The Bassic Sax Blog

Posts Tagged ‘American Saxophones’

Have you ever considered what might happen to your carefully collected and maintained saxophones upon your death? If you’re like most people under the age of 30, it most likely hasn’t even crossed your mind.

However, once you’ve hit 30, or once you’ve experienced the loss of someone close to you, you suddenly realize that after you’re gone someone has to deal with all your stuff. Such is the case with these 2 fine vintage saxophones currently listed by a seller on eBay.

     Source: eBay.com

The Conn curved soprano on the left is described like this:

This auction is for one saxophone. Up for your consideration is a Conn LTD Soprano Saxophone. I don’t know much about musical instruments as I am selling this for a friend who’s husband passed away. He was playing this and other instruments up until two years ago. I have another saxophone listed that was also his. This saxophone looks to be in wonderful condition. Some of the pictures have reflections that may look like dents. THERE ARE NO DENTS TO BE FOUND. I believe there is a guard piece missing from a bottom valve. I have shown this in my pictures. Other than that, it’s a beautiful looking instrument. It has a great patina which we will not touch. It is silver in color. I’ve never seen a saxophone this small before. On the front of the bell it says “MADE BY CONN LTD ELKHART IND.” On the back it says “PATD. DEC. 8, 1914. 1119954 S 51073 L.” I would guess that the buyer would be doing the usual upgrades that an older piece like this may need. Even if you don’t play a sax, this would make an outstanding display. It comes with a hard case that’s in good condition for it’s age, but it does have that old smell to it.

        Source: eBay.com

The Buescher True Tone alto on the right is described like this:

This auction is for one saxophone. Up for your consideration is a 1914 Buescher Tenor or Alto Saxophone. I don’t really know much about musical instruments as I am selling this for a friend who’s husband passed away. He was playing this and other instruments up until two years ago. I have another saxophone listed that was also his. This saxophone looks to be in wonderful condition. Some of the pictures have reflections that may look like dents. THERE ARE NO DENTS TO BE FOUND. It’s a beautiful looking instrument. It has a great patina which we will not touch. It is silver in color. On the front of the bell it says “THE BUESCHER ELKHART IND.” On the back it says “1 7 2527 TRUE-TONE TRADE MARK REGISTERED LOW PITCH LICENSE PAT. DEC. 8, 1914.” I would guess that the buyer would be doing the usual upgrades that an older piece like this may need. Even if you don’t play a sax, this would make an outstanding display. It comes with a hard case that’s in good condition for it’s age, but it does have that old smell to it.

On Sep-02-10 at 09:09:07 PDT, seller added the following information:

I’ve been told by a kind ebayer that this is a very fine alto sax.

        Source: eBay.com

I personally find it sad that the widow of this sax player has to have a friend sell these 2 horns for her, since neither seems to know anything about saxophones. For example, saxophones don’t have valves. 

I guess they didn’t take them to a music store who knows something about vintage saxes for an appraisal either. Although I am curious to know how they knew that the Conn is a soprano, since it is more difficult to ID than the neck difference between an alto and a tenor.

In any event, had they taken the horns to a music store for an appraisal, they might have been told these instruments are in fact somewhat valuable even in their current state, and that a reserve auction, or an auction with a pre-set starting price might be in order. As it stands right now, vintage sax lovers have a chance to bid on a couple of classic vintage horns that currently have extremely low prices.

The auction for both of these classic vintage saxophones runs until September 11. The Conn curvy currently has 12 bids on it, and the price is $208.05. The True Tone alto has not seen as much action. Only 2 people have bid on it, with the high bid being $60.32.

So if you have a saxophone, or a saxophone collection, perhaps this will give you pause for thought. What have you done to help your loved ones with regards to disposing of your horns? And if you an extensive gear collection—things like expensive vintage mouthpieces—that’s something else to consider.

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

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve been playing bass a lot more than I usually do because I got a new toy. No, it’s not a new bass, just a new way to hold the one I already have. More about that tomorrow, I’m still working on getting my article polished up.

Yesterday we took the last in a series of photos that will be used in the articles about the new stand. While looking at the shots last night, this one just popped out at me. I decided to put a digital frame around it and include it in my photo gallery. I think it captures the enormity of the bass—compared to its everyday cousins—quite well.

   What The Right Hand Does

I don’t have tiny hands. I’m 5′9″ tall—that’s 175 cm for my friends who only do metric —and my hands are proportional to my body size.

Given that I haven’t polished my 1922 Buescher since I got it in 2000, I think it is holding up remarkably well. I really don’t like silver horns. They are a pain in the ass to own: Too much upkeep on their finishes. However, I own at least 5 of them, and as luck would have it, the biggest sax I have would have to be silver plated.

My big baby is remarkably photogenic given its lack of polishing. I think over the next few days—as you see it from almost every angle—you will be surprised what keeping it in its case when not being used will do. The real trick to that is, I believe, that I have 7 of the Hagerty anti-tarnish strips taped inside the case, and replace them every couple of years.

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

My go-to guy for all my vintage saxophone restorations, and my first stop when looking for something specific, Sarge Stransky, is selling the prettiest King Zephyr tenor that I have ever seen. This tenor is not your run-of-the-mill Zephyr, but rather a Zephyr Special, and it is currently up for auction on eBay.

     Source: eBay.com

Here is how Sarge describes this beauty of a horn:

1937-8 King Zephyr Special Tenor

The following pictures are from before I rebuilt the sax, they show it’s original factory rebuild. I have completely rebuilt the “Special” with the best tan pads on the market and added original style flat metal resonators AND added my Premium Rebuild with Teflon, Ultrasuede and Techcork (nearly a 1200.00 premium refit). You can see that the horn had no noticeable dents or any history of repair (see the pics). The lacquer is original, as are the engravings, which include the very rare Bell keys star sunburst, Low C#, low C and Low Eb engravings. (*see pics) Stack keys/pearls look like new, no noticeable wear. The same is true about every pearl. Also, the sax has never been buffed, abrasively polished or had anything but a good soapy bath. The neck has not been buffed or abrasively polished either, it looks great with a nice patina of light tarnis from years on honest living.

King Zephyr Special Tenor: Nice original lacquer early Zephyr Special, with the Serial number 209,xxx. These have a lot of nice features, like pearls on all the keys, the triple strap hook and Sterling Silver, sleeve style neck, but what I really love is the immense, fat and warm tone. I enjoy seeing the beautiful art deco engravings, even the bell and bow keys are engraved on this one… and the art deco styling of the overall design is awesome, but that aside, these are one of the warmest saxes out there. This does not include a mouthpiece, but does include the original case in fairly good condition… pretty much what you’d expect for an 80 year old case. Ignore the mouthpiece in the pictures, it is mine, it does not come with the auction…

I got this sax from it’s original owner, many years ago, it has been in my personal collection for many years, it has rarely been played, as it is a rare collectors item. I personally a Pro complete rebuild (see Worldwidesax’s Rebuilds page, online), cleaned the all original lacquer by hand and re-assembled and tech the gorn. when I say it plays great, it will play top to bottom, just like the factory did it, except I use better pads, Prestini NS222 tan pads and custom flat, nickle plated/rivetless resonators. (see pics) …

No Reserve, No buy it now, No emailing me about closing the auction early, this is a classic ebay auction, with a starting bid at 2699.00, which is about 1000.00 lower than this horn is worth. Look at the pics, it is a beauty.

I will try to add some “After” pics tomorrow

Ok, New pic today

Now that I have said all this, please understand that I am not hard up to sell, I have many horns, I will be happy to keep this one and enjoy it for several more years, if no one bids… that’s just how I do things.

thanks, sarge stransky.

The pictures that Sarge provides do show a horn in remarkable condition even before its rebuild.

   Before

     Source: eBay.com

     Source: eBay.com

     Source: eBay.com

     Source: eBay.com

   After

     Source: eBay.com

     Source: eBay.com

     Source: eBay.com

King’s designation for this model of tenor was the 1006-B. This is a catalogue page from 1940 that describes the features of the Zephyr Special:

     Source: hnwhite.com

The auction for Sarge’s beauty of a vintage King tenor ends tomorrow, August 17, at 13:31 PDT. As Sarge mentioned in his ad, bidding is to start at $2,699.00. At the time of writing there were no bids yet on this amazing horn.

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