It was just a week ago today that a Schenkelaars-stencilled La Monte tenor sold in France. These instruments, with their Dutch/German heritage, are interesting since the owe their body tubes to Keilwerth, and their key work to the Dutch company Schenkelaars.
Yesterday I happened to see yet another Schenkelaars tenor on eBay. This time the horn does not appear to be a stencil sax however. This sax actually carries the Schenkelaars name.
Source: eBay.com
The seller provides a bit of background history, and even an MP3 of the sax being played in its current state. (Too bad many of the photos are so blurry and small.) Here is what Larry’s Store writes about this vintage Schenkelaars tenor sax:
Schenkelaars, Holland Ardsley (engraved on the bell) Professional Tenor Saxophone, Rolled Tone Holes, s/n 61xx (this horn was probably made in the 1960s, because I have a Schenkelaars 1959 Concord Artist Series silverplated alto with a s/n 28xx), Keilwerth Toneking Mouthpiece with Original Ligature & Cap (Otto Link Style), Original Case with Bakelite Handle, Professional Set-up by the Selmer Authorized Dealer, Excellent Playing Condition!
With the enclosed Keilwerth Toneking Mouthpiece (very rare, especially in this condition), this Schenkelaars Ardsley is capable of performing well in ALL venues; with its rolled tone holes, it produces a superb sound. The company has quite a history, and brass players know all about its instruments.
Schenkelaars saxophones were commissioned by the Concord Board of Education for the highest-end classical applications that you can have: their 1962 Concord Artist Series conducted by Leopold Stokowski, conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra! What most people don’t know about Stowkowski is that in the 1920s when jazz emerged, he and John Philip Sousa were castigated for their absolute support of the new genre. Stokowski said that jazz was “new blood” for 20th century music, and he championed the new genre:
http://www.stokowskisociety.net/
Below is a quick play-test that I did this morning 11/28/09 with the Keilwerth Toneking Mouthpiece and a Fred Hemke Premium 4 Reed; this will give you ‘some idea’ of what this Schenkelaars tenor sounds like in its present state:
../media/Dr. Larry Ross Schenkelaars Ardsley Pro Tenor 05 Schenkelaars Ardsley 3 Jazz.mp3
You can hear that this horn can play as-is, and this horn has a tone; the pads on this horn may have been on it for a long time, and I suggest a repad, in order to get perfect sound and playability out of this classic horn.
Without question, this is a high-quality professional tenor saxophone that was made by Schenkelaars in Eindhoven, Holland that is world-class… The bodies of these horns may have been designed or supplied by Keilwerth, and the keywork was made by Schenkelaars in Holland, from what I have heard.
Source: eBay.com
The shape of the right pinkie keys strongly resemble those of the German-made Dörfler & Jörka (D&J) saxophones, that also used Keilwerth body tubes. D&J naturally also supplied their own key work that they attached to the Keilwerth bodies.
Source: eBay.com
Source: eBay.com
Source: eBay.com
Source: eBay.com
Source: eBay.com
Source: eBay.com
Source: eBay.com
The auction for this Dutch Schenkelaars tenor runs until December 11. The starting bid for this vintage sax is $795.00 US. The Buy It Now price is $879.00. At the time of writing there were no bids yet on this horn.
Hello Helen, long time no speak . If you have something to ask about my saxophones you should still have my email, please feel free to do this. All informations are always given to the best of my knowledge which might not always be as yours.
The Peg appears to be original but could have been easily applied since there would be no trace of solder on nickel.
As for my claim that this is a Keilwerth, well, you only have to compare this with several other Keilwerths that I have have owned.
On another note, when people post images here they should mention the origin, just two days ago someone doubted that these pictures were mine because he thought that I snitched them from your site, which is a bit of a chutzpah . Best of luck.
Hi Helen,
Here is a picture of a Schenkelaars baritone with peg holder.
Interesting, is this original to the horn, or was it added afterwards? It’s quite hard to tell.
It is the first I have seen.
From the plating, it looks factory made.
Taking another look at it, I would say so too. Now that I think of it, I’m not sure I’ve even seen another Schenkelaars bari before.
Here is the last picture of this bari.
I have seen bari’s with Keilwerth and Schenkelaars bodies.
Schenkelaars never mentioned that he bought parts from Keilwerth, so I am curious how this became common knowledge.
Those photos look like the ones usually posted by a member of SOTW, Milandro. Is he the one selling it, or who posted the pics by chance?
Edit: I looked it up on SOTW, and yes, it is a horn Milandro is selling. Interesting…. He claims:
I can’t speak to the veracity of his entire claim, but I want to note that there were never any Bundy Special baritones made.
Yes JK did make Bundy and Bundy Special saxes for a time—actually apparently parts of them were D&J-made, but let’s not go down that rabbit-hole right now—but their baritones were only ever made as Bundy, not the Special models.
Update: Larry has re-listed this sax yet again. This time the starting bid is $675.00. This time the auction ends on December 17th.
Update: This Schenkelaars tenor did not sell. It got exactly 0 bids in the auction that ended on December 11th. Good ol’ Larry from Larry’s collection, didn’t wait more than a few hours before re-listing this sax… Only this time Larry decided to drop his opening bid price to $695.
My prediction: Larry might have to adjust the price a bit more. These horns might be nice, but as we’ve seen with lots of the lesser-known German & French pro horns, they just don’t bring the kind of $’s that they might have a couple of years ago.