Since picking up my Zephyr from Sarge at World Wide Sax a week ago, I have been blown away by this horn’s versatility. It is absolutely a killer sax.
Besides being perhaps the most incredibly versatile of my all my saxes with regards to what it can do tone-wise, I am stunned by the accuracy of its intonation, and the incredible ease with which it plays. I find there is hardly any resistance at all, and the altissimo notes just pop out without me even thinking about them. The ergos, including the left pinkie table, are all intuitive for me. Within 5 minutes of playing the sax for the first time, it was as if I had been playing it for the last 20 years. There is no doubt about it: This 307XXX (1950) tenor was meant to be my horn.
The best way to describe this sax is probably to say that it really seems to be the perfect blend of all the best qualities of my primary tenors combined. It has a tonal depth & breadth similar to my Martin Handcraft; the lack of resistance reminiscent of my 10M; as well as ergos that make it easy for me to play as fast as I want/need to over the full range of the horn, just like my Mark VI.
The Zephyr seems to be equally happy playing jazz as is does doing raunchy rock ‘n roll with a nasty attitude. I love the rich & lush tone that it can offer up, as well as its subtone.
However, since I don’t really play in acoustic environments very much (read: at all), the test came on Wednesday night when the Zephyr had to go up against the electric guitar sounds of Deception’s front man, Art Panchishin. Art and I spent equal amounts of time soloing, and a fair amount of the time duelling with each other on stage, much like 2 guitars might in other bands.
Well the Zephyr had no problem cutting through, and coming out over top of the guitar when it needed to. The sound was also different enough (compared to my Mark VI with its Master Piece neck and metal resos) that even our bass player noticed that my sax sound was different from the week before.
This is the sound I’ve been chasing for years, and I can easily see the Zeph now becoming my primary tenor. While I won’t be selling my Mark VI, it will most likely be relegated to the role of back up sax… Something I would not have thought possible a few short weeks ago.
While she might not be the prettiest Zephyr out there, the natural lacquer loss due to nearly 6 decades of pro playing, definitely has added a great deal of resonance to the horn’s sound.
Photos by H. Kahlke © 2009
This is the kind of sax that really proves the point that vintage horns, when properly looked after throughout their lifetimes, can be played professionally for decades. I wonder if in the future we will be able to say that about the current crop of horns coming from the East?
These old timers have stood the test of time. They are a testament to an era when quality and handmade craftsmanship were not just advertising buzzwords, but actually still meant something.
Edmonton you say? Well that’s an interesting coincidence. That’s not too far away from here (compared to say Toronto or New York). Funny that of all the places it could get sold to, it would be Canada.
Have you been following the discussion about the new C soprano by International Woodwind & Eppelsheim? I would guess they’re being talked about on SOTW, but I just know about the horns through the Woodwind Forum. I thought that the fellow, I forgot his name, who is behind the Aquilasax was also thinking about producing a new C soprano. I guess this joint project beat him out of the starting gate… If he is even still thinking of making one. I’m just not seeing the demand for this particular voice of horn… But heh, I admit, I’m not a soprano fan at the best of times, so yet another pitch of the horn makes my head hurt. 😈
Check out Gandalfe’s post of December 18 @ 8:31 AM on the Woodwind Forum thread I linked to. It seems all pre-order instruments are sold.
We are indeed discussing the Eppie C sop on SOTW.
http://www.saxontheweb.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=127349
I believe Steve has been running the C sop prototyping for over a year, just very stealthily. A couple months ago I received an e-mail from him asking if I would be interested in an early run keyed to high Eb — which I declined, I would not be interested unless it’s keyed to at least F and preferably F#. My Bb soprano is keyed to G, why should I lose range on BOTH ends of the horn?
I would still buy a horn from Steve, just not Version 1.0. I hate to say this, but I don’t think he’s a good enough player to tell when the design is ready for prime time. The C-mel had design flaws that never should have made it into production, and they had some severe neck issues in early runs. Even now, they still have neck issues. I got mine swapped out, and the replacement was a lot better but still far from perfect.
Now if only I knew when the Buescher is coming back from Martin Mods. I’m going into C-mel withdrawal, and the Holton is going to be a serious project.
On other fronts, I put in lowball bids on two different French horns… and won them both. I have no idea what I’m going to do with two of those. One of them is a former wall ornament, so at the least I’ll patch the screw holes and get it playing again before I decide what to do with it next.
Naturally worn patina, great sounding horn, good ergos, and versatil to boot. What’s not to like? I’m happy to hear you two found each other. :o)
Thanks Jim. Steve is such a nice guy. He was showing me some of his personal collection the other day that he has in cases. They are just amazing.
We were discussing the quality of the engraving and craftsmanship that went into these vintage horns. It is seriously questionable whether anyone is paying such attention to detail anymore. I personally doubt it. 🙁
Sure there are people still paying attention to detail. It’s just that they either do aftermarket work, or make boutique mouthpieces. The factories couldn’t pay them enough — well maybe Selmer could, and I bet Yanagisawa keeps a few such people around, but certainly you’re not normally going to find elaborate hand engraving on a sub-$1,000 horn.
For example, the phoenix engraving on my Aquilasax is very pretty, but it’s also very snaggly. When I try to use a polishing cloth, it gets caught on the burrs raised by the engraving.
Sometimes if you want it done right, you gotta vintify yourself! I just did a “rose gold” (actually copper) bell wash on the nickel Aquilasax, to try to get a more vintage look without damaging the finish. (This will actually come off with polishing compound.)
Is the engraving on the Aquilasax actually done by hand? I guess it would be if it’s snaggly. I was thinking that they would be laser engraved.
Interesting wash treatment on the inside of the bell. It’s quite pretty actually. What did you use?
The “Presence” engraving was done by laser, and the Aquilasax logo was stamped, but the phoenix was done by hand (and very nicely, I must say). I used a brush plating kit from Caswell to do the copper wash, but it proved to be quite easily damaged — a mere fingerprint would lead to the loss of all the color. I ended up reversing all copper plating before I sold the horn (all it requires is to hook up the adapter backward, and the wand takes the plating OFF instead of putting it ON).
Oh yeah, the Aquilasax has been sold. I really wanted to like it, but I never did. It was shipped out to Edmonton on Monday. I took a $250 loss on it, but that’s the price I have to pay for not listening when told that it sounds like a Conn (because it was modeled off of one). I do not like the sound of Conn C-mels, and the Aquilasax sounded exactly the same. It FELT better, to be sure, but the sound and intonation were both better left in 1926.
I think it’s quite pretty in that “postmodern” way — it just screams “I’ve been played a lot, therefore I am good!”
Might this slow down your horn G.A.S. a little bit? I know mine did when I hit on the perfect C-mel — to the point that I wish I’d never bought the Aquilasax. It’s not that it sucks (because it doesn’t), it’s just not an improvement over a mechanically modernized vintage horn.
Of course, most people don’t even realize a total redesign of the keywork is even an option. Even if they did, they’d balk at the price (though they’d willingly pay the same for a new horn).
Me? G.A.S.? I don’t have that… Whatca’ talkin’ about?
I know, I know… Denial isn’t healthy: