{"id":48806,"date":"2019-11-04T11:33:51","date_gmt":"2019-11-04T19:33:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bassic-sax.info\/blog\/?p=48806"},"modified":"2024-06-26T10:46:21","modified_gmt":"2024-06-26T17:46:21","slug":"finally-photos-of-2-very-different-max-keilwerth-altos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bassic-sax.info\/blog\/2019\/finally-photos-of-2-very-different-max-keilwerth-altos\/","title":{"rendered":"Finally: Photos of 2 very different Max Keilwerth altos"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you have an affinity for Max Keilwerth saxophones, there is a good chance you have stumbled upon my previous articles about the Globemaster Luxus alto that ended up at my tech’s shop last year. I wrote a couple of articles ( 1<\/a> & 2<\/a>) describing it and its tuning issues. <\/p>\n

If you haven’t seen the articles before, or forgot their details\u2014and are looking for a Max Keilwerth Pure Tone Trade Mark saxophone to call your very own\u2014I would strongly encourage you to read them. Why? Because the Globemaster Luxus alto taught us that without a doubt not all Pure Tone Trademark horns can be used in modern bands. <\/p>\n

Last spring I took some photos of my Hohner President directly beside the Globemaster Luxus to get an idea exactly how much of a difference in size there was visually. David had already measured the Globemaster and found it to be approx. 2.5 cm (1″) shorter than a LP alto saxophone.<\/p>\n

Different but similar?<\/h3>\n

However, a number of people (including techs) had handled the horn, yet no one previously here in North America realized that the Globemaster was a HP horn. I can only presume that they all did what we did: viewed and handled it in isolation. <\/p>\n

As the following photos indicate these horns are incredibly similar in proportions and layout to a LP alto, which is why even an experienced person can mistake the HP Globemaster for a LP sax. If the person selling it doesn’t know anything about saxophones, or doesn’t have a LP alto to compare it to, there is a a very good chance it would be mistaken for something that it is not. <\/p>\n

2 very different Max Keilwerth altos<\/h3>\n

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

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

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

Altos come in a variety of sizes and layouts. The Hohner alto is quite a small<\/em> horn compared to other altos I own. The key placement is very compact, and anyone with long or fat fingers may find the President challenging to play say compared to a Selmer, or even a JK Toneking.<\/p>\n

When you see these two altos side by side, it is easy to see why when play-testing it you wouldn’t necessarily notice that anything was off. You could easily go looking for a mechanical problem for its intonation issues. <\/p>\n

So what is the take away from all of this?<\/h3>\n

Until this Globemaster Luxus came along, I was very keen to find a Max Keilwerth Pure Tone tenor sax of some stripe. Now however, my passion for MK’s horns has cooled somewhat.<\/p>\n

This Globemaster Luxus is likely not a one-off, so other HP Pure Tone Trade Mark horns are quite possibly floating around out there and will eventually find new homes with unsuspecting owners. Timothy had no idea when he got his horn that it was a HP sax. The seller either 1. Didn’t know, or 2. Didn’t disclose that fact. <\/p>\n

Although a stunningly beautiful vintage saxophone, in the end this absolutely useless horn will have cost its new owner north of 2K in initial purchase, shipping, and [attempted] repair costs. Let’s let that sink in for a minute. <\/p>\n

This is not a reflection on the new owner, this is just a reality of the risks one takes when buying any vintage sax online. I too have bought horns online that were not what I thought they would be. This is why I personally won’t buy anything online anymore unless it comes from a vintage sax dealer I know and trust.<\/p>\n

There is an element of risk whenever we buy something we can’t hold in our hands first. Each of us has to weigh that risk against what we can financially afford to potentially lose. If the potential benefits outweigh the potential risks then by all means jump right in.<\/p>\n

However, know what you’re getting yourself into. Be an educated consumer.<\/p>\n

My hope is that this article goes a little ways in allowing you to become a bit more of an educated consumer when it comes to a specific brand of vintage European saxophones. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you have an affinity for Max Keilwerth saxophones, there is a good chance you have stumbled upon my previous articles about the Globemaster Luxus …<\/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":[298],"tags":[625,151,673,633,644,689,218,198,643,31],"class_list":["post-48806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-max-keilwerth","tag-alto-saxophone","tag-german-saxophones","tag-max-keilwerth","tag-musings","tag-photos","tag-pure-tone-trade-mark","tag-stencil-horn","tag-stencil-saxophone","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