I am no longer low A-less. I found a replacement for the Medusa low A bari sax I sold in September, and it arrived safe & sound on Friday. What did I get you ask? A H. Couf Superba II bari in black nickel plate, with gold-plated keys and bell. Interestingly enough, the serial # (61XXX) places its manufacturing date in 1968.
Although I wasn’t desperate to find a low A bari, I did take a look at what my favourite local vintage sax dealers had for sale. Quite frankly, none of what they had was interesting. Most vintage baris available are keyed to only low Bb—and I already have two fantastic low Bb horns I use all the time—but for pit work I needed a bari that goes to low A.
I then cast my gaze a bit further afield, and checked out the offerings of vintage sax dealers who I have either bought from in the past when I lived in the Maritimes, or who I have corresponded with over the years. And there the horn was: listed in the inventory of PM Woodwind.
Although I had never bought a sax from Paul Maslin before, he and I had corresponded before on numerous occasions. I emailed him to find out if the sax shown on his website was still available. I was sure it would have been sold, since it was such a unique horn.
When Paul informed me that the horn in fact was still in his shop, I was really surprised, and quite elated. Then of course came the million questions you ask when you are considering buying a horn.
Paul was kind enough to send me a sound sample using a Berg Larsen MP. The sound was what I was looking for. (Of course, after my experience with the Medusa, nothing has made it clearer to me that my sound may, and likely would, vary greatly.)
That said, I was convinced enough of the horn’s potential to take the great chance to do something that I have only done a few times before: Order a horn without being able to play-test it before buying it.
To complicate matters of course, I live in Canada, and the horn was in the US. Besides the exchange rate, there were the logistics with shipping to consider.
Since I only 15 blocks from the US/Canada border, I opted to have the Couf bari sent to my friends who live about an hour south of me in Washington State. This greatly reduced the shipping costs, and also allowed me to be the one to bring the instrument into Canada, thus eliminating the customs brokerage fees.
Yesterday all I paid was the 12% tax upon entering Canada, as the Herb Couf Superba II bari became a Canadian. Tonight it gets to come with me to its first rehearsal of the big band I play in. I certainly won’t be doing the horn justice yet tonight, since I won’t have the best MP and reeds for the horn ID’d by then… Oh, and I keep accidentally opening the chromatic F# key against my pants because it has no key guard. 
On Friday the Couf goes to my tech for the first time, to get some minor leaks and stuff taken care of. Yes, it survived the trip amazingly well. More on that another day, but suffice to say, the Bam Hightech bari case I bought for it really helped it make the trip unscathed, as did Paul’s exceptional packing job.
My school has a two bari saxes, am I’m the player of them both. I marched tenor sax this year, and next year I will march bari. one of them is what I think a selmer, the other is a Jupiter artist, they are both low a, and I would like to know which is better to march
Hey there Jayden. I marched a lot of miles while I was in school. The short answer is: Whatever horn weighs less. 🙂
That is my professional advice to you. Personally, there’s not enough money in the world that could make me march a bari sax. I thought marching a tenor was heavy enough while I was in school—and I’m tall (5’9″), so the size of the horn wasn’t the problem. But I know someone has to do it, it just won’t be me. 🙂
Helen, thank you for the reply, the jupiter weighs less at 17 lbs, but it takes a lot more air than the selmer, which weighs 20 pounds, and takes a heaver toll on you body. I have another question, if I were to try to buy a bari, what would be a good cheap low a bari to buy, and where?
Thanks, Jayden Alderson
More air? 😆 😆 You haven’t played a Couf. It takes nearly as much supported air as my bass. 😉 I am a bari & bass player, and it took me nearly 2 weeks to get my diaphragm strong enough to support the air enough on the Couf to be able to be 99% sure I wouldn’t crack a low Bb or A at a subtone.
Seriously though, first up, are you using a neck strap or harness to march? Get a harness. A strap will kill your neck down the road. There are lots of us out here who didn’t have that option when we played, b/c harnesses weren’t used for saxophones back when dinosaurs walked the earth. (Read the 80s and earlier.) 😉
As far as air goes, I don’t know how you are or aren’t supporting your breathing, but bari is where non-supported breathing becomes really obvious in saxophone players. When I work with bari players, breathing is one of the key issues I always work with them on.
I have some exercises on my website that might be of help to you Jayden. The first is a breathing exercise that engages your diaphragm. The next focuses on “going over the break”—from C2 to D2. That’s where unsupported breathing becomes obvious in bari players. Tongue the G at the start of the pattern and slur the rest. Once you can do that, repeat the pattern without tonguing the repeated G’s.
The 3rd exercise also focuses on going over the break. And lastly, nothing would be complete without a long tones exercise. Now, now, don’t roll your eyes. It will only take you 5 minutes to complete, but if you do this everyday, it will will make a HUGE difference to your tone, intonation, and yes, air support (if used in combination with the supported breathing you learned in the previous exercises).
Helen, I’ve been using a harness, and have nightmares about using a neck strap. Thank you for your advice, and I will try your exercises tonight. Thank you again, Jayden
Regardless of how many years you have played, or continue to play, the playing exercises I linked to above are always good ones. I use them them all the time, and have for nearly 20 years.
Originally I was introduced to them by a saxophone teacher in Fredericton. I’m not sure where Hans got them from, but he had used them for years before that, and had his students do them.
If you do them properly, and regularly, I can guarantee you that your tone, intonation, and finger dexterity will improve and/or be maintained.
Oh, about those long tones: If you play tenor and bari, or 2 baris, do them on both. I do this long tone exercise on EVERY horn I have (SATBB), because each voice of horn is different, and each horn of each voice is different.
E.G. in order to play my King Zephyr 100% in tune, I have to use slightly different facial muscles than I would to play my Selmer Mark VI in tune. Eventually your muscle memory kicks in, and when you pick up a certain horn, you automatically make the correct facial adjustments to get the tuning 100% dead on. Make sense?
late to the party, but I would REALLY recommend you learn to play low brass of some sort to march…. Marching bari sax is something I did for 2 years before switching to Tuba. The horns really aren’t all that useful to the sound of the band, the potential health issues *and I’m 6’4″ and built like a linebacker* due to hanging it from your neck, and the risk to the instrument if you fall is just not worth the hassle.
If you must march the bari, march the one that is in worse condition so you maintain at least one good one for concert/jazz bands
Helen, I noted your comment on SOTW about mouthpeces for the Couf. I played a JK New King for 30 years before my current Mark 6. My go-to mouthpiece was the one that came with the horn! This was a slimline 5 and, I believe, made for Keilwerth
by Zinner. I sold this to Alan Tucker some time ago! Just my experience but it may explain why the Berg and Runyon seem more compatible.
Yes, the JK MPs were made by Zinner—as were the H. Couf ones. Unfortunately this horn did not have its original MP with it. (Or never came with one.)
I have a modern Zinner, but it came with my Medusa, and is one of their classical pieces IIRC. I tried it on the Couf, but it didn’t do any better than the others. I’ll have to check out the Zinner website and see what their current offerings are. I’ll also keep my eyes open for a vintage H. Couf bari piece on eBay. I don’t imagine that a vintage JK bari piece will appear on the auction site, but hey, you never know.