I’ve written quite extensively about the vintage Hammerschmidt saxophones that were sold under the brand name Klingsor. Although it is a known fact Hammerschmidt stopped manufacturing their own saxophones around 1982, over the past few years a brand of Hammerschmidt saxophone has again appeared for sale.
The Klingson is available through the Hammerschmidt website, in both alto and tenor models. When I checked out their website this morning though, I found all that they show is a photo of a couple of saxophones. However, the Hammerschmidt retail store website provides a brief description of the Klingson. (And I do mean brief!)
Ever since these Klingson saxophones have been on my radar screen, I have speculated that they were Asian-made, student model horns. Furthermore, their prices have not gone up since I first checked out the online store a couple of years ago.
An alto Klingson costs €750.00, while a tenor will set you back €840.00. (That’s $989.70 and $1,108.60 US respectively, according to xe.com.) Hardly the price of professional model saxophones, and certainly not the price of European-made horns either.
Sadly, I’ve never seen any user-taken photos of a Klingson saxophone before—that is until this morning. On the German eBay site I noticed an auction for a Klingson alto saxophone that a music store is selling.
Like most German eBay ads, the photos are small, but at least we can see enough to make out that it is a Selmer knock-off.
Source: ars musica münchen
The music store describes the horn like this:
Sie bieten auf ein Altsaxophon der Marke Hammerschmidt/Klingson. Ein seltenes und sehr gut erhaltenes Altsaxophon. Das Instrument ist ein einem einwandreien spieltechnischen Zustand und leicht anzuspielen. Ein paar Gebrauchspuren auf der Oberfläche sind zu sehen (siehe Fotos). Die Seriennummer ist 98173. Dazu gehört ein Luxuskoffer.
Helen’s translation services says… 😉
You are bidding on an alto saxophone by Hammerschmidt with name Klingson. A rare and very well maintained alto saxophone. The instrument is in excellent playing condition, with very little usage. A couple of surface wear marks are visible (see photos). The serial number is 98173. It comes with a luxury case.
I don’t know how easy it really is to make out the minute details in these small photos shot with a flash. None the less, at least we can make out how the bell engraving is now done. It is not nearly as nice as it used to be. Laser engraving just looks cheap IMO.
Source: ars musica münchen
Source: ars musica münchen
On this next photo you can really see the Selmer-style key work and key guards.
Source: ars musica münchen
Source: ars musica münchen
I’m not sure how successful the music store in Munich is going to be in their sale of this Klingson alto saxophone. The auction for the Asian stencil horn, made for Hammerschmidt, runs until March 15. The Buy It Now price is €680.00. (Remember what I wrote above about new altos being available for only €70.00 more.) However, they are open to offers. At the time of writing there were no offers yet.
Update: “Dieses Angebot wurde vom Verkäufer beendet, da der Artikel nicht mehr verfügbar ist.”
Translated means: The seller pulled the auction because the sax was no longer available.