Questions
If you’ve got a saxophone question, and 1. You’ve either had no luck researching the answer yourself, 2. The answers you’ve gotten make no sense to you, or 3. You’re not even sure where to ask it, you can ask it on this page via a comment.
If I don’t know the answer to your question, I’ll do my best to research it, and get as much information as I can for you.
Photo by M. Margison. Photo effects by H. Kahlke ©2008
Suggestions
Also, if you have any suggestions for future blog posts, I would love to hear them. Feel free to post your ideas here, or use the Contact page to send me note with your idea.
Perhaps you have a vintage horn with an interesting history that you’d like to tell people about. I’m always open to having you tell your horn’s story on my website. Just get in touch with me, and we’ll figure out the details.
Photo & photo effects by H. Kahlke © 2009
sax contrbaixo da soprano musical brasil
http://www.sopranomusical.com
daniel instrumentos musicais
sax baixo j elle stainer a venda no http://www.danielinstrumentosmusicais.com.br
sax baixo galasseni a venda no http://www.mercadolivre.com.br
contrabaixo tradicional j elle stainer
subcontrabaixo j elle stainer
sax subcontrabaixo j elle stainer
sax contra baixo tradicional j elle stainer
sax baixo galasseni 3
sax baixo galasseni brasil
sax baixo galasseni
sax tenor compacto 3
sax tenor compacto j elle stainer
sax tenor compacto
Thank you jose for all these photos. They are very interesting.
Hi Helen,
As an aside, when I was traveling more, that compact tenor would have been very appealing, especially with all the TSA and airline hassles.
:saxy:
Peace,
paul
ola voces conhecen o sax tenor compacto j elle stainer
If I may, jose carlos would like to know if we are familiar with the compact tenor saxophone made by J’Elle Stainer.
muito obrigado, Zé
Thanks for that Paul. I appreciate the translation.
I was going to get in touch with Gilberto Lopes, my contact at J’Élle Stainer. He’s based out of Europe, and has supplied me with lots of pics and information about the company in the past.
o sax baixo no brasil e muito caro equivale ao preço de um automovel popular,alem do mais grande maioria dos saxofonistas profissionais do pais desconhencem a existencia deste instrumento
sim
Hello. I have a Vintage 1956 Selmer Paris mouth piecewith 2 covers ts a D key…I would lik to nowiffffff it is good sax or not..lo…looking for a value?
Look forward to replies.
Thank you.
Hi there Ned.
OK, so now I’m officially confused. Do you have a 1956 Selmer mouthpiece? Or a 1956 Selmer sax?
Since you don’t mention what kind of sax (S,A,T,B) it is, I can’t even begin to give you a ball park price. I can however, give you a way to answer the question: What is my saxophone worth. Check this page of my site, for a step by step process which helps you determine the value of your vintage saxophone.
Hope this helps.
Regards,
Helen
Thank you Helen. I understand very clearly your ramble about the difference between collecting and having a colourful pallet.You expressed it very well, but all your writing is good. I trust that I’ll feel the art of it all if I ever raise my playing above the struggling amateur level.
Thanks again, I’ll be in touch about that old soprano soon.
John
Hi Helen,
News from Montreal in the wake of the no-name Czech alto… I thought that you might like to know that after trying many horns(the M6 Ladyface and the no-name twice) I went with the Martelle that you connected me to through Gerry. I plays well and feels almost perfect to a learner like me. I guess you have to own quite a few horns to know that you have covered all the desirable features. Maybe that’s what drives you to collect?
Thanks for the guidance.
John
PS I’m going to get back to you with picture of an Evette & Schaeffer B C and co Paris sn 67xx … very old and in need of rebuild.
Hi John.
Nice to hear from you. I was wondering what happened. I’m actually glad to hear that you went with the Keilwerth stencil. I just got mine back from its restoration this week, and thought: “What a great sax. John would do well with one of these.” Yours is a few years newer (mine is from 1957), but they’re still from the same era of JK’s greatness.
No horn is 100% perfect. There are always things that I prefer in one horn over another. That said, there are always certain horns I go back to (depending on my style of music of course). In my tenors it’s my JK Toneking & my King Zephyr. In my altos, the jury is still out.
I don’t so much collect saxophones—although lots of people would argue that point—as view them as an artist views his paintbrushes. Each sax I own has a different tone from the others, and allows me to paint in different tonal colours.
When I play rock alto, my Mark VI gets to go on the gig. For jazz, it’s always been the Conn 6M, but that is going to be changing now, as I become more familiar with the 2 new altos in my tonal colour palette.
Bottom line: Although the horn might only be 10% of the player’s sound, at some point in person’s playing, those 10% can make a difference. However, that can take decades to get there. The first 15 years or so of my playing, I spent my time working on tone, technique, and mastering the horns I had. Once I had that more or less figured out, then I pursued the sound I had in my head through mouthpiece experimentation. Once I was satisfied with that, then and only then, did I start playing around with different horn sounds.
I’m not sure if that makes any sense to you John. Right now, for you, rest assured you got yourself a great sax.
Drop me an email if I can be of any help ever. I’m also more than happy to talk to you on the phone if you prefer….helen
I’m looking at the Selmer Paris Series II Model 52 Jubilee Edition Alto Saxophone and I was wondering if it would be a good buy.
Selmer prices tend to be all over the place Ben. Where are you looking at it? How much is it?
The price is $4989 and I’m looking at it on musiciansfriend.com
The price is fine, but you can do better Ben. Musiciansfriend isn’t an Selmer Pro Shop, and there are big advantages from buying from one of those.
Kessler & Sons Music in Las Vegas is a Selmer Pro Shop, and makes sure that each instrument that is shipped out the door is given a professional setup before it goes out. That is a huge deal. Even new Selmers coming from the factory need to be set up, and Musiciansfriend isn’t going to be doing that for you. You’ll have to have your local tech do that.
Kessler & Sons Music offers the horn you’re looking for at the same price—for the lacquer version—so it won’t cost you more. But I can guarantee you that you’ll have a much better playing horn. I have played a number of Selmers that came from Kessler’s and they all played great. If I was in the market for a new Selmer, I wouldn’t shop anywhere else.
Drop them an email, or give them a call. Ask to speak to Dave. He’s a stand-up guy. Tell him Helen from Bassic Sax sent you. He’ll treat you really well, and will hook you up with the horn you’re looking for, for a good price.
Thank you for the website and information. I plan on calling them in the near future.
Hi I hope you can help me discover what saxophone I have. It is smaller than an alto but larger than a soprano. It has no serial number below the thumb guard but has number 11 stamper on the neck and behind the pinky key pad. It looks very old has no identifying marks and the kets are rough cut not refined and smooth as if it may some sort of prototype. I compared it to an f mezzo and has many similarities but the neck is more curved and it doesn’t have the 2 large tone holes on the left side. Is it possible that the horn is an early f mezzo protype?
Hi Frank. Welcome to my site.
Without seeing some photos, I can’t tell you anything about it. There are just too many possibilities at this point.
Please send the photos to bassic.sax.ca@gmail.com . If I don’t immediately recognize it, I can do some super sleuthing, and try to discover what your mystery horn is.
Check out this page of my website for the kinds of photos that allow me to help you the most.
Regards,
Helen
Frank, from your description, it is likely to be an early HIGH PITCH Alto Sax keyed only down to low-B rather than low-Bb, hence the smaller size.
Thank you Helen. Not only do I learn about saxes from you, but I’m also learning internet acronyms!
The hunt continues…
John
Once again, thanks for the feedback Helen. I guess I should make a trip to the shop as a contingency before purchase of the 6M. I’m touubled by the fuzzy low D and E and the sharp C and below low tones but priced at twelve hundred dollars, I think it’s worth pursuing. You have been a steadying help in my alto quest Helen.
tks, John
Yes John, I’d be troubled by the fuzzy D and E on the 6M. Mine doesn’t have those issues. There are a few unknowns with that horn that bear further exploration before pulling the trigger. If it was $450—like mine was—there’d be no question about it, but at $1,200, there are some questions that need answers. IMO of course. Others might disagree with me.
With the lead I provided you with via email, that will give you a couple more brands to try as well. That JK alto is 8 years newer than mine. Mine is at the shop getting restored at present. I hope to get it back in the next month or so.
As far as the Lyons Monarch is concerned, I don’t much about them other than they are a stencil horn. Since I haven’t seen photos, I couldn’t tell you what it is. It might be a Buescher, or….
No matter what happens, at least you have 2 more professional model horns to try out in your alto saxophone quest. Enjoy the hunt! To me this is usually the best part of buy a new to me sax: play a bunch of them.
I am planning on upgrading to a highger level saxophone. One for in the intermediate area and I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for me.
Oh Ben… What a can of worms you’re opening with that question. 😉
There are a lot of decent quality intermediate brands of saxophones out there. It all depends on what you’re looking for. Honestly though, the way companies throw around the words “professional” and “intermediate”, it’s almost meaningless. One company’s intermediate horn, would be another company’s professional model.
The best advice I would have for you, would be to go to a store that has a large selection of horns, and try a bunch. How does each horn feel to play? Do you like the sound of it? Is it in tune? (Take a tuner with you.) Can you see obvious signs of bad craftsmanship? Those are some of the main things I look for when I try a new horn.
Another thing to consider, is a slightly used horn. Sometimes it’s possible to find a lightly used, or well maintained professional horn, for the price of a new, intermediate horn of the same brand. EG: a used YAS-62 or YTS-62 (you don’t mention if you’re looking for an alto or tenor) can sometimes be found for the price of a new YAS or YTS-475.
Whatever horns you’re trying, make sure you take your mouthpiece with you, as well as a good assortment of reeds. It’s also a good idea to take notes about each horn you play-test. Afterwards when you get home, it’s easy to get the various horns all mixed up, and the details about them jumbled together.
The main thing to remember is that buying a new horn should be fun. It shouldn’t be a sprint. Take your time. Don’t buy the first thing that comes along. Be sure you’re buying the right horn for YOU. Not the one that the sales guy is pushing, or the one some clown on an Internet site recommended. :clown:
Hi Helen,
I found a great resource in you when I stumbled into your site. I really do thank you for the time and information that you have provided. I know way more now than I did a few days ago. I have taken note of your mentions and I plan to visit a dealer in Montreal next week to see what some other altos feel like. I’ll shop around a bit with your suggestions before I go back to “the Czech with no name”. The Czech alto feels and looks like my B&S Blue Label tenor(silver keys on gold body with similar keyguards). I enjoy the B&S and maybe it is steering my towards the Czech alto. I’d appreciate your thoughts on the B&S(be honest but diplomatic). SN is 35xx and all I know is that it was made in East Germany before unification.
Thanks again for your attention.
John
The B&S saxophones have some loyal followers. Usually the silver plated ones that sell for more $ than the two-tone though. I have never played one, so I can’t speak from personal experience—although I have been tempted to pick one up from time to time.
Like most horns from former Eastern Bloc countries, B&S horns are generally not as highly regarded as those coming from the West. Access to materials and know-how was a real barrier for companies in former Soviet-occupied countries. That said, B&S blue label horns are the most respected of all of the Eastern horns, and command the most money.
There is a great story about how B&S’s baritones improved. They worked cooperatively with JK in delivering baritones to an African country’s military. In preparing for the order, JK sent workers to the B&S plant, which naturally led to a transfer of knowledge and ultimately skills for the B&S employees. After that rather large order was completed, the baris that B&S built for themselves, improved greatly in quality.
I suspect that once you go and try some other altos, there will a number of them that will appeal to you just as much, if not more, than the no-name Amati does. The good thing about alto shopping is, that there usually is a plethora of choices. If you’re open to what brand/model you might want to buy, the choices can be almost limitless—even if you’re looking for vintage.
Hello dear Helen.I’ve just seen your post regarding the comparative measurements of JK Toneking and DJ De Villiers tenors.As you would probably remember my main Tenor is a Hohner President which is now 50 yearsold .I would like to get another neck for it but I do not know which other sax would have a neck of identical measurements as the sax has a double neck receiver .I ‘ve tried Yamaha’s and others including a B& H 400 [Amati stencil] .Since you have a Hohner President Tenor would you kindly measure and compare the neck to see whether it would be similar to the D&J. BTW. I’ve up loaded four recordings of mine onto YOUTUBE.You can hear the sound of my Hohner Tenor as well as my Weltklang soprano if you listen to them .Pls. go to YOUTUBE and enter KUMAR MOLLIGODA .the songs are—DON’T IT MAKE MY BROWN EYES BLUE — ALL OF ME –THE WAY WE WERE [Tenor ] and –THIS MASQUERADE [Soprano] Thanks
Hello Kumar.
I’m looking forward to hearing your YouTube recordings. After I answer a few comments and emails—I’m really behind because of this blog chaos I’ve had—I’ll go and listen to them.
As far as the measurements of a Hohner President compared to a D&J horn go, I already have them posted on my website. (Just not on this blog.) If you go to the D&J vs JK Necks page of my site, you’ll see a chart. There I list the sizes.
The socket on my De Villiers tenor is 28.00 mm and the outside of the tenon is 27.98 mm. The President, on the other hand, has a socket of 30.08 mm, and an outside tenon measurement of 29.80 mm. When you check the chart for yourself, you’ll see that no other sax that I compared there (Selmer, Hammerschmidt, JK) is even close to the Hohner in size.
What are the socket and tenon sizes of your Hohner President?