King 1480 slide question

[Lost]

Hi everyone.

New to the forum here. First post. Forgive all my non technical terms. I am not a trombonist by trade, although I fool around with it as a music teacher.

I bought a king 1480 in an antique shop for 50 bucks. It needs work but I thought I'd take a chance. It's playable however the slide is unable to fully lock into first position due to some denting on the casing outside of the slide where it disappears. I took a picture so you could see what I am talking about.

Is this a costly repair or are there any tricks/tools that not make it a nightmare fix?

Thanks for any help in advance.

[greenbean]

Techs will have a special tool that makes it an easy fix. The leadpipe is also peeking out. They could take care of that, too.

[Lost]

Thanks greenbean.

I was wondering about that piece sticking out. I guessed it was an after market way to make the shank smaller for this model, but I think you are right.

[BGuttman]

Actually, the original leadpipe took a small shank mouthpiece. It's a 2 piece leadpipe and if you remove the part that's sticking out you can use a large shank mouthpiece in it.

[Lost]

Awesome! Thanks for all the info. I'm a novice trombone player, but I saw the f attachment and saw King and thought this would be a good buy. Anyone know what mouthpiece would be a good bet for this horn?

I hope to post a picture of it after I get a few dents removed and the slide fixed. I tried a small shank in it and I liked it. Can't wait to open it up now and get a larger sound.

[JohnL]

Actually, the original leadpipe took a small shank mouthpiece. It's a 2 piece leadpipe and if you remove the part that's sticking out you can use a large shank mouthpiece in it.

I own two 1485's (silver belled version of the 1480) from the late 1940's and have looked over several others. Large shank (King flavor); standard Bach shanks go in a long way and wobble a bit.

I've never seen a 1480 with a small shank receiver, but I've heard that the very early ones had them. Based on having a tenon nut but not a slide lock (same as my late 1940's horns), I think the OP's is recent enough to be large shank.

[octavposaune]

That might be a mouthpiece adapter stucking out of the mouthpiece receiver.

Benn

[greenbean]

That might be a mouthpiece adapter stucking out of the mouthpiece receiver.

Benn

That gets my vote at this point.

Regardless, Lost, I would say you scored big time! These horns are fun to play.

[Crazy4Tbone86]

Lost,
I’m trying to figure out exactly what your problem is. Does the slide not go completely into the cork barrels? The cork barrels are the two primary parts in your photo. The photo does not show any significant dents on the cork barrels. Possibly the problem is that the inner slides are not centered in the cork barrels?????? There are also simple tools used to center the inner slides.

Another thing is that there could be remnants of old springs in those cork barrels. If the spring starts wrapping around the outer slide when it enters the cork barrel, everything could get stuck.

[Lost]

Well done Crazy. Your post inspired me to take a closer look at the cork barrels. Thanks for using the term I needed as well. Turns out I cleaned inside the barrels and there was a whole bunch of guck which allowed me to go Into 1st position better. Then after that, the resistance I was experiencing was in fact the springs which seem old and not that springy.

Is replacing these springs a big job?

[Crazy4Tbone86]

Pulling the old springs out is no big deal. At that point, you can install either cork/felt bumpers or new springs. It is not labor-intensive or expensive.