Questions old King c-melody

[nooob]

As my avatar implies, I've got some basic questions to start. First I just acquired an old c-melody King.(I currently have an Martin Indiana tenor). It was my great uncle's. My brother had it "serviced/re-padded" a year ago. It seems in pristine condition. Original case, strap, mouth piece and even a matching tuning whistle(???). Not a dent on it. Anyways, so here are my questions : Is it too simplistic to think because this sax is smaller than a tenor but larger than an alto the range would be somewhere between them? ....Second, is there an easy way to look up the serial # to see when it was built. Finally, it seems like people have reservations about the c-melody, as evidenced by price demand. Is this a very limited use instrument, or can one play a variety of musical styles. Yhanks in advance. I started playing again, you might say a mid life hobby. It's been all fun. Tim

[mascio]

You would be perfectly correct to think the range of the c melody is between that of the alto and the tenor. The c melody never found a place in the standard big band sax section, and as such was reserved for those who played at home and did not want to have to transpose when reading piano music. Frankie Traumbauer was one of very few who made commercial recordings on c melody. There is no great demand for them so the prices are much lower than altos and tenors. collectors and some sax players like to have them for fun. I also own a martin indiana and a couple of c melodys. As far as the serial numbers go, there are several experts here on this forum who can help you more than I. Vintagesax.com maybe able to help as well. Best of luck and welcome to the forum.

[wmclean]

Congratulations on your King C Mel. I just finished getting in about an hour of playing with my King C Mel. Lovely horn ... like all vintage horns, you may need to find the right mpc - usually a vintage large chamber mpc.

If you want to hear some nice C Mel playing, look at this ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E06ZSx2iT-w

Two great sources of C Mel info are found at:
http://pub6.bravenet.com/forum/431465883/
http://cmelodysax.co.uk/blog/

Cheers
W.

[dvdberg]

Have fun with your c-melody sax at home, if you jam with others or in a worship team at a church. I do those all and not having to transpose into other keys (rotten ones sometimes) is great, especially for a middle aged noob like myself.

I took the advice of others and just purchased a B7 Rico Royal tenor mouthpiece and it works well! The "7" gives you the open chamber previously suggested. I've tried 4 other mouthpieces and find this mouthpiece (at $25) a great value and, especially for c-mels, has quite good intonation (plays in tune).

I can also suggest you go to saxpics.com for serial number information on your King.

Check out "New Year's Funk" on youtube.com. It's played on a King c-mel and if I could get that tone I'd be in heaven - actually it probably won't be until I'm in heaven till I get that tone.:D