Buescher Bass on eBay
Buescher Bass on eBay

Buescher Bass on eBay

On October 22nd I noticed a Buescher Bass on eBay. At the time, the seller’s starting bid was $9,750.00 for the horn.

    Source: eBay.com

This is what he wrote about the sax:

This is one of the largest members of the saxophone family. I don’t think rare is the right word for it. One octave below the tenor, is the BIG BASS. Though this horn is big, you can play it with relitive ease. You look at it and think I better get ready to put a bunch of air through this thing, but the opposite is true. When you really relax the embrochure and concentrate on contolling the speed of the air, your neighbors may think you just adopted a dump truck. Much of the original finish still remains. The photos display how nice this horn really is.This Buescher(110xxx) is from the early 20’s. In the world of bass sax, the Buescher is king. It has long been the prefered instument of musicians of all genres. You can play nice melodic lines that remind you of hot apple cider during a northeast winter, or play that big fat slap tounge style that Baritone dream about ; – ) This horn just recieved a top notch repair job earlier this year from the great Bob Saccente. You can contact me personally to set a demo or ask any questions.

After providing his contact information, including his MySpace.com site, he concludes his pitch with:

This is a GREAT buy!!!

    Source: eBay.com

    Source: eBay.com

    Source: eBay.com

    Source: eBay.com

    Source: eBay.com

    Source: eBay.com

    Source: eBay.com

This morning, with only 2 days left in the auction, I checked to see how things were going, and I noticed that the seller had dropped his opening bid to $8,000.00.

With all due respect to the seller, the original opening price was not really reflective of current vintage bass sax prices, which he obviously figured out. The current 8K is, IMO, still too high as well. It might sell for that if bidding was allowed to go up naturally, but as an opening asking price, I don’t see it. Now I could be wrong, and if I am, my apologies to Mr. Carter.

If he really wants to sell his bass, I hope he does manage to do so. Perhaps someone out there will see the same value in that Buescher that Mr. Carter does. Because as we all know, the value of a vintage horn is what the seller and buyer agree to in price.

…this is just my blog. My “real” website is www.bassic-sax.info. If you’re looking for sax info, you should check it out too.There’s lots there!

23 Comments

    1. Hello Alison. Welcome to my blog.

      Amati has made many different models of saxophones over quite a few years. I would need to see some photos if you would like me to comment more specifically about your baritone.

      Please send any photos you have to my gmail account. Photos need to be clear, and large. Please show the different parts of the saxophone, and also show the engraving on the bell.

      I hope this helps.

      Regards,

      Helen

  1. Hello Rogério.

    Glad to hear to got my email. Yes, I’m sure you have still many questions. Hüttl was a company known for making brass instruments like trumpets and trombones, and not really saxophones. When it came to saxophones, they hired the Hammerschmidt Company from Germany to make those.

    I have extensive information about the Hammerschmidt company on my website, and you may have found that already. The Hammerschmidt Company made very interesting alto and tenor saxophones, but did not make their own baritones and sopranos. Those were made for Hammerschmidt by Julius Keilwerth.

    So the history of your baritone goes like this: it is a really a J. Keilwerth stencilled, built for Hammerschmidt baritone, sold to the Hüttl company of Germany. Hüttl then stamped their name on it, and presto: a baritone built by J. Keilwerth with the Hüttl name on it finds it way into a buyer’s hands.

    Do you follow this? It is quite confusing, and it is not surprising that no one has been able to help you find out your baritone’s history until now. I believe my website is the only one on the Internet that has all this information on it. I’ve worked together with a saxophone historian to put together as many pieces as we can about these various companies, and how they fit together.

  2. Hello Rogério.

    Well I have solved the mystery of who made your Hüttl baritone saxophone. What you have is a stencil of Julius Keilwerth New King.

    Once you get the saxophone back and are able to send me some more photos, we can confirm its year of manufacturing based on the serial number. But we’ll do that via email.

    I’ll send you an email a little later today with more information, but in the meantime, you now know you have a Julius Keilwerth New King saxophone.

    1. Olá Helen , recebi o seu email e fico agradecido pelas informações , quando pegar meu huttl baritono terei prazer em lhe enviar várias fotos em todos os ângulos . Mas ainda tenho muitas dúvidas que com o tempo espero com sua ajuda descobri sobre este tão raro chifre germany , como por exemplo : Porque quando puxamos o nome huttl no google so aparecem instrumento de piston , até hoje só consegui fotos de um sax alto com o nome huttl estapado na campana fabricado por hammerschmidt, quem é huttl ou quem foi ? a única coisa que realmente consegui pesquizando em sites o que tenho é um Hammerschmidt raro . você me disse que ele é um estêncil pela gravura entalhada no corpo ? pesquizando Julius Keilwerth New King , Não consegui ver com clareza que a marca huttl tem cido fabricado pelas empresas dele . Mas estando em minhas mão meu huttl baritono lhe envio todas informações para que você possa coletar com exatidão sua origem e com o numero de serie seu ano de fabricação.

      1. Ricardo

        Rogério,

        meu nome é Ricardo, sou professor de saxofone em Brasília-DF.

        Assim como você, eu tenho um , aliás, dois sax barítono HUTTL com Lá grave Western Germany e estava pesquisando na web para saber mais sobre ele quando acessei esta página.

        Concordo com você a rspeito da sonoridade encorpada e rica em harmônicos desse instrumento, o qual descobri testando-o com uma boquilha Lawton de metal e outra Otto Link de massa e usando Palhetas Alexander Superial nº 3.

        Meu interesse é vender um deles pois tenho ainda um sax barítono Conn com Bb grave.

        Muito obrigado pelos comentários postados , pois ajudaram a localizar na história do sax a origem deste instrumento.

        abraço,

        Ricardo.

        1. Olá Ricardo , fico agradecido por entrar em contato comigo . Por pura coincidência também moro em Brasília , sou um verdadeiro apreciador de uma boa música tocada , há tempo tenho estado despercebido em relação aos estudos pois tocava uma tuba sifônica em orquestra . Mas ganhando esse sax baritono western germany de um amigo me acendeu o grande desejo de retornar a ativa novamente pois como havia dito antes o som deste baritono e profundo e seu timbre perfeito e graças a Hellen Canadá que cedeu esse site para junto trocamos informações tenho aprendido muito sobre a hitória deste instrumento . Ficaria agradecido se você podesse me enviar algumas fotos de seus baritonos huttl em vários ângulos talvés encontro algum candidato que se interesse por ele . e-mail : rrogerioo_iogerio@hotmail.com Telefone para contato : (61) 8417-5879

  3. I understand now Rogério.

    I don’t believe putting mother of pearl on would hurt your saxophone’s originality.

    Sarge, the owner of World Wide Sax, suggested I do exactly the same thing with one of my Hammerschmidt Klingsor saxophones. It too has nothing on the key guards. Sarge suggested that I put a decorative stone, or mother of pearl on the key guards to make it look complete.

    So to answer your question, if you would like to add the mother of pearl, go ahead. It will add to the beauty of your horn, and will not hurt its value.

  4. Olá Helen , lhe enviei a foto do guarda chave com a madre pérola tirada de seu próprio site porque achei interessante , entretanto gostaria de saber se eu colocar no meu chifre baritono huttl perderá sua originalidade ? Por gentileza , gostaria de sua opinião ! Quanto a pesquisa deste meu chifre baritono ficarei muito grato se você consegui as informações tanto do passado dele quanto seu fabricante .gostaria de saber você conhece mais alguém que possua um chifre baritono huttl western germany igual ao meu .

  5. Hello Rogério.

    I got your email, and all your photos. Even before you get your baritone back, I might be able to use the photos you have sent to identify the manufacturer.

    The photo of the key guard you have attached is very interesting. It is not from a Hüttl however. I know this as a fact, because I took the photo. It is from a vintage German saxophone made by Dörfler & Jörka and stencilled with the name De Villiers. You can see the photo on my post of March 20, 2009.

    Dörfler & Jörka (D&J) would not have been the maker of your Hüttl, because they only made alto and tenor saxophones. I don’t know where my mind was when I wrote this. I was thinking about Hammerschmidt saxophones. I have not seen any D&J baritones, but that does not mean that they don’t exist. I have not seen anything written about the company that would indicate that they did or did not make soprano & baritone saxophones.

    If you would like to read about the D&J horns, I have created a series about them. You can find all the articles about them here.

  6. rogerio pereira

    Olá meus amigos… Possuo com grande sastifação um sax baritono huttl western germany, um precioso chipre de um som espetacular e marcante . Pena que não sei muito sobre este chipre baritono , ficarei muito agradecido se poderem me dar algumas informação que possa me ajudar a me familiarizar mais ainda com este explendido instrumento. Brasilia Brazil.

    1. Hello rogerio. Welcome to my website!

      That looks like a really interesting baritone. I like its bare brass look.

      Hüttl saxophones might have been by any one of a number of companies. If you send me some photos of your saxophone, I would be happy to research it for you. Please send me as many photos as you can, from all the different angles. Also include the engraving, and the stamping where it was made. You can refer to my article from November 19, for examples of the types of photos I need.

      You can send the photos to my gmail address. This way the pictures can be big.

      Thanks for visiting my site. I’m looking forward to seeing the photos of your saxophone. It will be interesting to research it and find out more information about it for you.

      Regards,

      Helen

      1. Olá Helen , não estou conseguindo acessar seu endereço do Gmail para que eu possa lhe enviar fotos detalhada do meu chifre baritono huttl germany. Você tem outro endereço de email em que possa lhe está enviando várias fotos para sua pesquisa . Desde de já lhe agradeço . Rogério Brazil

        1. Hello Rogério.

          I sent an email to you from my Gmail account. If you don’t get it, post a comment here, and I’ll send you another from my private email address that you shouldn’t have any trouble with.

          Helen

          1. Olá Helen , consegui lhe enviar 23 fotos do meu chifre baritono huttl , sei que estas não estão no ângulo perfeitos para suas pesquisas , mas em 20 dias estarei com ele em mãos , pois levei para outro estado para alguns ajustes e trocas de sapatilhamento como você deve ter notado em 03 ou 04 fotos que lhe enviei. Terei prazer de lhe enviar todos os detalhes como as madre peróla , desenho entalhado na campana , nº de série , o nome huttl westenr germany gravado na frente da campana e todo detalhes das chaves. Não quero modificar os padrões originais , mas pedir para colocar madre peróla nas proteções das chaves graves a cor pemanecerá broze envernizada. Gostaria de saber mais ou menos quantos anos tem esse chifre baritono huttl , pois seu son é uma coisa de outro mundo de tal beleza que encanta qualquer um que aprecia um son escuro e expressivo. Gostaria de saber se existe mais desse baritono huttl , pois não encontrei resposta nenhuma em outros site. ( estou lhe enviando uma foto de como vai ficar as madre perólas nas proteções de chaves graves que encontrei em um site ) Se você achar que não vai ficar bom me avise pois gosto de ouvir profissionais no assunto para não despadronizar algo tão raro.

  7. I totally agree with you on the Eppelsheim. I had the chance to play a low A Eppie bass a few weeks back. It was a very, very, nice horn. If I was in the market for a new bass, I certainly would pick it over a Selmer or a Keilwerth. There is no contest there. Herr Eppelsheim is very skilled at what he does.

    His innovations are quite brilliant, and it will be interesting to see if other big name manufacturers will pick up on any of his design ideas.

  8. If I had $10k to spend on a horn in this range, I’d have to seriously consider coming up with more scratch for a new Eppelsheim. Just the fact that bass saxophones are still in production puts a cap on the value of the old horns. But that doesn’t mean someone won’t fork over 10 grand for it — when there are people with 10 grand to spend on something that’s generally not all that useful.

  9. I’m not so sure about the 10K, even when people have more disposable income again. There would have to be a real jump in the value of vintage basses for him to realize that price.

    Good condition Bueschers and Conns (Conns keyed to high Eb) generally sold for around +or – $7500 before the economy tanked, depending on recent repads, rebuilds, etc. Exceptionally nice horns, such as those in minty condition, or those with gold plate, might have fetched a bit more.

    The Conns keyed to high F would have gone for about the 10K mark.

    This horn, with its regular lacquer finish (and it’s hard to say from the photos if the finish is original; one would have to see some clearer & bigger photos with less flash glare to be sure) would likely not come close to bringing what a Conn keyed to high F did. Maybe, if vintage bass prices did jump up he could see that, but things would have to improve a lot out there.

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