In today’s edition, from the Museum, we showcase our tallest instrument: a King Symphony model 1280 four rotary valve BBb tuba circa 1934. This instrument is unusual in several ways. It is 65 inches high, came with its own stand and was meant to be played standing up by string bass players who doubled on tuba. The stand allowed the instrument to be raised to whatever height was comfortable for the player and could be raised to over 72 inches high. King was the only American maker who made rotary valve tubas in any number and did this only during the 1930s. The 1280 shown below is in lacquered brass and has a .750 inch valve bore. It was also offered with a .687 inch valve bore. We also have one of the smaller bore 1280 King models in the collection in silver plate with a gold inner bell.
This could have been my friends old horn. I know he had one of those and traded it to them for a St Pete BBb. I would have bought him a St Pete for that horn. He had all the original cases, The stand and the case for the stand.
ISTR Joe Tarto, of the Cities Service Band of America, had one of these. He called it "Big Joe", and he and director Paul Lavalle named a march after it:
Frank
Principal tuba, Bel Air Community Band
Old (early 1900s?) Alexander BBb proto-163
1976 Sonora (B&S 101) 4-rotor BBb
~1904 York 3P BBb Helicon
Old Alex Comp.F, in shop
Heavy_Metal wrote: Thu Sep 24, 2026 5:36 pm
ISTR Joe Tarto, of the Cities Service Band of America, had one of these. He called it "Big Joe", and he and director Paul Lavalle named a march after it:
Close -- that was the Tartophone, with piston valves, close to 8 feet tall:
Here's Brian Nalepka, a former student of Tarto's and an all-around great guy (I believe he is actually Don Butterfield's son-in-law?) with the horn:
IMG_3119 by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/129235491@N05/]
