Of all the strange, and now rare horns that Conn designed just prior to the Great Depression, none seem to appear for sale as often as the F Mezzo-Soprano. These unusual saxophones were unveiled in the spring 1928 edition of Conn’s magazine, Musical Truth.¹
Unfortunately despite heavy advertising by Conn—and the manufacturer’s persuasion of publishing companies to include the F Mezzo-Soprano in their saxophone parts—the instrument never really caught on. By the time the 24M F Mezzo-Soprano was pulled from the market in the mid 1930s, there were many unsold horns left in Conn’s inventory.
Many of these unsold horns were infamously used at Conn’s repair school in Elkhart. There these unique instruments were “…thrown, far and deep (without case) onto a huge shelf high in the back of the classroom… [where they collided] with other horns…” ²
Dr. Cohen then goes on to say:
Ron Semak, a extraordinary collector from Detroit, recounted to me a story told to him by a member of the Conn School in which, when the day came where the class would learn how to remove dents and other abrasion from saxophones, the instructor would take an F mezzo off the shelf, very often a brand new one that had not been sold, and bash in the bell and underside with a large sledge hammer. Then, the class proceeded to learn how to take the dents out.
Fortunately not all F Mezzo-Sopranos suffered the same fate. Given the number that appear on eBay, Craigslist, and in vintage saxophone speciality shops and the likes, quite a few must have survived.
One such survivor is currently on eBay, and by all appearances, must not have been used a great deal.
Source: eBay.com
The seller of this particular F Mezzo-Soprano seems to have taken a page from the Conn advertising manual.³ The ad has a whole lotta’ “fanfare”, and is filled with “great expectation”:
HERE IS A Very Old SUPER SUPER SUPER RARE F MEZZO CONN SAXOPHONE…
Here is a very much sought after Sax…DID I SAY THIS IS NOT A NORMAL SAX???
CG Conn
Elkhart, Ind.
USA
this one is the curvy model style
this one has rolled tonal holes as well and i think it is all the way through the sax but not 100% on that….as far as i can see…
I have this in the shop right now we need to replace the neck cork..and 4 felts maybe a couple of adjustments..the pads were in good condition soft…this should be playing by this weekend…
the serial number on the back
\patd..ect..ect…
F
M 21x,xxx
L
this one does play up to high F as there is three left palm keys….
this one does come with a mouthpiece….original from what we can tell it was stuck on the neck so the reason a new cork…the one right side rail looks to have been chipped some makeing the rail a little thinner than the other it looks like it will seal and play ok but thinking maybe a trip to the mouthpiece technician would be a good idea to even it back up and maybe open it up just a tad….it looks to be original and in good shape other than that…
this has its original case and it is just about as nice as the sax is….
this sax is very minty shape and we did not see any past damage or repairs if there is some light scratches on it they are very hard to see..i have yet to see any wear on the plateing none i can find but will post if i do see anything..
as far as i can see this was maybe only played a very few times…..then carefully stored in a climate controlled area for most of its life…
the gold wash is in nice shape too inside the bell…very stunning…
this was very well cared for in its lifetime and well perserved…almost unheard of perserved…..
we have some local people looking at this sax and this listing may be pulled..one person is very interested…..so will see how it goes….
the pearls are all in nice shape all original and rollers all good too…
this has the nail file G # key….
this is also called the Chu Berry of saxes….i just call them the M series……
this is a very very late model of this sax….and very soon not produced any more….as far as i know they still do not make these saxes anymore…so they are a collectors dream to have around but we intend on playing it some to give us the life it was ment to give…
NO DENTS ON THIS SAX….. if there is a tap mark hard to see…..
the neck is in good shape no pull down no damage i saw at a glance….
the keywork is super tight and wonderful shape ….it looks very straight and true….
there is no play anywhere on this nice old sax…
we will try to match the felts to the rest of the sax to keep its originality….
i will post if we do have to replace a pad or two…the back bottom one is the only one i could see that possibly may need some adjustment….but they do all look original to the sax….quite unbelieveable i think to find such a sax …
a true closet sax for sure….
this one is one i may just keep for a long time but i do have to list for other reasons as well….and fun to have in my store….
will post more as information comes to me…
Wow! Alrighty then… See what mean about fanfare and expectations? One thing is clear, the sax does look pretty darn good. Although I’m not seeing an end plug in any of the photos.
Source: eBay.com
The auction for this F Mezzo-Soprano runs until May 15. The Buy It Now price is $7,275.75, although the seller is open to offers. At the time of writing there were no offers yet on this vintage Conn 24M.
To get an idea of what similar horns have sold for, this lacquered 24M F Mezzo-Soprano sold last October for $5,877.00. Whereas 2 years earlier, in October 2008, this silver plated 24M sold for $5100.00.
_______________________________________
Update: Well apparently this horn found a new home. On May 21 the seller must have accepted an offer, since the auction ended a day early. The selling price for this F-Mezzo-Soprano was—are you ready for this—$6,500.00! 😯
That certainly may have pushed the ceiling a bit higher for these Conn rarities. It will be interesting to see if down the road this price will indeed be a turning point, or if it was a one of.
Update: This F-Mezzo Soprano didn’t sell the first time around. Although it did receive 3 offers, apparently none of them were high enough, since the horn is up for sale again. This time however, the Buy It Now price is $6,787.89 (a decrease of $487.86 from the first auction). To date no offers have been made on the horn, and the auction ends on May 22.
What do you figure? Think it will sell this time? My money is on no.
The end plug is visible in photo #6 — it’s just silver-plated metal like the rest of the horn so you may not have seen it. The octave key pin sticks up well beyond the tenon, and in this picture it clearly doesn’t, but besides that you can see that the shape is such that it easy to get a grip on.
In several important ways the F mezzo is exactly the opposite of a C melody — it’s rare, expensive, and usually minty where C-mels are common, usually cheap, and often nasty — but in other important ways it is similar. It’s the slightly smaller cousin to the alto just as the C-mel is the slightly smaller cousin to the tenor, it won’t have music written specifically for it (though in a marching band, F horn parts will do just fine), and it will make techs scratch their heads. That’s not to say it’s a particularly difficult horn to work on, just that it will be unfamiliar to most of the people doing that work.
At $7,275 this is not a horn for the beginner, that’s for sure. Cheap C-mels do have the problem of luring in the unwary looking for a starter horn.
You’re right Mal-2. I did actually see it in #6. I saw it after I wrote the sentence, I just didn’t remember to remove the reference to the apparent lack of an end plug.
😯 Some people would beat you with a wet noodle for even mentioning that you know. 😡 😉