(From this particular era, many believe that York fabricated the bells and bows for these Holton instruments. Strong evidence is that York model numbers have been found stamped on the hidden ends of these bows and bells when the Holton instruments were unsoldered and disassembled for dent removal. Holton installed their own valve sections which featured a larger bore size, compared to the York approximately .656" or so bore size. I believe the Holton valve section bore size was .665" (same as with a much later so-called "Harvey Phillips" models), which was a size which telescoped down from Holton's own .750" bore tubing, whereas - on these compact 4/4 Holton tubas - the next telescoping size down from 750" was the outside slide tubing, and then the next smaller size was the .665" bore inside slide tubing.)
The larger mouth pipe and slightly more compact overall instrument defines a clearer sound quality versus a more covered sound quality with the King type of instruments.
Neither sonority is bad. Both are good.
My instrument offers more of a sonic contrast between it and the Miraphone 98 compared to the King-style instrument, though they are remarkably similar in basic build (even though inches different in height). Some use the word bright. I would say that the instrument of mine with the Holton/York bell and bows has more of a direct and immediate type of sound, whereby it's easier to distinguish the beginnings of sounds.
If JP ever comes out with something to compete with the Eastman (or some future China-built King 2341), I would hope they would copy something like mine. I just find it to be a bit more fun to play (as well as to listening to myself play it), and - being only 32 inches tall overall, perhaps a little less likely to be tipped over when purchased the government for use by talented.young scholars.
My instrument obviously weighs pounds more than the King knock off. I don't think the fifth valve alone can explain that, particularly since the bell section isn't as long and the bottom bows are probably pretty close to interchangeable. Of course mine has two bow caps rather than one, and my bottom bow cap is larger than the one on the Eastman. The fifth valve plus those caps could be the difference (though it's a pretty striking difference), but I also believe that the sheet metal on my Holton is thicker, particularly based on just doing dent removal (an hour ago) on the Eastman.
Anyway, I would like to see JP put out something like mine, rather than just another complete King copy - made in yet another Chinese factory which would be different YET the same. ... and I'm not talking about my sort of freestyled plumbing. Yorkboy's. more traditional valve section tubing patterns (on the same bill and body) would be just fine. (Mostly, with mine I was having fun trying to see how skinny I could make a front action tuba - front to back.)
takeaway:
King style is always great.
York style is just something special.
One last thing:
With my experimental valve section plumbing wrap, the first upper slide is easily accessible and very comfortable to operate through the back of the instrument rather than over the top, and doesn't even require grasping. The D shape formed by the brace allows the player to simply stick their hand in the hole and move their hand up and down without even holding anything in particular with their fingers.
