Mysterious Majestic Tenor Saxophone on eBay
Tenor Saxophone
Mysterious Majestic Tenor Saxophone on eBay
Tenor Saxophone

Mysterious Majestic Tenor Saxophone on eBay

Majestic tenor saxophone, silver plated sax, saxophone bell engraving
Source: zoltiimro4 on eBay.de

I saw an old Majestic tenor saxophone on the German eBay site the other day that caught my eye. Majestic is a name we usually associate with Eugen Schuster, but this horn has none of the features generally associated with the brand.

Update June 2024: Eugen Schuster page has been written, and is linked to above. This horn has been ID’d as an early R&C sax from Italy. (Thanks Pete.) See comments below

Since I have not yet written about Eugen Schuster saxophones, I decided this would be a good time to try and further my research into this rather obscure German saxophone company. I had hoped that I could determine if this Majestic tenor saxophone was indeed a Eugen Schuster horn. Sadly I could not positively conclude one way or another the origins of this vintage sax.

What we do know about this Majestic tenor saxophone:

  • It doesn’t have rolled tone holes.
  • The serial number doesn’t fit with known Eugen Schuster or Franz Köhler horns. (Köhler supplied the saxophones to the Schuster Company after 1937.)
  • It does have a nail file G#, a fork Eb, and a G# trill key.
  • It has a bis Bb and a front F key.
  • It is keyed from low Bb to high F.
  • The low C key guard is very ornate.
  • The neck either had a repair, or was constructed with a strange seam on the right side.

eBay description of this Majestic tenor saxophone

Very rare and age-appropriate well-preserved Eugen Schuster?? tenor saxophone model  MAJESTIC . A hand-build tips saxophone made by master craftsmen … Kleinserie- individual production number  see picture !!!!! Very collectable vintage saxophone and well worth the restoration.
key guards pads and screw-in springs all look to be there. The pads look old but not that bad of condition and most  it, all keys open and close as they should, all springs working.  No large dents just some scratches and a few dings here and there but again nothing too bad, lacquer is worn and pitted as to be expected but looks original to me with clear engraving, showing no

This is highly  unusual      tenor    saxophon    mark Maestic  in and of itself as it is the . Eugen Schuster?,,??Look at the Nail file G # key, that is just like a CONN  ,     still trying to figure .
Washers some are old needs to be replaced but not otherwise looks good
saxophon not tested   . The body tube is , there are no dents or significant dings, keywork and rollers are free and easy,  and there is a fair amount of spotting particularly on the back of the body tube. Some typical scratching here and there, nothing significant or unusual for a 40+ year old horn.   Some small bare patches. There are some very small and minor dings here and there, but you  really have to look for ’em.Majestic saxophone looks pretty cool saxophone is a silver-  not    nickel, pads old , you will need to adjust.  neck   saxophone professionally repaired  good… see picture

There is no mouthpice, The case is old  not serviceable.

This  saxophon can be restored by anyone with the patience to do so.

OK then, so the seller is just as confused as we are about the origins of this horn.

Who made this vintage horn?

Here’s a question for all you Buescher players: Does this horn remind you of either a True Tone or an Aristocrat? The reason I ask is before the Eugen Schuster Company started making saxophones in 1937, they imported Bueschers from the US. To me it doesn’t look like a Buescher in the slightest, but YMMV. If it does, let me know via a comment below what makes you think so.

If the Majestic tenor saxophone currently on eBay is indeed an Eugen Schuster, the other possible source could have been Franz Köhler, since that company was the source of the Schuster horns post-1937. If that were the case, it would have to be a very early version, since later Köhler horns have the features we associate with the Schuster horns—mostly notably the Conn-like left pinkie cluster and rolled tone holes. 

Unfortunately I don’t have any early version Köhler saxophone images in my collection to compare this Majestic tenor saxophone to. So ATM this horn remains a bit of an enigma.

The auction for this Majestic tenor saxophone ends on October 8. The asking price is €800.00 BIN, or you could make an offer. So far it seems no one has done so. My prediction: no one will.

This horn is such an oddity, and the price so high, that people are not going to spend that amount of money on a chance, when they can spend the same amount of cash on a sure thing. That’s just MHO of course. YMMV, and likely does. Let’s see what the other 8 watchers of the auction do. Maybe one of them know something I don’t, and someone will swoop in and scoop this baby up.

…this is just my blog. My “real” website is www.bassic-sax.info. If you’re looking for sax info, you should check it out too.There’s lots there!
 

10 Comments

    1. Chase

      THis is Kinda weird, because this is a sax website, and I play trombone and double on sax, but I happen to have an old majestic trombone and haven’t known very much about it or the maker, so if you could help me learn about the company that would be great.

      1. Helen

        Hi Chase. Welcome to my website.

        In saxophones, when a company that doesn’t make saxophones, orders a saxophone from an existing manufacturer, that ordered horn is called a “stencil”, because the ordering company has its name simply “stencilled” on the instrument. So for example, if I wanted to order some bass saxophones that carried my name, I could contact Jinbao in Taiwan, and order them with the name Bassic Sax engraved on the bell.

        This Majestic tenor sax was one of these horns, and was ordered from the Italian company Rampone & Cazzani.

        I can’t say for sure how it works with brasswinds, but I am guessing that it the process is similar. Majestic is the ordering company, and they ordered instruments from various companies.

        In saxophones the way we ID a stencil manufacturer is by the horn’s features. Given a trombone has no readily identifiable keywork, I’m not sure what features players use to ID the manufacturers of stencil instruments. I am guessing if you asked your question in a brasswind forum, and provided photos of your instrument, they would be able to assist you.

        A bit of sleuthing on the Hornucopia website shows that Majestic was made by Wurlitzer; R., with production ending in 1914. Does this make sense to you? Could you ‘bone really be 100 years old?

        Some more checking online found this rather large trombone forum that might be of assistance.

        Hope this has been helpful Chase…helen

        1. Chase

          Sorry that I’m a bit late, but I have searched the trombone forum and no results at all, and no brass, woodwind or general instrument technician has been able me anything about it. it may be a Wurlitzer stencil, based on the fact that it’s made in Germany, but I’m not sure it is that old, but it very well could be. And thanks a lot for the help. -Chase

  3. Theo

    Hi, Helen here are some observations on these pictures

    The absence of a lyra holder and the rustic decoration makes me think of classical music. The crook looks by the position of the octave pip as a dark sounding instrument.
    The brass strip soldered on one side of the silver plated crook does not look original.
    It will strengthen the structure or make a thin plated crook sound darker.
    The style of the pillars looks German to me.
    The left pinky plateau looks American, but all American saxophone from that period I have seen have lyra holders.
    The construction of the low B key is amazing.
    The low B key axis is inside the low Bflat axis.
    The keycup is connected to this hidden axis with two screws visible between the B and the Bflat keycups.
    I have never seen this construction before in a saxophone.

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