@kingrob76
Regardless of who made them - and I really don't see why it makes a damn bit of difference (sort of like the 4/4 Holton/York thing which is - coincidentally - the same size instruments as the G50's...)
I have always thought of those Getzen-sold instruments as being the closest to the 32-in tall York/Holton tubas, as far as dimensions and sound/resonance are concerned, even though the Getzen things are C instruments and not B-flat.
I don't know if I've ever made it clear (but I feel like I have plenty of times)...
I don't give a damn about provenance, or who manufactured what on an instrument. All I care about is how well something plays, and what condition it's in.
Back when those were made, King was still making some damn nice valve sections... and they still had some craftsman who had not retired who could even step up their game a little higher, when asked or paid to do so. I just don't see any reason to be concerned when someone like me notices that the tubing, pistons, casings, and threads (along with the quarter inch brace socket size) are all King. The Milwaukee Symphony guy used King stuff when he made 4/4 C instruments out of cut down 4/4 York B-flats, so why not use brand spanking new King stuff to make new C versions? ... And earlier in the 20th century King made stuff that looked a whole lot like those instruments... some squatty wide bell instruments, as well as the fact that - to this day - King bottom bows fit York/Holton perfectly in that size range...so why would a company in Wisconsin pony up big bucks for a manufacturer over in expensive-ass Germany to start from scratch? ...just because - decades earlier - that Wisconsin company was the importer of that German manufacturer's instruments...(??) Resellers and parts assemblers are looking for "good + cheapest + convenient". They just don't look for "good + most expensive + most inconvenient".
- I think the getson C instruments are really good, particularly when they're not worn out cuz they're getting sort of old these days.
- Were it that someone were shown or proved to me that they were entirely made by King - as far as all their parts, I wouldn't think any less of them. As a matter of fact, I would kind of think it was pretty cool, even though I'm not a "provenance" nor "who made it matters" person.
Thinking back, Getzen was trying to grab the Canadian Brass as an amazing endorser, because that brass quintet was red hot.
They weren't making any tubas, which presented a problem... They were a couple of hours away from a guy in Milwaukee - who had been cutting down tubas and making them into C tubas - and he was getting a lot of attention as well. Doesn't seem logical that they borrowed one of his best ones - or even bought one from him, figured out what it was made of, and then started reaching out, whereby Eastlake seemed to be the first logical place to reach? (King made some of the first "Accent" instruments - including beginner trumpets and trombones - something else easy for those of us too ascertain who work on a lot of instruments, so why the heck wouldn't King - during that same approximate era - be perfectly willing to make some tubas for Getzen?)
... Lee putting them together with a bit more care and changing a few things that makes sense to change... even better !!!
@Jim Williams (aka Snorlax)... I typed up a whole bunch of repair quotes on letterhead-looking documents this morning and emailed them where they needed to go, got cleaned up hurriedly, and went to the dentist - to fix a tooth that the back had sort of fallen off of, made it back out of Memphis without being shot or robbed, got home not too long before dinnertime, and I sort of needed to lay down for a little bit and rest, because (I suspect) you and I are roughly the same age. Mrs bloke is watching a Jesus-esque chick-flick (also taking a break), so I'm pontificating here, rather than looking up at the screen.
Dinner's ready (she's wonderful) and - though there is a mountain of horns, out there - I'm probably going to spend some time tonight on the big tuba, the F tuba, and the euphonium... because John Mueller (retired from teaching at U of Memphis) called (when I was driving home) and it sounds to me like he wants to put together something that is sort of like the Tubameisters in Texas and play some Oktoberfest gigs in a few months... and he wants to try out the charts he's gathered in a few days...so I sort of need to play some every few days so I don't sound like a goat around him and a couple of other really good players.... He hasn't decided which part he wants me to play on the charts.
(summary: Posting way too much crap here is usually more fun for me than watching crappy TV shows.)
