If you’re looking for a vintage bass saxophone, your choices have been pretty limited as of late. However, this morning I noticed this interesting specimen on eBay: a vintage Holton bass.
Now we know that Holton, for the most part, did not make its own bass saxophones. While a rare few specimens are out there, most of the Holton bass saxes were stencil horns.
Most Holton stencils that I’ve read about were made by Conn, and I have not seen any photos of an actual Holton-made bass. However, this particular sax for sale on eBay right now looks like a stencil of Buescher True Tone.
Source: eBay.com
This is how the seller describes this vintage bass:
1914 Beaufort American Chicago Holton Bass Saxophone
Up for auction:
1914 Beaufort American Chicago Holton Sales Bass Saxophone
Item Details:
This Saxophone is a 1914 Beaufort American Chicago Holton Sales Bass Saxophone.
It’s almost a whole decade old!
It does not play, as it’s missing the mouthpiece.
It would need new pads as well, because they are dry and probably wouldn’t preform that well.
It’s dented on the bottom, please check my pictures below.
On the bell it’s stamped with:
Beaufort American Chicago Holton Sales
and behind it is stamped with:
Low Pitch
License Pat. Dec. 8, 1914
This saxophone is huge, so shipping will be 44.00 and it will be shipped via FedEx.
Please see my pictures below!
Included in this auction:
-1914 Beaufort American Chicago Holton Sales Bass Saxophone
-Original Velvet Case (Measures about 54″ long)
Condition:
Antique; not playable condition. Needs a mouthpiece and new pads. I was unable to test how it sounded.
See my pictures below
Source: eBay.com
BTW, did you notice this Holton is nearly a decade old? Me thinks the seller meant to write a century. 😆
The auction for this (most likely) Buescher-stencilled, Holton bass saxophone runs until January 12. At the time of writing there were 10 bids on the horn, with the high bid being $2,550.00.
Update: This bass attracted a fair amount of attention. By auction’s end there were 15 bids on this vintage Buescher-stencilled Holton. The winner won the auction with a bid of $3,550.00. Even if you have to overhaul it completely, get some dent work done, and get it a new case, this is a good price for a vintage bass.