Posted by Matt G on October 11, 2001 at 10:49:52:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: St. Petersburg Rumor posted by Jay on October 11, 2001 at 08:53:15:
I have seen Kings of the 20 year vintage in Central Florida middle schools. While the are dented, they are still playable. Ironically, the middle school kids are drawn to the new and shiny YBB-321's that the school has, but the better playing kids usually gravitate towards the kings after they can get the feel for what makes a tuba work. So after the first year the good players are fighting over those kings sitting in the back corner. The newer Kings might not be as tough, but they will hold up if the horns are stored properly and the students learn to respect the property, which can be difficult, but is possible. Conn 5J's will also hold up to more abuse than the average yamaha. The real secret is to look at the number of braces. If you conted the amount of braces on a King 2341 I bet it would be almost double the amount on a YBB-321. This coupled with thicker and denser brass helps the horns hold up. Plus the Kings are usually very workable on the dent ball as opposed to a Yamaha (I have dedented these two and the Kng is a pleasure compared to a Yamaha). However, I think the St. Pete would fall even farther in these test and the parts are not nearly as accesable as a UMI horns would be.
Matt G