What King mouthpiece is this?

[edsel585960]

http://s1029.photobucket.com/user/edsel ... t=2&page=1" target="_blank I picked this up recently. Looks like it was used as a hammer. Big heavy king mouthpiece. King is the only writing I can make out.

[edsel585960]

great pics!

One of these days I have to get a new camera.

[iiipopes]

If the cup is a smooth, deep funnel, deeper than a Conn 120S Helleberg, but not quite as deep as a "Dr. Young," then yes, it is a 26. I found it just a little too dark for my already on the dark side tuba, and I wanted more overtones on my souzy, so I sold the one I tried.

In school, I believe we marched with the King 25's as standard issue on our ( already old then when I was in school in the mid to late '70's) King souzys. But I haven't seen a King 25 since, although 26's come and go on a regular basis (pun intended).

[Donn]

Or if it doesn't particularly seem to match that description, it could be a 26 anyway. Mine is the same depth as a 120 with a smaller internal diameter rim, but with more rounded interior profile so maybe slightly more interior volume. Largish throat. It should be quite similar to Mike Finn's MF1, for what it's worth, and MF2 except for the rim.

[Uncle Markie]

The King 26 is like the old Conn 2 - cheap practical tuba mouthpieces that used to list for $14 that cannot be found today. They had their fans too despite being out of the catalogs for years.

The King 26 was intended for and included with King BBb tubas for years. William Bell, Lew Waldeck and Don Butterfield played on them for years. Small by today's trends, but the rim is very forgiving especially when you have to play "all day". (Dance bands, circuses, parades, etc.) The chamfer (inside of the rim) is unique to this mouthpiece and Mr. Zottola copied it exactly when he made my mouthpiece for me, since I had used a 26 for years. I wanted something that would give me a little "edge" on the Martin when I needed it. There can be some intonation issues with the King 26 in the upper register until you get used to them. The unique-to-King shank may have something to do with that. I believe it is a Morse taper not unlike a drill press shank. Years ago - before his factory burned down - Terry Warburton made me a King 26 with a Bach-style shank which I still use today. He milled a King 26 (a junker) in half to get accurate measurements for the CNC machine and it came out great.

The King 25 was sold with the Eb tubas and sousaphones. The only time I saw Bell play his King sousaphone he was using a cut-down shank Helleberg with it - and this was late in his life. Bell could play ANYTHING if you left him alone with it for twenty minutes of course.

King's (H.N.White's) tubas were mostly made in .687 bore with a few exceptions and these mouthpieces were supposed to work with that design of horn.

BTW Don Butterfield's Giardinelli-altered King mouthpiece was simply "skeletonized" - back in the 1960s everyone was cutting off the excess brass looking for a better response and faster "warm-up". The inside of the Butterfield mouthpiece (although if he were alive he'd still claim to the contrary) is the King 26 with no alterations whatsoever.

Now we see mouthpieces that have gone back to massive amounts of metal on them, and all kinds of claims as to what they do. Go figure.
Unless the rim is chewed up and plating is gone - if it has a small hole in one end and a bigger hole in the other - open up your Arban book and practice. All these mouthpieces are going to sound like YOU.

Mark Heter

[Paul Scott]

You could still purchase a new King 26 in the early 1980s, (I know this because I did just that). Don Butterfield actually told me that his mouthpiece was a King 26 on the inside except for the backbore which he had opened up. I did the same with my King 26 and he felt the result was identical to his mouthpiece which was sold by Giardinelli's in NYC.

One thing that always stood out in my memory was his refusal to sell me a Don Butterfield mouthpiece. He didn't promote his own mouthpiece and told me that if I wanted one I would have to get one on my own. I think that he felt it was unethical for him to sell these to his students and he was quite pleased that I had devised my own with the King 26. I wish more of our present teachers had less of an inclination to be "salesmen".

[Donn]

I don't know about the backbore, but my 26 has a roughly 8.7mm throat.