eb slide, or not?

[PMeuph]

Nope. They were made in F with Eb slides of some kind. I've not seen one with just one big slide like that, the Conns and Kings that were used in my home town band had extensions for all the slides. Usually they were played in Eb, and pretty badly

That said, C would make no sense whatsoever. Horn parts in classic band music of that era were printed in both F and Eb, thus the changeable pitch.

Sorry, I don't entirely follow -- you're saying this is an Eb slide, or not?

He's saying eb not C...

____
I agree with J.c.S, the math seems odd. Could this be a one-off custom slide?

[Donn]

Correct.

[J.c. Sherman]

Nope. They were made in F with Eb slides of some kind. I've not seen one with just one big slide like that, the Conns and Kings that were used in my home town band had extensions for all the slides. Usually they were played in Eb, and pretty badly

That said, C would make no sense whatsoever. Horn parts in classic band music of that era were printed in both F and Eb, thus the changeable pitch.

Having seen dozens of these with F and Eb slides, the second slide is invariably straight and roughly as long as the first valve tube, for obvious reasons.

C doesn't make sense? There're thousands of mellophones and other saxhorn variants that would like you to explain that to them The Beuscher sitting next to me, for instance with the separate C second slide as well. It makes it easier to read the hymnal among other uses.

J.c.S.

[Donn]

So your Buescher has enough slack in the valve slides, for acceptable intonation in C?

[J.c. Sherman]

So your Buescher has enough slack in the valve slides, for acceptable intonation in C?

With the aforementioned auxiliary second slide, yes, absolutely. As did my Conn Wonder with terminal crooks. And the Holtons, and...

[Dan Schultz]

Here's a picture of a REAL Eb/F Conn alto horn.

[J.c. Sherman]

Yikes! Never liked that model >: P

[Dan Schultz]

Yikes! Never liked that model >: P

Me neither. That's why it's full of dents, filthy dirty, and spends it's miserable life hanging from the ceiling on my shop! I posted the pic mainly to show that the length difference between the Eb and F slides looks out of whack compared to the King version. I KNOW what key the Conn plays is. Not so sure about the King just by looking at the picture.

[J.c. Sherman]

image.jpg

[J.c. Sherman]

Yikes! Never liked that model >: P

Me neither. That's why it's full of dents, filthy dirty, and spends it's miserable life hanging from the ceiling on my shop! I posted the pic mainly to show that the length difference between the Eb and F slides looks out of whack compared to the King version. I KNOW what key the Conn plays is. Not so sure about the King just by looking at the picture.

Good points, Dan

[Walter Webb]

Don't rule out the possibility that it is a C slide, although something about this King Altonium slide looks aftermarket. I have a Buescher circular alto horn (mellophone) that has a case chock full of slides: F, Eb, D and C. Sometimes two of them work as a pair, and you can see the letters stamped next to lines indicating how far to push it in.

[J.c. Sherman]

Don't rule out the possibility that it is a C slide, although something about this King Altonium slide looks aftermarket. I have a Buescher circular alto horn (mellophone) that has a case chock full of slides: F, Eb, D and C. Sometimes two of them work as a pair, and you can see the letters stamped next to lines indicating how far to push it in.

I would not rule out a factory piece. There were awesome custom instruments from the factory on Superior Avenue, from the Bill Bell instruments, to my Bell-front small Eb... and the earlier Cleveland Musical Instrument Company they acquired manufactured a lovely mellophone similar to the advertisement earlier with a lovely curvaceous Eb crook instead of a straight one. The talent and ability were there... but I despair that there is probably a missing 2nd valve slide extension (which could be easily replaced)