{"id":21974,"date":"2010-10-26T10:10:29","date_gmt":"2010-10-26T17:10:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bassic-sax.info\/blog\/?p=21974"},"modified":"2024-05-13T14:48:05","modified_gmt":"2024-05-13T21:48:05","slug":"hohner-president-altos-now-theyre-popping-up-on-both-sides-of-the-pond","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bassic-sax.info\/blog\/2010\/hohner-president-altos-now-theyre-popping-up-on-both-sides-of-the-pond\/","title":{"rendered":"Hohner President Altos… Now They’re Popping Up On Both Sides Of The Pond"},"content":{"rendered":"

A few weeks ago when I bought my Hohner President alto,<\/a> I mentioned that it was the first alto that I had seen. All the other Hohner saxophones that I had come across had been tenors, and I had asked the question: Where are all the altos?<\/p>\n

Usually a company makes more alto saxophones than tenors, so I found it odd that we weren’t seeing any Hohner altos for sale. Did Hohner really make this many more tenors that the ratio is almost 6:1? That can’t be? Can it?<\/p>\n

Well this week there were 2 altos for sale on eBay. The first<\/a> was scooped up at the Buy It Now Price of \u00a3375.00, or what eBay estimates to be $589.61 US. It sold so fast that I didn’t even have a chance to write about it.<\/p>\n

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     Source: eBay.com<\/h6>\n

This alto from the UK was serial #150XX and was a late model Hohner circa 1968. It was nickel plated, had a high F# key according to the seller\u2014although it wasn’t really visible in the photos\u2014and had straight tone holes. (The Hohner Presidents no longer had rolled tone holes starting around serial #12XXX, circa 1963.)\u00b9 If you’d like to see more photos of this horn, you can find them in the Bassic Sax Pix gallery<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The 2nd alto for sale this week on eBay<\/a> is here in North America. It is a lacquered version of the President, and is pretty much the complete opposite of the one from the UK.<\/p>\n

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

     Source: eBay.com<\/h6>\n

Although the seller doesn’t provide a partial serial number for this horn, we know that it is pre 1953 because it doesn’t have rolled tone holes.<\/p>\n

Hohner used rolled tone holes on their saxophones between serial #’s 2600 – 11999, circa 1953 through 1962. This horn has a bevelled type of tone hole, which the seller incorrectly attributes to Martin.<\/p>\n

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     Source: eBay.com<\/h6>\n

The seller writes:<\/p>\n

Vintage HOHNER PRESIDENT alto saxophone. I believe it was made by Martin due to its distinctive tone holes. It has some finish wear, dings and minor dents but overall is a nice horn. It comes with a hard case (not original) and a mouthpiece.<\/p>\n

Check out the reviews on the web of the Martin stencils and the Hohner president saxes – they are a great value for the money.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

No one stencilled President saxophones. It is a Max Keilwerth Hohner, made in Germany, most likely in the early 1950s.<\/p>\n

Unlike the horn from the UK, this one doesn’t have the optional, left palm operated high F# key. Because this was an optional feature that could be requested from the factory, not all the horns had it, and so far it is unclear when this key became available. It might not have been available yet this early in the President’s production run.<\/p>\n

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

     Source: eBay.com<\/h6>\n

What is very interesting is that this sax doesn’t yet have the round thumb screw<\/a> that fastens the neck into the socket. This alto has a more traditional assembly.<\/p>\n

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

     Source: eBay.com<\/h6>\n

This is indeed a very early Hohner. I sent a note to the seller asking him what the partial serial number was, but he has so far not replied. I hope he does, but I’m not holding my breath.<\/p>\n

Although this last photo makes it appear that the sax is almost stripped of lacquer, the remainder of the photos show a horn that still has quite a lot of its original lacquer intact. Like all Hohner Presidents, this alto has a  high D# trill key. It also has a G# trill key, which was dropped as a feature of the Presidents in the mid 1950s.<\/p>\nngg_shortcode_0_placeholder\n

        Source: eBay.com<\/h6>\n

The auction for this Hohner President alto runs until November 23. The sax has a Buy It Now price of $619.00 on it, however the owner is willing to entertain offers. So far no one has made any offers on this vintage German saxophone.<\/p>\n

_____________________________________<\/p>\n

\u00b9 Serial number chart with corresponding trademark and tone hole features from Saxpics<\/a>.<\/h6>\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><\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A few weeks ago when I bought my Hohner President alto, I mentioned that it was the first alto that I had seen. All the …<\/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":[299],"tags":[625,660,151,675,673,646,644,643,31,136],"class_list":["post-21974","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hohner-president","tag-alto-saxophone","tag-ebay","tag-german-saxophones","tag-hohner-president","tag-max-keilwerth","tag-on-line-resources","tag-photos","tag-vintage-horns","tag-vintage-sax","tag-vintage-sax-resources"],"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