King Super 20 versus Conn 30M: Key Action

[zootspiker]

Both of my tenors were built around 1949. (Serial#'s 300xxx on both) I have a question about the action:

I've had the Conn in the closet for a couple years and have been almost exclusively on my King. I pulled out the Conn yesterday and was amazed by the speed of the action. Same tech overhauled and set up both horns but when I went through my trilling exercises the Conn was amazing. It's no surprise that it was also easier to "keep my fingers on the pearls" doing my scales.

I love my S20 tone and I'm very comfortable with the ergonomics at this point. But the action on the Conn is marketly more responsive. So my question(s) is:

Is it just a structural thing? (King versus Conn)
Key Height?
Spring Tension?

Thanks in advance for your responses.

 

[altissimo]

http://www.shwoodwind.co.uk/Reviews/Saxes/Tenor/Conn10M_tenor.htm

"As for the action - well, this is where the horn really comes into its own. There's really no other sax quite like it. The 10M is capable of supporting the lowest, fastest, lightest action out there - with comparatively little loss of tone or detriment to tuning. Quite why this is I do not know, it's just the way the instrument is built"

http://www.shwoodwind.co.uk/Reviews/Saxes/Alto/Conn_6M.htm

"There has to be a magic combination of key weight, cup angle, spring length and tension that allows an action to move this fast - and the Conn has it. I'd go so far as to say no other sax comes close"

 

[Ads]

Agreed , if I was to concede to GAS and get ONE true vintage horn , it`d be a 10M

 

[Steve Marshall]

Funny, I find Super20s preferable.

 

[thomsax]

I would say a factory setup "The Martin MagnaTenor"! But that was not question. The thin pads, low sat keycups, the design of toneholes .... .

 

[aldevis]

They are both on my wish list, but I do not have enough experience. I fell in love with a S20, recently, never yet with a Conn tenor.

To the OP, did you first learn playing on a Conn?