When I bought my silver plated bass sax from Paul Coats in 2000, both it and the gold plated Buescher that the Bayou Saxophone Ensemble had bought from Gayle at Vintage Sax.com, were in need of new cases. At the time, with the current bass sax Renaissance still off over the horizon, there were really no options yet available for replacement cases when it came to vintage bass saxophones. In fact, that is how the Bass Sax Co-op got its start.
The Bass Sax Co-operative started because Steve Weinert met up with Paul Coats via the Internet. Steve needed a replacement case for his vintage bass, and Paul knew that I was going to be looking for one for my 1922 Buescher. Steve had connections with an OEM case maker, so he started the Co-op in an effort to connect bass players to see if there was enough interest to convince the case manufacturer to make bass saxophone cases.
Wow, what a difference 9 years make! Now we have cheap, Asian-made bass saxophones at price points below many premium baritone saxes, and some companies will sell their cases to vintage bass players, who are looking for replacement cases. Gone are the days of bass sax players having no option but to pay crazy amounts to have one-ofs made, such as was the case for me, when I had a custom case built for my Buescher.
Well, Paul and the Bayou Saxophone Ensemble finally did get around to getting a new case for their gold plated Buescher bass. Paul ended up going with Americase, and this case looks amazing.
Photos supplied by Paul Coats
So if you’re a vintage bass saxophone player, and you’re looking for a replacement case for your baby, you now have another option. Americase will be able to build a case for your Buescher or Conn sax. If you own another brand of vintage bass, you could contact them, and they could advise you how best to proceed with the process.
I know if I didn’t already have a case that I’d spent way too much $$ on, I’d get an Americase. This is the best protection that I’ve seen for a bass saxophone. Oh ya, and I really like the wheels!
There is a good manufacturer of musical instrument cases in Taiwan. Their design consider on the good protection and multi-functional to meet the user’s need. You can check their web: http://www.glcases.com.tw. You’ll find something interesting
You know, I’ve never weighed it. I’ll do that over the next day or 2… I just have to remember to bring the scale down to my studio. I’ve been meaning to. I just keep forgetting.
Since It’s not a flight case like Paul’s, it will weight considerably less than his 72 lbs. I’m guessing it will be between 30 to 40 lbs. Bruce was trying to make it as light as possible.
The one problem with my case is that the handles are not sturdy enough, according to Layne my former tech in Halifax. He figured that the handles, which Bruce did not order from Allied unfortunately, would be the only thing that ever gave out.
My horn weighs about 16 lbs. How heavy is the case you have?
Heh Matt. Good eyes. 😯
You know, I read that a few times and never saw Paul’s typo. You’re right of course… A bass weighs quite a bit more than 8 lbs.
I have an old advertisement for the old Buescher True Tone bass saxophones, and it says that the horn weighs 18 lbs. So the Paul’s horn would weigh 90, not 80 lbs in the case, since his is a Buescher.
Only if it didn’t weigh 72 lbs! Wouldn’t weigh 88 pounds with the sax, rather than 80?
That would make sense. I think Herr Eppelsheim doesn’t cut corners on anything he does. And since he ships his horns world-wide, it makes sense that he would supply flight cases. It’s the only German thing to do. 😀
Looks very much like what comes with an Eppelsheim bass sax.