Now here is something you don’t see very often: a vintage Rampone & Cazzani tenor saxophone.
Source: eBay.com
The seller describes the tenor like this:
Vintage Rampone and Cazzani B flat Tenor Made in Milano Italy known for their hand made horns this was made approximately 100 years ago serial #4427. The horn has a nice nickel finish with nickel keys you can see from the picture it is in excellent condition for it’s age all the keys seem to work. It does need new pads and will probable require some work to be fully operational. I do not know much about saxophones and do not play so you will have to consult someone with more knowledge than me for how these horns play. I picked it up this vintage horn for fun to learn to play and never did so it’s just sitting around and needs a new home and someone who will play it. I believe with some work you could have a very nice vintage horn. You can get more info about these horns at the Rampone and Cazzani web site I believe they are very helpful in answering questions. I would not recommend this horn for a student school band due to it’s age. Horn is being sold as is with no refunds also due to it’s age. It also comes with the vintage wood case thats ruff and old. I also included the mouth piece I got with the horn. Good luck bidding also the actual size of the horn and bell looks slightly distorted due to the downward angle of the pictures. Thank you
Source: eBay.com
Source: eBay.com
Source: eBay.com
Source: eBay.com
I don’t know how accurate the seller is with the sax being 100 years old, since there doesn’t seem to be a serial number chart anywhere for these horns. Perhaps he’s been in touch with the company.
What the seller doesn’t mention, perhaps because he/she doesn’t know, is that the sax only goes down to low B. That was actually quite common, and we saw the other big Italian saxophone company, Orsi, do that as well.
As a matter of fact, Orsi continued production of low B, student model horns past the mid-20th century. (Check out my post about a vintage Orsi catalogue, if you’re interested in seeing some of these instruments.)
The auction for this vintage Rampone & Cazzani tenor saxophone runs until July 4. The starting bid is $450.00. The Buy It Now price is $700.00. At the time of writing there were no bids on the sax.
Old post i know – but I thought i would share a Little info.
I own af rampone and cazzani tenor sax serial 8401 – and according to the Company it about 75-80 years old – so this horn could very well be15-20 years older and therefor about 100 years old.
Hello Michael.
Welcome to my website.
Interesting. Thank you for that information. Does your tenor also have double octave keys? Or does it already have an automatic one?
When I originally saw this particular tenor on eBay, I was surprised by its condition. Although the seller stated it needed some work, most 100 year old horns are in much worse shape. This one was quite remarkable. Even the finish showed very little signs of wear.
Thanks again for dropping by…helen
I am now the owner of this horn, and although I will be setting it up and fooling around with it, I’m hoping that I can confirm the work done on uncovering the production date of this horn and then preserve it.
If anyone here happened to care.
A little sound test would be nice. I assume it either plays, or can be rendered playable. It looks like it is is absolutely astonishing condition.
A short list of what mouthpieces it does and does not like would be interesting as well.
Hi Jon. Welcome to my site!
Thank you for dropping by. I’m always very pleased when the owner of one of the instruments I mention gets in touch with me either via the comments or via email.
Have you tried getting in touch with Rampone & Cazzani yet? If you haven’t, I have the name of a contact person there who has been very helpful when I’ve looked for information. Let me know. I can email you his contact info.
In any event, please keep us in the loop how things are going with this vintage beauty.
Feel free to upload some other photos if you like too.
Thanks again for stopping by.
Regards,
Helen
Update: This horn is back on eBay. The bids start at $400.00 and the Buy It Now price is $650.00. The auction ends on September 2. At the time of writing there were no bids yet on this old-timer.
Update: This horn did not sell. The auction ended with 0 bids on the horn… Which is actually kinda’ strange, because when I checked in on the auction at one point, there was 1 bid on the horn, and it was at the minimum of $450.00. :scratch:
I think it would make a great collector’s horn. I think if a person were playing music from the period, it would be ideal for an “authentic” sound. (With an appropriate mouthpiece of course.)
The double octave key arrangement makes me think the horn really is that old — the current arrangement of one octave key automagically switched by LH3 became the norm somewhere around 1910-1915. The lack of an articulated G# also tends to support this, along with the single pad for B (no 1+1 Bb, no bis key either) as these also fell out of favor during the same general time period.
“Features” like these (and the lack of low Bb) make me file this one under “antique” rather than “vintage”. A front F can be retrofitted onto just about anything so that’s not exactly a deal breaker when looking at vintage horns. Other bits of evolution over time include the elimination of the fork-Eb (aka the “bastard key”), linking G# to the other pinky keys, moving the LH pinky key axles to the center, articulated low C#, and high F#. I personally draw the line between “vintage” and “modern” by the location of the LH pinky key axles. If it’s on the inside, as it is on the Mark VI, it’s modern. If it’s on the outside, as it was with American horns for many years after the Mark VI, it’s vintage. This does cause the 1970’s Buescher Aristocrat/Bundy [I] to fall in the “vintage” category, while many modern horns like the Mark VI were already on the market, but antique/vintage/modern was never really about date anyhow. It’s about design.
Anyhow, this Rampone looks like a nice show piece since it looks to be in excellent condition, and might be appropriate for pieces from those early days of saxophone. It looks like a narrow horn, much more like a C-melody than like the tenors to come later. I would not be at all surprised if it sounds a lot like my current favorite setup (a vintage C-mel with a tenor mouthpiece). I’d love to play it — once or twice. I don’t imagine I’d make a habit of it.