Visiting Lee's shop a couple of weeks ago I was fortunate enough to toot a little on one of his Kanstul/York 33 prototypes. Now mind you, I am a hack player ( ) and only played a little but I really LOVED the way this horn felt and its sound. I think that Kanstul and Lee really have a winner on their hands here. I should also mention what a gracious host Lee is when you visit his shop. We had a great conversation and he took the time to show me this cool horn as well as his notes and drawings for the same.
Oh yeah, AND I came away with a new (for me) King 2341.
Hello All,
I decided to take a break from work for a few minutes!
Yesterday, I finished my tweaks on the Kanstul Grand Rapids model 33 BBb, and reluctantly let it go, shipping it to a couple of engineers for more testing. After this, it will go back to California, to be polished and bright silver plated.
Kanstul is apparently fired-up about this project, and if all goes well, I will be able to introduce this 4-top-piston BBb, a 4-front-piston version, and hopefully a monster Eb version as well at the Capitol Tuba Conference at Fort Myer, Virginia (Washington, DC) in January, 2010.
Having been a person who has played most of his career on large tubas, I really didn't think that I could be happy with a compact tuba with a mid' .600's bore, but as the Kanstul folks have reminded me, there is more to airflow characteristics than just bore size. This tuba plays as open as many larger tubas. There is a darkness and richness to the tone that is somewhat difficult to describe. There are just enough of certain upper frequencies present in the sound to give a 'bite', or edge when desired, but for the most part a really dark sound that I would describe as sweet, dark chocolate, as compared to a milk chocolate sound from most other good tubas. I encountered no intonation difficulties, a real rarity for a prototype.
The new model 33 is really compact, but is heavier than I expected, about 28 lbs or so. It has a 20" bell diameter. The players that have tried it so far have liked the piston placement, some expressing surprise at the comfort of the top-piston configuration. The instrument now has 6 water keys, as I really don't like to have to monkey-around with an instrument for water removal. These tubas are good-enough, that I'm now convinced that I'll buy one for my own use in 2010, even if I have to sell my Grand Rapids York to do so. I've had the opportunity to play a number of York tubas in the past few months, and Kanstul's newest offerings definitely play like a York.
To answer Klaus' question, Kanstul reproduction bells are a reality, available right now. I just sent in another order to Kanstul yesterday for a reproduction upright bell for a York Master BBb tuba, made with Grand Rapids-type metal, with the proper conical bell tenon. Mr. Kanstul has made copies of both the York Master tenon and the Grand Rapids York tenon, so he can supply a bell for the range of Grand Rapids and York Master instruments, either for detachable-bell, or one-piece-bell instruments.
Please forgive me for not having photos of these on the website yet - I've just had too much repair work to manage to do that, too. I hope to post some soon. If someone out there that is a more computer tech-savvy than I would like to post some York reproduction photos on this forum, just e-mail me and I'll send you jpegs.
Reproduction bells from Kanstul are priced as follows;
Conn, Martin, and King 6/4 detachable bells in yellow brass - $1,100.00 lacquered, $1,300.00 bright silver plated, + shipping. Grand Rapids 4/4, 5/4 detachable bells in what I'll call "York Brass" - $1,300.00 lacquered, $1,500.00 in bright silver plate.
These prices are for bells with no engraving. Engraving can be had by special order, and extra time and charges apply. Bells are available in raw brass for the same price as lacquered. Satin silver and gold-plate are available, and extra charges apply.
Lee Stofer wrote:
Please forgive me for not having photos of these on the website yet - I've just had too much repair work to manage to do that, too. I hope to post some soon. If someone out there that is a more computer tech-savvy than I would like to post some York reproduction photos on this forum, just e-mail me and I'll send you jpegs.
) and only played a little but I really LOVED the way this horn felt and its sound. I think that Kanstul and Lee really have a winner on their hands here. I should also mention what a gracious host Lee is when you visit his shop. We had a great conversation and he took the time to show me this cool horn as well as his notes and drawings for the same.
