The Bassic Sax Blog

There is a very rare saxophone up for auction right now. If you’re a saxophone collector, this just might be for you.

A seller in Washington state is selling a Selmer Padless tenor saxophone. The ones that I’ve seen up for sale in the past have been anything other than pristine, but this one looks like it is in very nice condition.

     Source: eBay.com

Here is how this rare vintage sax is being described:

Here is an amazing piece of Saxophone history – all original, and it performs! The serial number is 27355, indicating that it was manufactured in early 1939. It was made for Selmer by The Buescher Company and the body tube is similar to an early Big-B or Buescher 156 with the narrow bell. The lacquer is original and 98% flawless. The engraving is gorgeous and goes from the lip of the bell all the way to the bottom of the curve. The neck has never been pulled down. There are no signs of repair or reattachment of key guards, etc. It is a truly beautiful instrument and it plays – from high F to low Bb. The tone is medium-bright due to the fact that the keys act as large resonators (no pads). The leather pad-rings appear to be original, but that would be hard to know. It is the best example of a Selmer USA Padless we’ve ever seen, and deserves to be in a professional collection or saxophone museum. The original case is the ‘Pullman’ style, so called because they are wedge-shaped and fit well on the overhead luggage rack of a Pullman train car. Included is the original instrument care brochure. The small, round button-shaped form on the lid of the accessories compartment is an integrated cork lubricant container – the only one of those we’ve ever seen. Now, the caveats. The bell key felts have been replaced with cork and felt combinations – quiet and uniform. There are slight scratches and a small, dime-sized wear area near the thumb rest. There are two pencil-point pings near the neck strap ring. There are three minor pings at the base. There are two tiny blemishes on the player’s side of the bell. The exterior of the case shows some wear, however it is clean inside with no musty smell. All l;atches work. The two handles have been taped and could easily be replaced. It requires a little more finger pressure than we would prefer, to get the low notes out, and would be improved by more playing time and, perhaps, minor key adjustment. It’s a dandy! It is difficult to know how to price an instrument of this type as there are so few of them. We’ll put on a $2,495.00 buy-it-now, and see what happens.

In this photo you can begin to see the ornate engraving that was done on these padless horns.

     Source: eBay.com

     Source: eBay.com

Here you can see the low B and Bb key guard assembly that was like those on Selmer’s Radio Improved model. Also, note the left pinkie cluster from the Buescher Aristocrat—which these padless horns are actually descendants of.

According to CyberSax, the Selmer Padless saxophones were:

… Buescher stencils [that] had the Aristocrat body tube, but as much True Tone (1920’s) keywork as could be used, given the left bell keys.

     Source: eBay.com

     Source: eBay.com

     Source: eBay.com

Now the seller refers to the pad rings as being made of leather, and most likely being original. This is most likely not the case. According to CyberSax, these padless horns had rubber seals. So if indeed these seals are made of leather, they were replaced at some point in time.

Naturally rubber seals break down over time. Bear, the owner of CyberSax, mentions that he has been unable to come up with a suitable replacement for these rings. If this horn is playable from top to bottom as the seller claims, then someone who worked on this sax has come up with an idea for replacement rings.

     Source: eBay.com

     Source: eBay.com

In the next 2 shots you can see the Selmer name, but also the US designation. Selmer clearly wanted to make sure that these saxes weren’t mistaken for Selmer Paris horns.

     Source: eBay.com

     Source: eBay.com

Although the seller has put a Buy It Now price of $2,495.00 on this vintage horn, at present the offers are less than half of that amount. At the time of writing there were 6 bids on this Selmer Padless tenor. The high bid is $1,061.36. The auction runs until March 17.

If you’d like to find out more about these Buescher-made, Selmer padless saxophones, check out both the CyberSax page, as well as the page about this model on The Vintage Saxophone Gallery. That will give you a place to start your research.

© 2010, The Bassic Sax Blog. All rights reserved.

When I saw this photo on Flickr, I immediately thought: Wow, I should do my chimney like this. Then I looked at the photo more closely and realized that although the title indicates that this saxophone is a chimney, there is no evidence at all of any emissions coming out of this sax’s bell. Either it’s brand new and never been used, or it is only a sculpture on the roof of this house.

Whatever the case, I think this psychedelic saxophone is a beautiful addition to any roof. Wouldn’t you agree?

  Saxophone als schoorsteen

     Photography by: Ronald Deventer  Source: Flickr

© 2010, The Bassic Sax Blog. All rights reserved.

There is a very unique bass saxophone for sale at the moment. It is stencil horn, that carries the name Metro.

     Source: eBay.com

The seller of this unusual looking bass saxophone, describes it like this:

This horn is only available to buyers in the U.S. - shipping will be $200 UPS Ground; pick-up is possible in the Boston area.

This is a stencil bass sax, engraved as follows: “Metro” Lockie Music Exchange Los Angeles; there is a bit of design as well. The serial number is A 4149- there are no other attributions. I was told it was purchased new at the Lockie Music Exchange around 1950. I’ve had lots of basses but this is the only one with the bell keys both on the left side. Judging by the style of thick pearl bezels and the Conn-copy fingernail file G#, I believe this horn was made by Orsi in Italy.

This is a funky looking horn with about a million small dents and solder repairs, bent wire guards etc, but the tube is real straight, the bottom bow’s never been all smashed up, and the top bow and return are likewise nice and straight. There are 3 quarter+ sized patches on the back of the tube. The neck has had a lot of dent work done and has a patch on it (I just had this seriously improved). Original lacquer remains at about 20%. This horn has drawn, not soldered toneholes- a real plus since they can’t be knocked off or spring leaks.

The pads are pretty healthy (with a few new ones I just had replaced), all but a couple with plastic resonators; the horn has just been regulated and plays well. The horn could use (though not essential) about 5 or so set screws of the right size to hold some rod guides into place in their respective posts. I just played the beast with a huge metal bari Link and it really does play well, with intonation that’s definitely superior to most basses. The palm D and Eb are actually in tune. In fact, the only note that really needs favoring is the non-palm key Eb, and this is improved by the bigger chamber mouthpiece. Earlier I had borrowed a big old rubber Conn bari mouthpiece and put a hard reed on it and that worked great.

The case is very sturdy if a little weird, obviously homemade. It could stand to have some padding glued into it, though the horn straps down inside and stays pretty secure.

The seller has provided some great photos of this quirky bass, and it is truly something unique.

        Source: eBay.com

The seller believes that this is a vintage Orsi. And after taking a look at these photos, I have to say, there certainly are a number of similarities between this Metro bass, the Orsi bass that appears in a vintage catalogue, and my Orsi-stencilled La Monte tenor.

First up, here’s the bass saxophone page from an Orsi catalogue. Unfortunately I don’t have a confirmed year of when this catalogue came out, but it was most likely in the ’60s.

Although the Metro appears to be older than the Orsi bass in this catalogue—the main reason I say this is because it has wire key guards, whereas the Orsi has sheet metal ones—the similarities to Orsi saxophones are striking:

• The Metro has left-sided bell keys.

     Source: eBay.com

• This Metro has 2 strap rings located in the same location as those found on the Orsi bass sax.

Because the watermark unfortunately printed itself over a critical piece of the picture, I have also uploaded the original PDF document of the bass saxophone page that I received from the owner of the catalogue. Note that the 2nd strap ring on the Orsi, is also located directly above the Eb key, just above the lower bow.

     Source: eBay.com

• The shape of the chromatic F#, as well as the Low C and Eb keys on the Metro, resemble the shape of those same keys on my Orsi-stencilled La Monte.

     Source: eBay.com

• The shape of the plates that the bell to body brace attaches to on both the bell and body, resemble those on my La Monte.

     Source: eBay.com

Furthermore, we know that Orsi frequently stencilled saxophones, and that their horns can be found carrying quite a few names. Although this might be the first Metro we’ve seen, it certainly doesn’t mean that the Lockie Music Exchange in Los Angeles, couldn’t have ordered it as a “one of” from Orsi. Who knows? Perhaps there are others like it out there too, but they just haven’t surfaced yet.

BTW, in case this bass looks familiar, it should if you’ve been following bass sales on eBay, or have been following my blog. Almost a year ago to the day, this same bass was for sale on eBay. At the time a different seller had it up for auction, and it was located on the opposite side of the country.

The auction for this funky, vintage, mostly likely Orsi-stencil bass, runs until March 15. Bidding starts at $2,700.00. At the time of writing, there were no bids yet on this unique, and rather mysterious piece of bass saxophone history.

© 2010, The Bassic Sax Blog. All rights reserved.