Jim, AKA Gandalfe, asked Gilberto from J’Elle Stainer, if they did the modifications on the Buescher bass currently for sale in Seattle. This was his reply:
Hi Gandalfe,
How are you ? Regarding the Buescher with Low G sold in the USA I don’t think it was made by J’Elle Stainer.
Stainer modifications are unique with CONICAL extensions. The majority of the craftsman who add low notes to baris and bass sax just put a piece of tube between the curve and the bell changing the sound of the instrument.
We have the bell cut and enlarged to maintain the conicality.
In my opinion, anyone who wishes to go to low G in a bass sax should go for a compact contrabass.
Best,
Gilberto
Well I guess that answers the question if J’Elle Stainer did the modifications. So I guess we’ll likely never know who turned the Buescher from something that looked like this:
Into something that looked like this:
If you haven’t already checked out the discussion on the Woodwind Forum regarding this horn, you should see what others are saying about this beastie.
I have decided not to buy the horn, so it is currently still available. So if owning your own bass saxophone that plays to low G appeals to you, go to Matt’s eBay store, and you can reach him there. It is a very nice horn for the right person. I hope it finds a good home!
If you happen to stumble across this blog entry, and you know anything about who did the modifications on this horn in particular, or know who besides the J’Elle Stainer Company does modifications of this nature, please leave a comment and let us know. Or if you prefer, you can also contact me privately. Thanks!
Right now my 1919 Buescher is in the hands of Lance Burton of Martin Mods to work his magic (pun intended — I have refrained from making any jokes to him directly, I’m sure he’d just :bang: ), but we also discussed baris. I like the Dolnet, but it has two major problems — well, three if you count the dent in the neck — whach are the “pinky buster” LH table (and non-articulated C#), and that all the bell notes are sharp. I knew he could fix the first, I didn’t know if he could fix the second. He mentioned that he has been converting low-Bb baris to low-A for a while, and as of a couple weeks ago, he had FOUR in his shop for that purpose. He uses a conical segment, though the cone angle is not necessarily as wide as the rest of the horn. I don’t need a conversion, I just need the bell notes that are already there to play in tune and to fix that awful cluster.
Now you have another suspect, though if he did it I think he would brag about it. I certainly would.