King 607/608 slide "vintages"

[W1XO]

I've got a King 607F with the unfortunate "tiny" leadpipe. I know that it's not practical on these to pull the pipe and put in another, so I'm thinking of just looking for an entire handslide with a more suitable pipe. I was thinking 3B+ or Benge 175, but it occurs to me that there are probably more 607/608 donor slides out there than anything else.

So how can you tell a "good" 607 slide (with the earlier, more open leadpipe) from a "bad" one? I know I can try playing it, but if I'm looking at candidates far from home, that's not an option. Any tips on identifying these by outside cues, or serial numbers, or something?

[Finetales]

I don't have concrete proof for this, but I'm convinced that King changed the leadpipe from the 3B pipe to the awful tiny student-grade pipe when they changed the model numbers from 607/609 to 607F/608F.

If you find a 607 (NOT 607F) or 609, sometimes also marked Tempo II, chances are it has the good leadpipe. One of my 607s is from 1967, actually older than my 3Bs. A '60s horn will certainly have the good pipe, and probably a '70s horn as well.

[W1XO]

Thanks, Tiffany. I will keep my eye out for the ones with the older marks.

Ted

[Matt K]

For what it's worth, the part to swap the tenon should fit no problem, though UMI is being rather slow at delivering parts. I'm kicking myself for being on vacation when the 3B+ slide receiver and neckpipe was for sale a few weeks ago. I would have bought that in an instant. I've been waiting on that exact part from them since June.

Also, a good tech should make quick work of swapping out that leadpipe. I've had Volkweins do it to a 3BF of mine and add a Shires collar (this was maybe 10 or so years ago... I still kick myself for selling that one...). I had Brian (crazy4tbone86) here do something similar, though he admittedly did not remove it inasmuch as replace the upper slide and add a collar. Neither were cheap, but neither were expensive either and both were very high quality. Brad Close has done similar work on a two piece leadpipe setup (Getzen 1025) recently and the work was very fairly priced and of high quality.

[Burgerbob]

The 607 leadpipe swap is not as simple as a 3B.

[Matt K]

Removing the pipe or adding the collar? Brian did a great job on my 607F slide but didn't have to bother with the removing of the pipe since I had a smaller bore inner/outer added instead.

[Burgerbob]

The receiver on the 608 is part of the hand slide assembly that the brace attaches to.

[Matt K]

Edit: whoops no I wasn't I was mixing this up with another King thread ongoing.

Regardless, if you get a 607F slide, the leadpipe pull is definitely possible. I used a large shank receiver ring and simply had a large shank collar soldered to the leadpipe I use, as pictured;

IMG_4649.jpeg

[Burgerbob]

I did the same thing, but it adds so much length I had to have the tuning slide cut, not to mention the big difference in mouthpiece to brace distance. It's why I sold mine.