Lately I haven’t seen much in eBay’s vintage saxophone listings that have been particularly interesting. That is, until today. This morning I happened across another Dörfler & Jörka stencil name that I hadn’t seen before: a Carl Schiller tenor saxophone.
Source: Esalevets Store
The bell engraving alone gives away this horn’s pedigree. The stencil badge and the mountain style peaks are the most common style of D&J engraving.
Source: Esalevets Store
In the above photo, the following identifiers all point to this vintage saxophone’s Dörfler & Jörka origins:
- The round mother of pearl (or perhaps plastic) buttons on the key guards.
- The JK-shaped low C key.
- The shape of the chromatic F# key.
Source: Esalevets Store
D&J saxophones were copies of JK’s The New Kings and Tonekings. One thing that makes the D&J easily identifiable is their neck fastening screw. While many Dörfler & Jörka saxophones have lost their round thumb screws over the years, this Carl Schiller tenor still has not.
Source: Esalevets Store
The pant guard on this Carl Schiller tenor is classic D&J, as is the immovable, uncomfortable thumb rest. (I have mine padded with a rubber thumb guard.)
The seller of this D&J tenor describes the horn like this:
The instrument is in very good condition. Bell is round and true.
Signed on bell: Carl Schiller. Marked on back: 99 90 / Made in Western Germany.
Comes with a mouthpiece marked: Made in Italy. Also comes with a padded case in very good condition, albeit it does show some exterior wear on the edges..
Here are the remainder of the photos of this vintage, German saxophone, made by Dörfler & Jörka…
Source: Esalevets Store
Finally, it is worth noting that the 9990 serial number fits into the D&J serial numbers that we’ve seen to date. And the Made In Western Germany stamping immediately below the serial number is also what we see on D&J saxophones.
Check out the rest of the D&J stencil horns in my Bassic Sax Pix gallery to compare features and serial numbers. If you are interested in reading more about D&J saxophones, and the company history, be sure to check out the Dörfler & Jörka page on my website. I also have a separate page comparing the measurements of D&J and JK tenor necks.
If you are interested in making this Carl Schiller tenor saxophone your own, you only have a little over a day left. The auction for this D&J stencil horn ends on December 23. The Buy It Now price is $600.00, but the seller is open to offers. At the time of writing there were no offers.
Update: This Carl Schiller tenor has been re-listed a number of times, each time with a lower price. In the end the seller finally sold the sax, but not for much… Here’s what it looked like: