{"id":2130,"date":"2008-10-10T11:41:15","date_gmt":"2008-10-10T18:41:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bassic-sax.info\/blog\/?p=2130"},"modified":"2009-08-08T14:31:04","modified_gmt":"2009-08-08T21:31:04","slug":"holton-bass-for-sale-on-ebay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bassic-sax.info\/blog\/2008\/holton-bass-for-sale-on-ebay\/","title":{"rendered":"Holton Bass For Sale On eBay"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>I happened to be perusing through eBay ads last pm looking at saxophones, and I came across this rather unusual bass saxophone<\/a> offered for auction by Saxquest<\/a>. Saxquest describes the horn as:<\/p>\n

“Here’s a unique find – this is an old vintage Holton bass saxophone, serial number 13734, that has been completely restored in a different look. This body of this horn has been black lacquered, with the bell and keywork stripped and given a clear coat of lacquer, giving the instrument as a whole a very cool look.<\/em><\/p>\n

Physically the sax is in great shape despite its age. It has a few minor dings, one small dent near the bottom of the bell, but nothing major and definitely nothing that affects the way the horn plays. It has all new pads, with large metal domed resonators, and is sealing great. We recently went through the instrument to make sure it was playing fine and it is in awesome shape mechanically.<\/em><\/p>\n

For a sax player there is definitely something satisfying about playing a good powerful bass. This instrument has a great response in the lower register and really plays with authority. Solid tone up and down the range of the instrument. This is a great sax that should go for a good price. It does ship in a custom-made wood shell case.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Now there are some very strange and mysterious things about this\u00a0horn, and thus it instantly peaked my curiosity, since it combined by love of vintage and bass saxophones, with my love of mysteries.\u00a0<\/p>\n

One of the first things that\u00a0is obvious, is\u00a0that the neck\u00a0looks strange. It is not the shape of a\u00a0typical bass saxophone\u00a0neck.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Source: eBay.com<\/h6>\n

Not only is the shape different than a regular bass neck,\u00a0but the fact that it has a\u00a0brace,\u00a0is different as well.\u00a0The whole\u00a0neck looks aftermarket. But the question is: Who made it?<\/p>\n

The horn itself is no less of a mystery than the neck. Saxquest says that the horn has been “black lacquered”. Now I admit that I’m not an expert on the lacquering process, but I’ve been playing for more than 25 years, and have literally seen thousands of horns in person. I have never seen a lacquer job that looks like this…<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Source: eBay.com\u00a0<\/h6>\n

This\u00a0orange peel texture\u00a0really looks more like an enamel paint finish than a\u00a0lacquer job. The finish also appears too thick to be lacquer.\u00a0\u00a0Further evidence of this is is apparent when you look at the other photos.<\/p>\n

Then another question that begs an answer is: Who made it? The horn does not have the French wrap, but rather\u00a0the American design, so Conn or Buescher are the most likely suspects.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Source: eBay.com<\/h6>\n

The left hand pinky cluster shows a pearl G# key which could be either Buescher or Conn.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Source: eBay.com\u00a0<\/h6>\n

The octave key lever doesn’t look like a Buescher’s. BTW, note the black “lacquer” on the\u00a0thumb rest.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Source: eBay.com\u00a0<\/h6>\n

The Mercedes-style low C style keyguard is classic Conn.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Source: eBay.com<\/h6>\n

I don’t know\u00a0if this spit valve is original, but\u00a0I strongly suspect that it was added later. It looks identical to the one that was added by Paul Woltz to Jim\u00a0Glass’s 1921 Buescher bass.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Source: eBay.com\u00a0<\/h6>\n

The left hand palm keys are a rather odd design. I am curious how comfortable they would be.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Source: eBay.com<\/h6>\n

The engraving on the horn\u00a0is still\u00a0crisp.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Source: eBay.com\u00a0<\/h6>\n

All in all, it’s a very pretty horn.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Source: eBay.com<\/h6>\n

Because my curiosity was peaked, I figured it would have attracted the attention\u00a0of others as well.\u00a0I checked out all the usual places where bass sax players might have mentioned the horn, and I found a thread on SOTW<\/a>. The players there were as\u00a0conflicted as I was. Although one player\u00a0who\u00a0replied does have a Holton bass that is a Conn stencil, and says his horn has the same keywork as this one does.<\/p>\n

I remember a\u00a0couple of\u00a0years ago Gayle at Vintage Sax.com<\/a>\u00a0had a bass that had the same kind of finish: black body\u00a0and lacquer keys & bell. It too was a stencil horn, but I’m not 100% sure it was a Holton. I’m wondering if this isn’t the same horn though. It seems rather coincidental that 2 bass saxophones, both stencil horns, end up\u00a0refinished black and gold.<\/p>\n

Anyways, this is an interesting saxophone. There are lots of questions about its pedigree, and aftermarket “whats its”. But whoever ends up buying it will certainly stand out in the crowd though, even more so than\u00a0he or she would if they were playing just a regular, everyday vintage bass.<\/p>\n

\n
…this is just my blog<\/em>. <\/span> My \u201creal\u201d <\/b> website is<\/span> www.bassic-sax.info.<\/a> If you\u2019re looking for <\/span> sax info<\/strong>,<\/span> you should check it out too.<\/span>There\u2019s lots<\/em> there! <\/span>\n<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

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I happened to be perusing through eBay ads last pm looking at saxophones, and I came across this rather unusual bass saxophone offered for auction …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[6],"tags":[150,619,640,638,658,646,644,141,643,31],"class_list":["post-2130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bass-saxophone","tag-american-saxophones","tag-bass-saxophone","tag-buescher","tag-conn","tag-holton","tag-on-line-resources","tag-photos","tag-sax-on-the-web","tag-vintage-horns","tag-vintage-sax"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t