Re: Re: 2341 King tuba owners....HELP


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Posted by Kenneth Sloan on July 01, 2003 at 13:34:57:

In Reply to: Re: 2341 King tuba owners....HELP posted by Rick Denney on July 01, 2003 at 13:04:20:

I agree with Rick, except that my recommendation to buyers is to purchase from a retailer who will take care of "out of the box obvious flaws" *before* you get the tuba.

Best, of course, is to visit the shop and see what you are getting first hand.

Mail order sales should include reasonable provisions for returning lemons.

The bad news is that the shops most likely to send a lemon are probably the ones with the most restrictive (and expensive) return policies.

When I was in the market for a King 2341, I learned early on that it was important to test valve compression and response on notes involving the 4th valve. The one I bought is "good" (on a scale of poor to excellent) in valve compression (noticeably worse than my 6 year old Yamaha 621S, which was so tight that I had all 4 valves vented) - but that was also the *best* valve compression (and 4th valve response) in a collection of 3 from which I made my final selection. Structurally, it appears OK. Cosmetically, there is a spot where the buffer was a bit too "aggressive". But, nothing like the fit and finish problems the OP is taking about.

Talk to the store, and experiment with valve oils. If a valve oil intended for loose valves doesn't make the tuba playable, simply return it. If it's playable, I suspectc that a local shop could fix the cosmetic problems. I would expect the original seller to pay for this (of course, arrange this in advance!).

If you can't get satisfaction from the seller, you've learned a lesson (don't buy there again!) Reject the tuba and ship it back (probably at your expense - some lessons cost money).




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