The Bassic Sax Blog

Well the mystery is finally solved. I can now say I know definitively who did the Low G extension of the Buescher bass saxophone that I tried in Seattle in fall of ‘08. It was Lopes Instruments of Brazil. (A word of warning, their site loads extremely slowly. I wonder if their server is on dial-up?)

Thanks goes out to one of my regular readers, and Woodwind Forum members, Tom Nelson, who sent me the link to the Lopes website. After looking at their site, I remembered that I’d seen it years ago.

I also remembered seeing a picture of an identical Low G extended bass on the Bass Sax Co-op. The pic appeared in a photo album that featured bass saxes belonging to Co-op members.

Before the holidays I emailed that member and asked him if he knew who did the extension on his horn. He was kind enough to write me back and let me know that it was indeed Lopes Instruments that extended his bass to Low G.

According to their website, the Lopes workshop is 250 sq metres in size. This large shop allows them to provide a number of services including: the repair of musical instruments; the custom extension of tenor, baritone, and bass saxophones; the refinishing of instruments in lacquer, nickel, silver, and gold plate; as well as the custom adaptations of instruments for musicians with physical disabilities.

Although I didn’t see it mentioned anywhere on their site, their photo page would indicate that they also make unusually large saxophones of some kind. Unfortunately I don’t know what those would be.

        Source: lopesinstrumentos.hpgvip.ig.com.br

        Source: lopesinstrumentos.hpgvip.ig.com.br

This, I believe, might be a bass saxophone.

        Source: lopesinstrumentos.hpgvip.ig.com.br

Their website is a wee bit outdated, since they say they are the only company that provides Low A and G extensions for saxophones. Well that might have been true in 2000, roughly when I saw their site first, and when that page was written, but we know that another Brazilian company, J’Élle Stainer, also does custom extension work on saxophones.  

If you send your bass sax to Lopes, it will apparently take 6 to 8 months for the custom extension to be completed. When it comes back, the sax will look like this. (Presumably you would have your choice of finishes.)

        Source: lopesinstrumentos.hpgvip.ig.com.br

        Source: lopesinstrumentos.hpgvip.ig.com.br

Just to refresh you memory, this is what the bass I played in Seattle looked like:

    Source: Jim Glass

If you’d like to see close up photos of the key work, make sure you check out the first post in this series.

It’s nice to finally know who did the extension on this bass saxophone I was tempted to buy. As it turns out, that particular horn it ended up going to England. Last I heard, a high end department store was using it in a window display until February.

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

The other day I happened across a very unusual on-line ad. Howarth of London was selling a Buescher Low G bass saxophone, which they described as “probably one of a kind”. This is the PDF  for the Low G bass being sold in the UK.

I immediately thought of the Low G Buescher bass that I play-tested last year that Quinntheeskimo was selling. I really liked the horn, but in the end took a pass on the unusual beastie.

The main reason I took a pass on the sax was that the left pinkie cluster re-design was too hard for me to operate. My friend Jim had no problem with it, but for me, it would have been too difficult. The horn was sold just a few days after I decided not to buy it.

After seeing the ad for the bass for sale in the UK, I was wondering: Could there be a 2nd Low G Buescher bass out there? If so, maybe this one would have easier-to-use keywork.

I emailed Howarth of London about the sax, but because of the time difference, it didn’t reach them until after their shop closed. In the meantime I also did a bit of digging about the Low G bass that I played in Seattle. It turns out that that Buescher was sold to a someone in the recording industry in England. Mmm… Perhaps it was bought for a specific purpose, and now that it has served its purpose, it is up for sale again….

This AM I had a reply from Howarth of London to my email. Although they did not include any photos of the bass that they’re selling, the description certainly indicates this sax is most likely the same one that was sold to someone in the UK last summer.

Hello Helen,

Thanks for the enquiry. I will do my best to answer.

• What is the horn’s finish?

• Who did the extension? I’m not sure although we think it may have been done in Brazil. I think this is where the horn came from.

• Is the extension a straight pipe that was added, or is there a gradual flair towards the bell? (This could aid in telling us who did the extension.) The pipe work appears straight.

• What is the added key work like? The added key work is heavy as would be expected for lower extensions of this size however it is relatively easy to operate with left and right hand extra thumb keys.

• How is this key work operated? The A and Ab are operated with left thumb keys and the G with a right thumb key

• Does the horn need any work? Or is it “gig ready”? The horn has had a tumble and we need to do some work to it, but it will be back to as good as possible when it is done. We do however have to fit this around other repairs and with the instrument being so big it will take us some time. It will probably be ready mid August.

I hope that helps. Please feel free to come and view it or get back in touch with any questions.

All the best

Stuart

Everything Stuart wrote about the keywork indicates that this sax is identical to the one that I play-tested in summer last year. If it’s not the same horn, it is its clone. Although he didn’t answer the question about the horn’s finish, I’d be willing to bet it is nickel-plated.

If you’d like to know more about the Low G Buescher bass I played last summer, check out the other posts in this Series for all the information and photos I have on that particular custom horn.

© 2009, The Bassic Sax Blog. All rights reserved.

When Jim went to return the Buescher that I had play-tested, to quinntheeskimo yesterday, Quinn told him that the horn had been sold. The sax will soon be residing with its new owner in Europe.

BTW, in case you missed my previous posts regarding this horn, you can find them here and here.

I must admit, although I decided to not buy the horn, I am rather sad to hear it was sold. I guess while Quinn still had it, I still had the chance to change my mind.

I hope that the new owner is happy with his or her new purchase. I also hope that if the new owner happens to stumble across this blog post one day, that they leave a comment here for us.

Or, if you are the new owner, and you happen to be the shy type, you can always email me privately. I’d love to hear what you think of your horn, and what you do with it, the kind of music you play, etc. etc.

Well luckily (or perhaps unluckily) for me, Quinn always seems to have a steady supply of new inventory coming in. I’m sure something else will catch my eye. But one thing is for certain, now that I know the man, I think I’m in deep, deep, trouble…

© 2008 – 2009, The Bassic Sax Blog. All rights reserved.