I’ve been a member of SOTW since nearly the beginning. I joined the world’s largest saxophone around 1998 or ’99. It was in 2000 that I bought my 1922 Buescher bass, #80XX from Paul Coats, through an ad that he placed on SOTW.
Over the years I have literally read thousands of threads, and tens of thousands of replies on SOTW. However, this morning I read the best thread ever, on this enormous forum.
SOTW’s resident Saxophone Whisperer, and Distinguished Saxophone Technician, Graysax, managed to pick up a beater bass sax that he had been eyeballing for years at his local scrap metal dealer. Until a month ago the scrap metal yard had refused to sell said bass. Apparently persistence pays off however, because on August 31 Graysax started a thread titled: Just Scored a Buescher Bass at ….. The Scrap Metal Yard!!
This is was his first post:
Yup you read correctly.
I have been hunting this sax for 4 years and finally the owner (the scrap yard) let it go. It has been hanging on the wall in a scrap yard building. It needs ALOT of work – but I bought it “right” (please don’t ask what I paid – lets just leave it at I didn’t steal it for $30, but it was bought well with in my budget to fix it up for myself.) I am just happy the neck was there and without any damage!
This is what the what the left side looked like, and here’s the damage around the water key. The horn was also missing the lever for its right side, Bb key, so Graysax had to make one of those.
Over the next 3 weeks Graysax updated this thread regularly, and kept members informed on the restoration progress. To say he was a man obsessed would not be an overstatement, because on September 20 Graysax posted the photos of the finished sax. The horn had even received a coat of protective lacquer. (It had been bare brass.)
If you want to see all the photos showing the damage, and the restoration in progress, make sure you check out the series of photos from Graysax’s facebook album.
This story of the rebirth of a once proud Buescher bass, that had been left for dead hanging on the wall in a scrap yard, gives me hope. It is a story of perseverance, dedication, and commitment to preserve a piece of saxophone history. It shows what can be done when a person has the desire, skills, and patience to ensure that not all neglected behemoths of the vintage saxophone world end up being tossed out like last week’s trash, recycled, or simply forgotten about.
As my signature on SOTW has said for years:
One day the bass saxophone will make a comeback, and rule the earth 😆
