Re: Re: Re: King 2341 Info Needed


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Posted by Todd W. White on March 05, 2003 at 21:42:11:

In Reply to: Re: Re: King 2341 Info Needed posted by Rick Denney on March 05, 2003 at 18:32:17:

I don't how you can say "There are 2341's and 2341's. The best 1241's are probably better than the worst new 2341's, but the best of the new ones fairly blow away the old ones."

Which era are you talking about? There are VAST differences between 1241's from different era's. Mr. William Bell helped design the 1241, and it's marching sousaphone counterpart, the 1250 (which is still the BEST sounding/playing sousaphone ever made in the last 60 years!), and they based the 1241 on his string-action rotary-valved horn (I've played one of these too, by the way: absolutely outstanding! I'll never play a rotary tuba again unles it's one of those old KING's - no need for massive slide adjusting while you play, AND NO CLANKING!), so I think you have be careful about nlanket statements...

I've played LOTS of 1241's, and it is true that there were some that were better than others, and some that are REALLY good. Most of those were made by the H. N. White Co., not King Musical Instruments, Inc.

I have played 1241's for 30 years, and I fail to need to have the upper first valve slide be adjustable - on the ones I have payed, you just don't need it: the horn plays most of the first-valve notes so close - if not perfectly - in tune that the long pulls that you have to use on the other horns is unnecessary.

In reality, I think the problem is this: we tend to think that technology can fix everything. I mean, really - we can send a man to the MOON, but we can't make a horn that plays perfectly in tune!

So what do you do?

You do what I did - you find an overall excellent horn, then spend the rest of your life learning the horn's tuning and playing idiosyncrasies, and work around it. After a while, you won't even be THINKING about whether you're in tune or not, because you ARE....

THEN you can start playing MUSIC!

- Todd W. White


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