Posted by Art H on February 04, 2004 at 00:34:37:
In Reply to: Playing a 3 valver in tune? posted by Frankie ThreeFingers on February 03, 2004 at 10:45:13:
When I was in college I had an old 3-valve King. It had no top slide on the 1st valve tubing, but it had a double loop on the 3rd and a ring on the 2nd. I loosened them up so that I could work the two slides on the 3rd valve with my left pinky and could also pull the 2nd valve slide with my thumb and index finger. Going from a D to a C, for example, I would pull the 3rd slides in advance. Or going from C to B I would pull the 2nd. It was so easy and comfortable that I have to believe that the horn was designed with that method in mind. I did have to saw off about 3/4" from the third tubing to get the Db and Gb in tune, and I did drill vent holes in the pistons to relieve popping. I did not learn that there was a name for those holes until many years later.
Don Butterfield and some others have rigged up pushrods to work the first valve slides on their 3-valve Kings.