It is hard to believe that I have been gathering data on B&S “blue label” saxophones for nearly a decade. That’s crazy! Therefore, it is not surprising that over the past few years more information has become available, and it is time to update my B&S pages on my website.
Through the painstaking work of people at the Musikinstrumenten-Museums Markneukirchen, and through my colleague, Uwe Ladwig, all kids of data regarding the pre-unification horns has come to light. Some of the most interesting information that has recently been published in German sources about these “blue label” horns, involves the number of different models, as well as the evolution of these models.
Something I noticed from the beginning of data gathering
Since I began tracking serial numbers and features of B&S saxophones, I noticed we had quite different features on horns very close in serial number. This led me to speculate if we had a step-up grade of “blue label” horn—although nothing in the published materials indicated that was the case.
It turns out that B&S changed the B&S “blue label” horns in 1985, and gave them them new bells and bows.1 Additionally, serial numbers on the alto and tenor were restarted at 1001 and 1067 respectively. (No word on what happened with the baritones.)
Apparently, this is why some serial numbers are duplicated—e.g. I have recorded tenor # 2376 twice, but they are different horns. Furthermore, instruments that were still in stock, were updated with the new bells and bows, but their serial numbers were kept original.2
All of these peculiarities will be explored in detail when I finish with the rest of my research, and update the B&S pages of my site. I will post an update to this article when I have it completed.
B&S “blue label” saxes: serials and features presented in tables
Since the beginning I had gathered all the data I collected on Excel spread sheets. That made it difficult to share. After a recent discussion with some players on SOTW, I decided it was time to dust off the charts, and see about getting it up for everyone to take a look at.
Enter the following 4 tables you see below. Soprano, alto, tenor, and baritone saxophones each have their own table. These tables are not finished. At this point the data was just copied over from my Excel charts.
Note: Pressing the + sign inside the circle will show further info on specific horns.
I haven’t quite figured out yet how each of these horns will be described. I still need to finish researching all the German sources I have, and I need to correspond with Uwe a bit to tie up any loose ends. But at least these searchable tables are a start.
At the time of writing, 269 horns (SATB) are represented in these tables. Why so few after nearly a decade of searching? For a number of reasons, mainly though, for this to work really well, I need serial numbers on horns, and not all sellers provide them. Also, many times the photos are not plentiful enough, or are of such poor quality, that I can’t find enough of the features I’m looking for to make the horn worth entering into the database. This is where you come in…
B&S blue label census: count your horn in!
If you have a B&S blue, or gold label saxophone, and you would like to contribute to my research efforts, that would be greatly appreciated!
These are the specs I’m looking for:
For all saxophones:
- Serial # (first 3 numbers are fine)
- finish (clear lacquer with nickel keys; gold lacquer with nickel keys; silver plate; or nickel plate)
- chromatic f# sharp key shape (diamond horizontal or upright rectangular)
- thumb rest type (fixed metal or adjustable metal or adjustable plastic)
- type of tone holes (straight or rolled; drawn or soldered)
- “Made in” stamping reads: G.D.R.; G.D.R. and R.D.A.; D.D.R.; other? What is it?
Additional data for alto, tenor, and baritones:
- Logo colour (blue or gold)
- C# key guard (yes/no)
- Pant guard (yes/no)
- Bell to Body Brace Fastening on Bell (horizontal diamond or elongated, Selmer-style)
You can send the above data to me via email. If you are interested in contributing your horn to the B&S gallery, I’m happy to accept photo contributions as well, but that is certainly not necessary.
I want thank SOTW members megwenda and logdrum for prompting me to get going on this rather-overdue work.
1 Faszination Saxophon: DerSaxophonbau Auf Deutschprachigem Gebiet, First edition 2016, Günter Dullat, p. 253.
2 Ibid
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