Ever since my mom passed away in December, I’ve been faced with the rather gargantuan task of dealing with her house, and all of its contents. You see when my mom passed away, she was still living in the house that she and my dad built 30 years earlier. It is a beautiful home on a gorgeous view lot, overlooking the area’s volcano.
Although I too live in a house with a similar view, my house isn’t as big; it’s about 1000 sq. ft. less in size. I also don’t have the emotional connection to it that I do to the family home—which is how I see my mom’s house.
Sometime in the next year I’ll be moving to my mom’s former home. There are a number of changes that I have to make to it however. One of them involves my studio. The room that I’m going to use for that purpose needs to be updated, and have a natural gas fire place installed.
Because the room has very little natural light compared to the one I have now, I was looking for lighting options that would also update my new studio. I have always liked the idea of converting an old beat up student horn into a lamp, so I checked out eBay to see if I could find something there that would inspire me.
Well inspiration was not hard to come by. I happened across this lamp made out of a Lafayette soprano sax, and mounted on a wood and onyx base.
Source: eBay.com
Source: eBay.com
Source: eBay.com
Ever since I developed my neuro problem 3½ years ago, I can’t play soprano anymore. There is just too much resistance and therefore back pressure to my head. Playing one literally makes my head hurt. The effect is the same regardless if I play my Mark VI or my Pan American curvy.
Now because I almost never used my Mark VI soprano anyway, I started to think that perhaps I should convert it into a lamp. I thought since it’s pretty darn minty, it would be nice and shiny, and be sure to be a conversation piece in my new studio. 😉
As I started to plan what kind of shade this lamp might have, I realized that it was almost time to take my drug cocktail for pain management. After my pain settled, I realized my poor Mark VI never hurt anyone—at least not intentionally—and really didn’t deserve to be turned into a lamp. 😯
So my minty Mark VI soprano is safe once again. However, I do like the idea of turning a soprano sax into a lamp. The idea appeals to me on some sick level. 😈
If you’re like me, and you too would like to own your very own soprano sax table lamp, the Lafayette currently on eBay is selling for $195.00. The auction ends on June 13.
BTW, my Mark VI was never in any real danger. I’m not that over/under medicated that I would sacrifice it. 😀
It has always been my contention that the only instruments that should be turned into lamps are P.O.S. student horns. There are loads of them out there. Just check out eBay, Kijiji, Craig’s List and the likes, and you will find more P.O.S. student horns than you ever knew existed. Buy one for under $100, and you’ve got the beginnings of a great lamp.
You could send your MK VI to me, but I don’t think you would get it back as a lamp. In fact you wouldn’t get it back at all. 😉
Also letting you know I enjoy website.
Oh and in case your interested I identified another Dörfler & Jörka stencil name “Clinton” see this link:
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290427871288&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT
Hi there Chris.
Good one. I was wondering how long it would take for someone to offer that. 😀
Thanks so much for the lead on the D&J-stencilled Clinton link. That is another name that to date I had not yet come across. I’ve compiled a stencil name list on the new Dörfler & Jörka page on the main portion of my website. With the Clinton, we are now up to 19 different companies that had altos and/or tenors stencilled by D&J. It’s too bad the Keilwerth no longer has the records for D&J. It would be interesting to know many different companies they actually made horns for.
Glad you enjoy my site. Hope you drop in again sometime.
Regards,
Helen
Hi Helen,
I just had to comment If you just have to turn that soprano sax into a lamp send it to Me I believe I can turn it into a lamp with out hurting it. then when you are finished using it to light up the dark send it back and i will make it a proper sax again.
Mark
Hello Mark. Welcome to my site.
Thanks for the offer, but my tongue was pretty firmly planted in my cheek when I wrote about turning my Mark VI soprano into a lamp. I would never do that to any pro horn, let alone one of mine! (Even if I don’t currently play it.)
It does however remind me of a Mark VI alto that I saw photos of, that belongs to a member of either SOTW, or the Woodwind Forum (perhaps both, I can’t remember for sure right now) that had actually been a lamp at one time. This member had actually saved it from being a table lamp, and turned it back into a musical instrument. It of course had to have the hole in the bow soldered with some brass, and some other other fixes done as well. I believe the original neck might have been lost as well, so a replacement neck needed to be found. All in all it was quite the reclamation project.
Thanks for the visit Mark. Hope you do drop in again. And if I ever do get a weird urge to illuminate my studio with my Mark VI, I’ll give you a shout. 😉
Regards,
Helen