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Early King soprano!

4K views 22 replies 11 participants last post by  Michael Ward 
#1 ·
just picked up an early 20s king sop...it is a Beast!
 
#13 ·
I'm not online so much these days but to follow up, the sop is a straight, early 20s silver-plated Bb horn with metal resonators and no high E or F. Also, it has a big bore.

Yah, you know...many a thread here and a comment online which trashes King sopranos as being intonationally whacked.... to the point of being unplayable in many musical situations.

Yet....

I have refurbed a couple of straight ones...and quite honestly...they were sweeeeeeeet as silk. Intonationally no more variable than a Conn or Buescher of the same period, actually.

I think these are good under-radar sopranos; their reputation being so tarnished.
It plays pretty well (loudly!) but i haven't yet solved the intonation. It's very good but bright when using a plastic high baffle (Runyon?) mpc that i borrowed but a bit wild with the no-name 50s vintage, med chamber, straight sidewalls, hard rubber piece that i got on eBay. So begins the dreaded mpc search... any recommendations?

An interesting feature that i haven't seen before is that the G# tone-hole is not in line in the lower stack but actually on the back side of the horn.

i swore off the beastly little horns :twisted: years ago but lately i've been wanting to hear another sound...
 
#3 ·
Yah, you know...many a thread here and a comment online which trashes King sopranos as being intonationally whacked.... to the point of being unplayable in many musical situations.

Yet....

I have refurbed a couple of straight ones...and quite honestly...they were sweeeeeeeet as silk. Intonationally no more variable than a Conn or Buescher of the same period, actually.

I think these are good under-radar sopranos; their reputation being so tarnished.
 
#12 ·
Yeah, both the old Altos and Sopranos get bad press....but even the split-bell Altos I have done up, when keyheights are dialed in & paired with an appropriate mouthpiece, behaved themselves intonationally well.
So even in regards to the Altos, I still feel the rep is undeserved....
I have an early alto Zephyr I restored some years ago for my son. I have to use an old Woodwind Co. mouthpiece with it for intonation to be even manageable.
 
#8 ·
I would say for pre-VT-II and Zephyrs, The good Kings were in order: Curved sopranos, straight sopranos and then C-melodies. Beyond that, the gold plated altos were pretty but as far as players, not up to the competition. The C sopranos are touted as good but I haven't had one yet to compare.
 
#15 ·
Joe at soprano planet is a genius at making pieces for these vintage horns.
He made me a missing link for my '27 conn and it has been a revelation.
For less money I find the Selmer S80 pieces work well, that square chamber is fairly large.
I agree the Yamaha pieces are good for the money, I just find them bland.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#19 ·
If you're in the States, $600-ish plus overhaul would actually get you a very good horn for the money! I own Michael's curvy now - it's hands down my best-sounding soprano and remains one of the best playing horns I've ever tried (and it is considerably more comfortable to hold and play than any of the "better" sopranos - the keywork, while simple, is slick and functional). Intonation is no big deal at all - it's off in some places, but most sopranos are IME, and it isn't bad at all; getting it to play in tune is up to me, which suits me fine since it's quite manageable.

M.
 
#20 ·
My ONLY soprano for 25+ years was a King from around 1926, and itr was a killer.
When Steve Lacy played my horn, his eyes lit up and when I told him I was after a new horn, he asked about buying mine.

They are VERY lightweight and the sound can almost get trumpet-like: focused, not spread, and alive with partials.


The reputation for having questionable intonation comes from 2 things, imo: the horn has almost NO resistance (very free blowing) and, therefore, is very susceptible to changes in air column; a poor mouthpiece will play right into that as well, and, if set up poorly, play havoc with pitch as well, if the player exerts even a little lower lip pressure.

After I sold my King to a great young player, I got seller's remorse and looked for another one, which I found. But I never went back to playing it and it sat in the case, so off it went to someone else. That was 7 years ago and I haven't ever thought about getting another. But, they can be fabulous horns when set up well.


Viva King sopranos!
 
#21 ·
Joe do you still have the Saxello?

One of my favourite players Bunk Gardener of the Mothers of Invention played a King soprano.. without the high E or F. I always loved his solo on the album Absolutely Free. I read he played two solos on the track ( Was it America Drinks and Goes Home?) and Frank Zappa chose Bunks least favourite because his guitar solo was better.

I sold the Bruce curved King because I have a saxello and a V1 and it was too many sops. I only like having one horn of each type ideally.
 
#22 ·
Joe do you still have the Saxello?
Hi Mike- yes, I still have my King Saxello.

Right now, I have the saxello, a Couf Superba 1, a Yani S800, a Selmer III, a Stephanhouser curvy, a Yani 9930, a Stephanhouser straight, and I'm just working on acquiring a Borgani straight and (maybe) a Borgani curvy.

But... I only have one alto, one tenor, one C flute, one alto flute, one sopranino , one clarinet and maybe a dozen pennywhistles.

And probably a few holes in my head as well. :)
 
#23 ·
Haha... well that's enough sopranos for any man. I have 2 tenors and 2 altos oh and currently 3 flutes and 2 alto flutes.and 1 bassflute..the rest are in the ones.bari, nino ,soprano and sopranino... I do have many maybe over 50 bamboo and wood flutes and end blown Scandinavian flutes plus a full set of Chris Abel whistles and Kung Recorders...My music room is full of percussion, electronic gear and keyboards ..where will it end?
 
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