A 2.5 lb King 3B — Still Plays Like a 3B and Better Balanced

[sanfransoxfan]

Keep in mind, slide‑forward weight and roll‑away torque are problems for all horn makes and models. If the pocketbook can handle it, this approach will work for any horn.

I’ve played a 1972 King 3B/F Silversonic for decades, but at over 3.1 lb it’s a little heavy. Worse, too much of that weight is in the front. In spite of my ergonomics background telling me how unbalanced the horn was, I “looked the other way” because I love the horn — but the drawbacks have become harder to ignore as the years go by.

To go lighter but keep that 3B sound, I picked up a no‑trigger silver‑plated mid‑70s King 3B. At around 2.8 lb it is lighter, but even with the 0.3 lb counterweight it came with, it is still a bit front‑heavy.

Fatigue comes from imbalance as well as weight, and of the two loads, fighting imbalance takes more work than shouldering the horn’s weight (provided the horn isn’t crazy heavy). This is why a light but imbalanced horn actually “feels” heavier than a balanced heavier horn. Get the horn to balance at the grip and the torque strain is minimized — after that, lowering the weight actually reduces the load strain. That’s what pushed me toward this setup to further improve the 3B’s balance and weight without hurting its great playing characteristics:
• Butler carbon‑fiber outer slide — 0.1 lb (light, fast, and practically zero resistance)
• Butler counterweight system — 0.2 lb total
(most of that weight sits at the end of a stick mounted to the tuning‑slide crossbar and pointing inward, opposite the bell. In addition to countering the much lighter slide, it also creates a surprisingly large torque that offsets much of the bell’s tendency to roll away from the shoulder.)
• Final (balanced!) weight: 2.5 lb (stock 3B was 2.8 lb)
• For reference: my 3B/F Silversonic is 3.1 lb, and a typical 2B is around 2.6 lb, so the improved 3B weighs less than a 2B.

Result: the horn sits naturally in the hand without “tugging forward” or trying to “roll away,” the slide is way quicker because there’s much less mass to move, and yet the horn still delivers that 3B sound and response I love.

[Doug Elliott]

Nice. Does the sound *to you* sound and feel the same with the carbon fiber outer as the nickel outer?
My impression has been that out front they sound the same, but sound and feel different to the player.