The Bassic Sax Blog

Posts Tagged ‘Italian Saxophones’

When I first saw the ad for this poor thing, I didn’t know if I should laugh or cry. This antique Orsi baritone looks like it has spent most of its life languishing on a wall in a bar or restaurant somewhere.

     Source: eBay.com

Here is how the seller of this poor neglected bari describes it:

Ships to US addresses only because of size.

Vintage Orsi Baritone Saxophone.

You will never see this one again.

Sax has a mirror finish. It will be incredible when restored.

No dents!

This sax is hardly different than the first sax.

Engraving says Prof. ROMEO ORSI Orsi Milano

Year 1870 According to my research.

Includes Mouthpice and Cover.

This is not some sax found in the barn. It is in good mechanical condition, nothing missing or bent. If you changed the pads it would play.

Sold AS-IS

Happy Bidding!!!

Like all the very early baritones, this sax has a non-detachable neck.

     Source: eBay.com

The screw for the lyre holder is missing. Not really surprising, or a big deal, but hopefully the only piece missing off the sax.

Of course water keys—otherwise known as spit valves—were not put on baritones at this time yet. The player would have to tip the horn around when they’re finished playing, in order to drain the condensation and saliva out.

     Source: eBay.com

     Source: eBay.com

The horn is keyed from low B to high Eb.

     Source: eBay.com

     Source: eBay.com

It’s hard to tell from this photo, but it appears that this bari might have had some dent work done in the bow area. This could also be an artifact of the photography. One can’t be sure without seeing the horn up close, or without larger, better photos.

     Source: eBay.com

Unfortunately the seller has posted no photos of the right lower portion of the horn, so we can’t see what the lower stack, palm, and pinkie keys look like. We also can’t see what condition the baritone is in on that side.

As I said, when I first saw the ad, I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Laugh at the seller’s description “This is not some sax found in the barn” (are you sure?), or cry at what’s happened to it while not in the barn. I hope that whoever buys it is a true collector, and will restore it back to its original state and splendour. 

The auction for this antique Orsi baritone runs until April 21. This is a reserve auction, and at the time of writing the reserve price has not been met. There are presently 2 bids on this bari. The high bid is $50.00.

© 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.

This past summer I wrote about an Italian-made W. Stowasser’s Söhne bass saxophone, that one of my readers had an opportunity to buy. Some of the information I was able to obtain about the W. Stowasser’s Söhne company, came from Scott Robinson. For over a decade, Scott has owned a W. Stowasser’s Söhne Verona contrabass saxophone.

Scott was nice enough to send me some photos of his vintage contra, and give me permission to write about the sax. I’ve been meaning to do just that, but as so often happens, I got sidetracked, and my article went onto the back burner.

Then this morning I noticed that another contrabass sax player, Randy Emerick, had posted a link on the Bass Sax Co-op, to a CNN story about Scott and his contra. This is a great piece. Enjoy…

 
Watching this video jiggled my memory, and I thought today was the perfect day to finally write about Scott Robinson and his vintage contrabass saxophone.

Scott’s main horn is tenor. He writes:

I’m primarily a tenor player, jazz music of all types, although I play a lot of bass and other sizes (did a whole CD on C melody called Melody from the Sky). I’ve played the contra on probably 6-8 CDs including my own Thinking Big, and others with John Pizzarelli, Randy Sandke, Hazmat Modine, Bob Belden and others. I played it in a Jackie Chan movie score, in the JVC jazz festival, and with people like Roscoe Mitchell, Maria Schneider, Bobby Short, Don Sebesky and others. It’s definitely seen some use.

    Source: S. Robinson

According to Scott, this Italian-made contrabass is keyed from low Bb to D3.

    Source: S. Robinson

This W. Stowasser’s Söhne Verona contrabass saxophone has an automatic octave key.

    Source: S. Robinson

    Source: S. Robinson

Scott says as much as he loves his vintage contra, it is very difficult to play, and quite out of tune.

    Source: S. Robinson

In this photo, you can see Scott with his contra, along with a tenora, a Catalonian double reed horn that was presented to him recently in Barcelona.

    Source: S. Robinson

I think it’s wonderful that one of the original remaining 15 or so contrabass saxophones sees regular use. These horns have a historical value all their own.

Sure these vintage contras might not play as in tune as an Eppelsheim contra, nor are they as ergonomically friendly. However, in the vintage saxophone world, these guys are at the top of the food chain.

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