A King Zephyr from 1946 is being sold on consignment by the only tech in town I trust. He's recently overhauled it.
I'm going to try it and form my own opinions but I thought I'd post here and see what you guys have to say. He's asking what works out to about $1700USD.
Original lacquer 98% intact, no structural repairs or issues, restored/repadded by this tech who is the best in the area. So it should be at its best.
And it comes with a flight case.
The same tech did an amazing job restoring my 1922 Buescher C melody. He worked on my 1927 Buescher alto, another tech re padded it leaving toneholes unlevel, he sorted that out. He replaced some pads recently on my Yamaha 62 tenor as well.
Even adjusting for the Canadian dollar, vintage horns tend to go for more up here than south of the border--especially American horns. The higher prices probably reflect the cost of importing them, along with our much smaller market.
Sure, you might be able to find a cheaper Zephyr in good shape in the U.S., but expect to pay heavy customs fees and shipping to get it up here. Being able to test play it before purchasing, and knowing it's been overhauled by your most trusted tech, is likely worth the premium.
That said, you could always check in with SOTW member JayeLID before buying. He sold me my Zephyr alto overhauled at a great price, and might have a tenor in stock.
This is basically the entire reason I'm considering it.
A quick note on what I play:
I play live a lot and I play all sorts of styles. One band I'm in is an original band the singer describes as "Cottage Rock".
The other band plays a lot of different stuff. We've played anything from Hello Dolly to Black Sabbath by Black Sabbath with the horn doing the guitar lines. Tonight we are playing one of our regular gigs, intermission at a burlesque show!
I play at a lot of open mics and jams too.
I like a fairly dark sound that can go edgy and dirty if desired.
My current mouthpiece is a Warburton LA by Eric Falcon. I have a thread on it.
Now see, that's a very good comparator, wailer. The Zephyr you found costs about 30% less, but it's delacquered, and thousands of km's from the OP. Raccoon's horn of interest has original lacquer almost intact, and comes in a Walt Johnson case.
This one has Jim Schmidt Gold pads though I bet they'd take $1500.
Definitely a different niche. Someone who wants original probably wouldn't like this. Chris does good work though. He's who overhauled my YTS61 from basically a Lamp into a great playing horn.
Funny enough the reason they are selling it is because they bought the Super 20 at my local shop. I was getting my horn fixed and I asked them where the Super 20 they had went.
The king sounds nice. One shortcoming is I can't get a nice clean altissimo G out of it. I can do this pretty well on my Yamaha 62. (2024 edit: This was in all likelyhood my fault, not the horn. Was just getting my foot in the door with altissimo at this time)
The SML plays nice and I like the feel. I probably like the key layout more than my horn. It sounds great too. If I didn't the yamaha I'd probably choose it. They want $2500CND for this one.
My yamaha is really nice to work with but I'm not quite sure I like the tone on it as much.
I think you may find it too dark for rock until you figure out the right mpc. In my experience, I thought i was bright enough until I listened to recordings...I always found the highs didn’t project.
Also, that in-line left hand table can take awhile to develop a strategy to get around on quickly.
I think you may find it too dark for rock until you figure out the right mpc. In my experience, I thought i was bright enough until I listened to recordings...I always found the highs didn't project.
Also, that in-line left hand table can take awhile to develop a strategy to get around on quickly.
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