The other day, I mentioned that I took photos of a Pierret saxophone that was stencilled with the name F.E. Olds & Son. This horn is one of the most pristine vintage saxophones that I have seen. I would go so far as to say that it is nearly minty.
Photo by H. Kahlke
Besides the saxophone being in nearly mint condition, the horn also has its original accessories including: the mouthpiece, ligature, and mouthpiece cap, amber end plug, lyre, neckstrap, and case. All of these items are in as fine a condition as the sax itself.
Pierret’s saxophone models are somewhat of a mystery to figure out. Furthermore, there seem to be more and more models appearing out of people’s closets, attics, and basements all the time.
I knew that Pierret had stencilled saxophones for Olds, but before last weekend I had only seen The Parisian Ambassador and the Parisian. The Parisian is generally regarded as the professional version, while The Parisian Ambassador is more simplified.
According to Kim Slava at doctorsax.biz:
….the Parisian Ambassador was somewhat simplified, (e.g. lighter gauge brass was used for the body, posts instead of strong brackets in places, plastic buttons instead of mother of pearl) with the exception of the engraving which became more elaborate.
Photo by H. Kahlke
After carefully comparing the Ambassador that my friend re-padded for his cousin, to all the Pierrets in Bassic Sax Pix, I came to the conclusion that it, like the Parisian, is a copy of Pierret’s flagship model of the early 1950’s: the Competition.
Since I didn’t have a Competition, Parisian, or The Parisian Ambassador to compare it to, I can’t state with 100% certainty what model level this Ambassador was.
I can state that the sax has mother of pearl, not plastic key touches. However, the horn felt quite light to me, compared to other altos I have played. Therefore, I would think it is more in the intermediate model range of saxophones.
The Ambassador is a quality horn, but was not overly expensive. It was bought new in 1959 for approximately $100.00 Cdn. According to the Bank Of Canada’s Inflation Calculator, that would be $796.08 in 2012. BTW, in case you are wondering, the original purchase price would have been approximately 1/5 that of a Selmer Mark VI.
If you are interested in seeing what this pristine, vintage saxophone looks like, you can check out all the photos on Bassic Sax Pix. I’m going to be updating my Pierret section later today or tomorrow. In light of this horn, I’ll have to makes some changes to the Olds Stencil Saxes pages.
I recently acquired one of these exact models. Serial number 32581. Mine’s definitely in rougher shape but is still mostly playable. Thanks for the info!
Hi there Adam. Nice to hear from you.
Whereabouts are you located? The reason I ask is that the one shown here is the only one that I have ever seen before, and it belonged to my friend’s Aunt. It clearly was not a model that was very common. This has me wondering if it was something that was custom-ordered from Olds by a particular music store.
As you mention once, there are vintages that were crap and still are…..
I don’t know too much of this obscure stencilled vintages, but looks as they copy from features from different big brands as Conn, Selmer, etc
Smoller tone holes may affect sound and entonation depending on the aperture distances…
Musicians, trying to experiment may go for this instruments at reasonable low prices, while collectors…well the go for the vintages of famous brands and models of the big era: Selmers, Martins, Conn, Kings, Yanagisawas, Yamahas….in mint original conditions.