Posted by Mark Heter on July 16, 2003 at 09:55:04:
In Reply to: Re: King Rotary .687 mouthpieces? posted by Rob PM on July 11, 2003 at 12:01:59:
The King 26, sometimes referred to as the H.N.White 26 Equa-Tru, came "in the box" with every BBb sousaphone and tuba King made for many years. Bell played on one, it is the basis of Don Butterfield's mouthpiece. Lou Waldeck played a King 26 on his Donatelli Conn at the City Center Ballet for many years and soudned great. The cup gives you a little "bounce" which helps with double and triple tongueing. It has an odd shank taper (Morse?), unlike the standard "Conn" taper most American tuba mouthpieces are made with. King stopped making them years ago (a mistake, I believe) in favor of copies of Bach mouthpieces. At the end of production, list price was $14.00. Who knows? Now that Benge is no longer a King brand (the Benge family is going to have the instruments made by Kanstul I am told) maybe with the excellent "retro" King tuba they will bring back the King 26. I WOULD. As a player you have to have a "open sound" of your own to get a good volume of tone with the 26, but you can play on that cushy rim ALL DAY. I had the wonderful Frank Zottola transfer the King 26 rim (actually the inside chamfer) to his stock 1.25A and have been playing on that for over 20 years. It worked great on the Ringling Band AND in the orchestra. Also, Terry Warburton (this guy is a master of CNC machining) made me an EXACT copy of the King 26 (sorry, dropped my last King 26... had to have it replicated)and can probably do the same for you. Not everybody plays a Helleberg.
MH