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Hello everyone! I have a very interesting King 1241 that I recently acquired. As far as I can guess, I think this was used as the reference tuba at the King factory. It shows no signs of ever being lacquered, and it feels heavier and thicker leading me to believe it's never been buffed either. There are markings all over it such as, "30mm from end" and "#3" and such. I really believe this was a reference tuba of some sort. When I got it, it had no guards on the bottom bow and was missing a few braces. I just finished putting everything on today, so it is a complete tuba. There are no noticeable dents anywhere on it. I have not gotten around to buffing anything other than the slides, and you can see where new braces were soldered on, but it plays great! The bottom half is a little pink because I just dipped it today after all the solder work.

This is pretty much a factory new King 1241. No noticeable dents, pristine plating on the valves, and a 19" upright bell (the better of the two bell options if you ask me). I'm asking $2,100 for it, or best reasonable offer. I REALLY don't want to polish it, so all reasonable offers are welcome! I'm located in Cleveland, Ohio and can drive a reasonable distance to facilitate a sale. I can also ship it if you pay shipping. Please let me know if you have any questions! The best way to get ahold of me is by email. tylerferris1213@gmail.com. Pictures located below.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/b9bjx4pbkepv ... krP6a?dl=0

Edit: There is a person in the area with a case for this. I can add that on for an additional $75.

That is very, very cool.

The 19" King bell is the best one for the 1240/1241/2340/2341 horns. It has the sound of the larger bells with much more clarity of articulation. It is not so dang poofy sounding, but much more focused and direct. I have two of them on my K-90 contrabass bugles that will soon start the process of becoming tubas.

That’s a cool piece.

the elephant wrote: ↑Fri Dec 18, 2020 12:24 pm The 19" King bell is the best one for the 1240/1241/2340/2341 horns. It has the sound of the larger bells with much more clarity of articulation. It is not so dang poofy sounding, but much more focused and direct. I have two of them on my K-90 contrabass bugles that will soon start the process of becoming tubas.

I absolutely agree! I was lucky to find this horn with the 19" bell.

Considering your locale, could this be the prototype from when they moved from 1240/1241 to ("old style") 2340/2341 ?

Obviously, this instrument was no longer needed, when they moved on to "new style".

There really would have been no reasons (at the Eastlake plant) to install bow caps on a prototype...

bloke wrote: ↑Sat Dec 19, 2020 10:48 am Considering your locale, could this be the prototype from when they moved from 1240/1241 to ("old style") 2340/2341 ?

Obviously, this instrument was no longer needed, when they moved on to "new style".

There really would have been no reasons (at the Eastlake plant) to install bow caps on a prototype...

Bloke, that's a very interesting thought! Maybe?

I bought a tuba earlier this year from Tyler. He did a great job with the shipping.

That would be worth it just to not have to deal with the flaky orange lacquer!

Okay... Ive noticed this little feature with my 1241 and a few other 1241s and 2341s, a lot of the 1240s,1241s,2340s, an 2341s that I've seen for sale and in general don't have a top tuning slide in addition to the bottom tuning slide for the first valve with an exception for mine and the few pictures I've seen, including this one. Is this just me seeing things or is this an actual thing?

EmptyCase wrote: ↑Mon Dec 21, 2020 9:24 pm Okay... Ive noticed this little feature with my 1241 and a few other 1241s and 2341s, a lot of the 1240s,1241s,2340s, an 2341s that I've seen for sale and in general don't have a top tuning slide in addition to the bottom tuning slide for the first valve with an exception for mine and the few pictures I've seen, including this one. Is this just me seeing things or is this an actual thing?

Yeah those were transition horns (top pull 1st valve, with Curly-Q on 3rd valve) from roughly 1978-early 1980 when they went to the 2341 (old style) with serial numbers ROUGHLY from 800,000 on. Just like with new cars, the previous couple years' models may still have been sold as "new" a few years into the 1980's.

the elephant wrote: ↑Fri Dec 18, 2020 12:24 pm The 19" King bell is the best one for the 1240/1241/2340/2341 horns. It has the sound of the larger bells with much more clarity of articulation. It is not so dang poofy sounding, but much more focused and direct. I have two of them on my K-90 contrabass bugles that will soon start the process of becoming tubas.

Absolutely agreed on the 19" bell! Don't kill those K90s! They are the best bugles ever made and collectors, hobbyists and old guys are still hunting for them. I'll send you a PM Elephant.

I just bought a hard case for this tuba, which will make shipping much easier if you live far away!

Bump for price reduction!

Bump for big price reduction. I thought someone would be interested in the history behind it for a collection, but I guess I was wrong. The price is now $2,100.

Even Pre-Covid, it was hard to resell these wonderful machines for any more than $1600-1800 in fantastic shape unless you found a really motivated buyer. I think people need to just play them and they would understand.

KingTuba1241X wrote: ↑Tue Jan 12, 2021 10:11 am Even Pre-Covid, it was hard to resell these wonderful machines for any more than $1600-1800 in fantastic shape unless you found a really motivated buyer. I think people need to just play them and they would understand.

Are they realy that good? I was thinking about buying one while the markets good and putting a monster bell and bottom bell on it. Maybe not if there that good.

LargeTuba wrote: ↑Tue Jan 12, 2021 11:01 am

KingTuba1241X wrote: ↑Tue Jan 12, 2021 10:11 am Even Pre-Covid, it was hard to resell these wonderful machines for any more than $1600-1800 in fantastic shape unless you found a really motivated buyer. I think people need to just play them and they would understand.

Are they realy that good? I was thinking about buying one while the markets good and putting a monster bell and bottom bell on it. Maybe not if there that good.

Easily the most responsive horns out there. As described by a friend, like playing an electric tuba where every note plays in tune and slots perfectly. (With a responsible user of course). I would discourage putting the short bell on it unless it's completely trashed and you got it really cheap. The detachable ones play with more fortitude (I prefer the 19'' bell variant, not the 22'' one unless you like make a diffuse woofing sound).

I'm motivated to sell, so I'll definitely hear any offers as well. This really is a good horn.