New Tuba Day!!!!

[DonO.]

I received my King 2341 today from Quinn the Eskimo. I do get a 14 day trial but my initial reaction is very positive. I was worried at first because the shipping box looked a bit beat up. Apparently when the Fed Ex guys saw “Fragile” they thought it was from Italy! (A Christmas Story reference there!) And it did come all the way from Washington state to Northeastern PA in 4 calendar days (two business days as promised). When I opened the box I could see that the horn was in its case and the case was suspended in the center of the box by custom-shaped shipping foam. It seemed unlikely that any trauma to the box would have transferred to the tuba. I took out the case and inspected it. Basically flawless, just one tiny scratch that isn’t even apparent unless you’re looking for it. The case was covered with a large plastic bag. I took off the bag and opened the case. First impression, beautiful horn! I inspected it all over with a fine tooth comb. To be really picky, there were a few TINY scratches and/or scuffs on the lower bow (and I mean tiny like, most people would miss them). Also saw a couple of TINY scuffs on the bell (again, noticeable only under very close scrutiny). Everything else looked fine. The horn really presents itself as showroom new condition. Zero dents or dings. The horn came with a brand new Bach 18 mouthpiece and a bottle of Bach synthetic valve oil. Not my favorite mouthpiece but it will do for now! I have a Helleberg standard on the way. I blew a few notes and managed a Bb scale of sorts. Not bad for someone who hasn’t played in 20 years! Tone sounds absolutely great to my ears, but intonation is off. Got out the tuner and set the slides. Had to pull all of them around 1-1 1/2 inches, except the 2nd valve slide, which seemed happy where it was. Tried for a Bb 2 octave scale and arpeggio, pretty unstable. My face was starting to hurt. Man, have I got work to do! But anyway, a good horn I think for a good price. If you didn’t read my previous post about this horn, it is an open box “show” horn which I got for $4,799 plus $150 shipping. The street price on a brand new one of these is closer to $7,700 so I think I got a great deal! Now the work begins:

I tried to post a picture but I couldn’t get it to work. It kept saying “File too large”.

[bloke]

Once again:

SINCERE CONGRATULATIONS !!!

Upload your pictures (no size limit, but keep them physically narrower than a computer screen) to imgur.com and then RIGHT-CLICK the picture, click on "Copy Image Link", paste the link here, and then put the [ IMG ] [ /IMG ] brackets around it (no spaces).

[Three Valves]

That's pretty good. Sounds exactly as described and arrived safely.

[DonO.]

Sorry. Don’t know why I said York. It’s a King. Corrected. Brain fart I guess.

[matt g]

Congratulations!

Those slide pulls are pretty standard. Kings are good that way in that you’ve got room to push in to accommodate things like C in the staff.

[the elephant]

[bloke]

There are several pretty cool little towns in our county. One of them is called LaGrange and features a whole bunch of antebellum houses. Another one is called Rossville, and features quite a few older houses (but not as old as LaGrange).
We drove past several a few days ago in Rossville with architectural styling (none of them quite the same) that features “front windows“. Mrs. bloke remarked on them, and I explained to her that all those people had likely received major awards.