[Gary59]

I have a 1960 Conn Director that plays great except for the middle B. The note plays stuffy and doesn't come out as clear as all the other notes. B flat seems fine when played B A and side key, but not when B and F keys are used. The cork seems fine on the auxillary F, and the keys close well. Any ideas?:dontknow:
Gary

 

[Steve Stockham]

I would have your tech check it out. I had the same problem with my King C-Tenor and it turned out to be a micro-leaking pad.

 

[Grumps]

Your A key height might be set too low.

 

[abadcliche]

I vote leak on the bar key/C# that closes when A is depressed. (throws dice)

To see if the issue comes from underventing, play middle B and then add your side Bb key. If the tone opens up (though it might be sharp) your issue could mainly be one of key heights.

Either way, you will get it fixed by visiting a repairman, and if you ask and your repairman is a good one you will find out why it happened and what needed to be done to fix it and what to watch out for in the future.

 

[Gary59]

Thanks for the replies.

 

[clarnibass]

Your A key height might be set too low.

Or one of the other possibilities that would hold the Bb key too low, most of which mean several keys are low in addition to the Bb key.

Nothing is certain, but Matt's first suggestions makes sense based on the OP. It would cause B and Bb played with 1-1 (B+F) be stuffy. It's also possible that F doesn't close Bis Bb.

 

[Grumps]

Or one of the other possibilities that would hold the Bb key too low, most of which mean several keys are low in addition to the Bb key.

Good point. An easy way to check that would be to play Bb by using the B key with the bis and see if that's stuffy as well. If not, then the A might be set right and it may just be the bis that's the problem if it's not what Matt has pointed out.