Vintage Tonality bari by Orsi (?)

I got contacted a couple of weeks ago by my musical colleague from Cannonball Music, Ryan Lillywhite, about a vintage bari he got in the shop. He thought perhaps I might know something about this Italian-made, stencil bari that had been perplexing him. 

Italian-made bari sax stenciled Tonality Source: Ryan Lillywhite

Italian-made bari sax stenciled Tonality Source: Ryan Lillywhite

The bari is stenciled Tonality, and at first blush might pass for an Orsi. However, it doesn’t really fit any of the Orsi baritone samples I have seen over the years. 

Although it does have many features we see in Orsi baritone saxophones, it also has many we don’t. This left me with a distinct feeling that this horn is a bit like my Gallotone tenor that was neither a true Orsi, nor a true Rampone & Cazzani (R&C), but rather has features we see in both. 

Claudio, when he worked for R&C, informed me years ago he believed my Gallotone may well have originated from a smaller company that bought horn parts from multiple Italian manufacturers to make their own horns. (Full Gallotone gallery viewable in Bassic Sax Pix.) My best guess on the origins of this Tonality bari are that it likely came from a similar smaller shop, and was made up of parts from multiple big-name brands. 

Known Orsi baris

Here is a refresher on what we know vintage Orsi baris looked like according to an undated catalogue from around the mid century. 

• The model 118A, low Bb bari was their student model horn, and had left-sided bell keys.
• The model 118 ABL, low A bari was their pro model horn, and it had right-sided bell keys.
• The bell to body braces are vastly different as well.

Compare and contrast the Tonality bari to known Orsi baris

Bell keys

• The most obvious difference is that this is a low Bb horn with right sided bell keys.
• In the thousands of Orsi images I have gathered over the years, I have to date not seen another low Bb bari with right-sided bell keys.
• The following Voss low A bari, complete with tenor-shaped neck, is representative of the low A baris that I have found in over a decade of searching for Orsi horns. The remainder of the photos for this Voss bari can be found on Bassic Sax Pix. (Another, non-stenciled (?) version of Orsi’s low A can be in found in our gallery.)

Bell to body supports

• The bell to body brace on the Tonality is what we see on Orsi’s student model horns.
• The LaMonte low Bb bari shown below sports the same bell to body brace, but of course has left-sided bell keys. The rest of its pictures can be found on Bassic Sax Pix as well.

Serial numbers

• Orsi started their serial #’s off with a letter. The closer to the start of the alphabet, the older the sax is. This horn’s number serial is: A9005. And the following repair tag would indicate that it was in the shop in August 1957, and again in December 1958.

• Based on what I’ve seen of Orsi saxophones, this tracks. I got my LaMonte tenor #D83XX in the late 70s when I was in Jr. high, and the seller told my parents then that the horn was from the 1960s.
• Since then I have collected many other examples that look older. You can see them here in our Bassic Sax Pix Orsi galleries. If you look at those, you’ll notice some even predate the letter before the number and have wire key guards. 

Engraving

• Orsi used many, many, many, different kinds of engraving on the bells of their stencil horns. Why? Who knows. Perhaps Orsi had a catalogue of engraving, which companies could choose their engraving from. That said, there are some Orsi stencils illustrated in our gallery that have multiple different engraving styles on multiple different horns with the same name. Why? Again, who knows.
• If you are seriously interested in Orsi engraving samples, I encourage you to check out the stencil galleries on Bassic Sax Pix. I have numerous other examples I need to upload yet, so I’ll try and get that done in the next week or so. 
• After pouring over all the various permutations of Orsi stencil engraving, only 2 Orsi stencils have the exactly the same engraving as this Tonality bari. Those are the Kent and the LaMonte Superior. 

Kent Bb Tenor E1978

La Monte Superior Eb Alto A8801

• Both of these horns also happen to have right-sided bell keys, yet only the La Monte Superior is built as the pro model horns Orsi illustrated in their vintage catalogue. We can see the difference in the La Monte vs. the La Monte Superior horns in their respective galleries. 
• This leaves us with the question: What is up with the Kent? Is it a pro model horn? The simple answer would appear to be “No”—at least according to what we know of the known Orsi pro line.

Orsi student model alto & tenors

Orsi pro model alto & tenor

• Kent is not the only stenciled Orsi that has right-sided bell keys, but isn’t built like their pro line. Check out the following: 

• ¹ This particular Karl Meyer is the only stencil with right-sided bell keys. The others in the gallery have left-sided ones. 
• ² Like the Karl Meyer, other Martin Busine saxophones were built like the pro model horns. EG: Eb Alto F4056.
• ³ This Pennsylvania tenor was built like a pro line horn.

Questions and more questions

At this point it is hard to say what all of this means. I am simply left with a series of questions such as:

• Did Orsi build right-sided bell key horns upon request that were non pro-models?
• Did Orsi sell parts to smaller companies in Italy, who then in turn built horns using the Orsi parts, as well as parts from R&C?
• What’s up with the engraving? Why so many variations? Why the wild variations in the way the names of the ordering companies were engraved compared to the engraving itself? 

Two major Italian manufacturers chime in 

Before Ryan listed the horn for sale, he contacted both R&C and Orsi about the origins of the horn. According to Ryan:

I emailed Rampone who said they did not make it and that in their opinion it appears to be made by Orsi. Then I asked Orsi and they said it’s not one of theirs, so who knows?

More Tonality bari photos, and a short video 

Regardless of who made it, this vintage bari is in very fine shape. It has been lovingly maintained, and as you can see by the above photos, shows none of the damage we often see in the bigger horns. Clearly this was never a school horn. 😉 

The tone of this horn is what I’ve become accustomed to from vintage Italian horns I’ve played: big, fat, and sonorous. The following video was recorded to demonstrate the horn’s sound for its online sale. 

Ryan did not have the horn in the shop long. It was sold to a local player who was delighted with it. 

Ryan does sometimes get some very interesting horns into the shop that make it out for sale. If you like collectible saxophones and gear, then adding the 801 proshop to your eBay saved list is a good move.