Danny here:
Now restoring a lovely early Cleveland King C from 1911. Scored it with original case and neck with matching serial number 37,XXX. The seller said it did not play, but I suspected otherwise and on arrival I found a mouthpiece jammed up in the body tube. It plays decently on the current pads but I am going to give it really nice new pads. It came to me fresh and dusty, with that great 103 year old C-Melody smell. Unfortunately the original front F mechanism is gone (but the key with pearl is there!) so I will have to fabricate a front F lever. Also the low Eb key guard took a good knock sometime in the last century and will need to be straightened. Those of you who know about early Kings might be wondering how I came up with 1911:
-I plotted the existing data from 1893 up till 1945 (Around 1945 it visibly skews on a plot. Must be due to WWII demand for brass)
-I applied a polynomial regression of best fit to the data.
-I calculated the equation Y = 3.396X[SUP]3[/SUP] - 19,400.032X[SUP]2[/SUP] + 36,942,177.16X - 2,349,849,462.444
Feel free to use my equation to estimate the year of pre 1915 King Saxophones, it fits the existing data extremely well on a plot. It maps serial number as a function of time, not the other way around. Its probably not very reliable around the edges of years, but if you calculate the middle of a year (as I did calculate 1911.6 with my sax being 37,XXX) it is safe to say it was made in that year.
This is the oldest C-Melody I have ever played and I can already tell its going to wail. It has HUGE sound, very loud compared to my other horns. Intonation is a little different, but I will be able to master it with some hours in the shed. The bell reads "King, Made By, The H.N. White Co., Clevd., O." I am quite happy to have found such a great early King in such fabulous condition.
Cheers, I will post a thread with restoration photos soon.
Now restoring a lovely early Cleveland King C from 1911. Scored it with original case and neck with matching serial number 37,XXX. The seller said it did not play, but I suspected otherwise and on arrival I found a mouthpiece jammed up in the body tube. It plays decently on the current pads but I am going to give it really nice new pads. It came to me fresh and dusty, with that great 103 year old C-Melody smell. Unfortunately the original front F mechanism is gone (but the key with pearl is there!) so I will have to fabricate a front F lever. Also the low Eb key guard took a good knock sometime in the last century and will need to be straightened. Those of you who know about early Kings might be wondering how I came up with 1911:
-I plotted the existing data from 1893 up till 1945 (Around 1945 it visibly skews on a plot. Must be due to WWII demand for brass)
-I applied a polynomial regression of best fit to the data.
-I calculated the equation Y = 3.396X[SUP]3[/SUP] - 19,400.032X[SUP]2[/SUP] + 36,942,177.16X - 2,349,849,462.444
Feel free to use my equation to estimate the year of pre 1915 King Saxophones, it fits the existing data extremely well on a plot. It maps serial number as a function of time, not the other way around. Its probably not very reliable around the edges of years, but if you calculate the middle of a year (as I did calculate 1911.6 with my sax being 37,XXX) it is safe to say it was made in that year.
This is the oldest C-Melody I have ever played and I can already tell its going to wail. It has HUGE sound, very loud compared to my other horns. Intonation is a little different, but I will be able to master it with some hours in the shed. The bell reads "King, Made By, The H.N. White Co., Clevd., O." I am quite happy to have found such a great early King in such fabulous condition.
Cheers, I will post a thread with restoration photos soon.