Posted by Kenneth Sloan on November 30, 2003 at 13:25:33:
In Reply to: Re: Re: again posted by New King owner on November 29, 2003 at 00:44:44:
I see (above) that Rick has been listening to all of his friends who own King 2341's. his advice is spot on.
On "the King spin" - I became addicted to "the spin" with my Yamaha YBB-621S. Of course, with the toy-sized Yamaha, this was no problem. When I first got my 2341 (a year ago), I had difficulties emptying the water, and resorted to the spin from time to time - but it wasn't pretty.
Since then, I think i've gotten a better handle on emptying the water, and haven't needed the spin for a few months.
First - note that my 2341 is one of the "new, new" models, and has three water keys. The most important (and trickiest) of these is on the interior of the wrap. In order to properly drain it, I find it useful to point the bell straight up, open the water key, and rock the tuba just a bit back and forth on the bottom bow. But FIRST...be sure to to two other things.
1) empty the TOP slides (pull, tilt, re-insert, repeat...)
2) move everything along (this may be superstitious behavior) - I put air through each valve in sequence, usually noting that all are clear except the 4th. Then, I drain that new 4th valve water key...and (usually) all is well.
No more spin! (for which my neighbors in the back row are grateful.
On defects: after it's first chem-clean and polish, it because obvious that the silver plating was inadequate in a few spots. And, my tuning slide is still just a tad recalcitrant, even after one re-grooving. But, since I rarely have any occasion to move it, this is the most minor of annoyances.