Update on my new King

[DonO.]

Well, I have had my King 2341 from Quinn the Eskimo for a week now. Things are going well. I was concerned about how noisy the valves were. Every day after playing for the past week I have cleaned the casings and valves and re-oiled. After just a week of this the valves are already noticeably quieter.

Playing wise, I only used the included Bach 18 one day. I quickly moved on to the Helleberg Standard, my mouthpiece of choice back in the day. I’ve been working mostly long tones, scales, snd arpeggios. I have noticed that my intonation is spot on with the way the slides are set when I play scales in flat keys but when I switch to sharp keys the intonation goes haywire. After working with a tuner for awhile I found that it was possible for me to play sharp keys in tune. It seems it’s not the horn but me. I am not centering the pitches correctly. I can force them but it’s not easy. The Helleberg seems to allow a wide range of being able to lip up or down. My working theory is that my embouchure is not strong enough after only a week of playing to center the pitch where it needs to be and keep it there. Does my theory hold water?

[Three Valves]

Yes.

But also, I am so used to hearing in band keys that orchestral keys and the related pitches just sound off, sometimes even when I am not.

Fortunately, nearly everything in our rep is band.

[bloke]

Being a tuba player (with tuning slides that often only push in roughly 1-1/4" to as little as 5/8" above A=440)...

I note that many bands play quite sharp...AS DO many orchestras...

...so when many bands are playing in B♭, E♭, and A♭, they're almost playing in B, E, and A...
...and when many orchestras play in B, E, and A, they're almost playing in C, F, and B♭...

...so which type of group - really - plays in "sharp" keys, and which one in "flat" keys...(??)

Yes.

But also, I am so used to hearing in band keys that orchestral keys and the related pitches just sound off, sometimes even when I am not.

Fortunately, nearly everything in our rep is band.

[donn]

Someone may have an idea what would have this effect, but it isn't me. It occurred to me though that your first cut on the individual valve tunings might not be helping. I wrote a simple toy application a ways back that you can use to sort of explore this, Valve Lab. You work the sliders at the bottom to get valve tunings that optimize all the pitches that use that valve. It isn't there to give you actual dimensions, which are fraudulent and would be mighty hard to apply anyway, but just an easy way to visualize the balance you get from various adjustments. All based on simple arithmetic, without the least understanding of practical acoustics.

[matt g]

If you’re just getting your chops back, then yeah pitch is going to be interesting for a while.

I also believe the Conn Helleberg cup/throat/backbore taper is very smooth and allows for a good bit of lipping of pitch as a result. One of the reasons I didn’t dig those all that much as they never felt “locked in”.