Posted by Rob Perelli-Minetti on May 08, 1999 at 09:27:49:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Elkhart, IN-What's the deal ? posted by Sean Chisham on May 08, 1999 at 01:09:08:
I saw and played the new King (UMI) 5 valve CC at the Brass Conference in New York in April. I think it is a very good horn, though I'm not really a CC player, I would seriously consider it to replace a BBb and an F. The finishes are not attractive (IMO)in either sandblast silver (doesn't look like the old satin silver of a Conn or King) or sandblast brass (looks like plastic) so I don't know if the horn will attract a professional audience. I do understand that as of the beginning of the Brass Conference 30 of the 50 initial production run horns are already spoken for.
You ask what happened to the professional Kings, Conns and Holtons?
A couple of thoughts: I understand that in the moves out of Elkhart (for Conn) and out of Superior Avenue to Eastlake (for King) many of the mandrels for the horns many of us grew up on and knew and loved were lost or intentional discarded.
Secondly, professional players in the US play CC almost exclusively nowadays and the American manufacturers never made CCs except as custom orders. One thinks of the famous Bell related rotary Kings: those were only available by order. Look at the catalogs in the '30s, all the horns are shown in BBb and Eb, with a little footnote that they can be furnished by order in CC. So, the great American CC's one occasionally sees, such as the famous Chicago Yorks or rotary Kings (but I understand they had intonation problems at least as serious as the average Alexander) were essentially custom instruments made for professionals who ordered them.
If one is looking at a BBb, I think that the King 2341 is as good as almost anything generally available, and a lot better than most of the BBb horns around. Given my druthers, I'd take an old Conn 24/5/6J if I could get a good one or a really good Alexander, but a good King 2341 sounds better than every Miraphone, Cerveny, Yamaha or (modern) Besson BBb I've heard or played.