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Evette & Schaeffer Bari

Evette & Schaeffer Bari

antique baritone sax, silver plated, red cloth, Evette & Schaeffer,

In September of 2010 I had the opportunity to purchase a very unique local horn. This Buffet-Crampon bari, that was made after Evette & Schaeffer purchased the company, is a high pitch baritone which had been owned by the same person since approximately 1945. The owner resided on Vancouver Island, and even before he purchased it, this sax appears to have been a local horn—if the shipping labels on the case are any indication.

Despite it being a high pitch horn—and it having no practical applications in today’s musical settings—the condition of this Evette & Schaeffer bari won me over, as did its connection to local history. I believed that it would be an interesting teaching aid, and make for an interesting display in my studio.

It is baritone number 75XX, which according to Mike Duchstein’s serial number chart cited on Saxpics, makes this horn circa 1886. I have written a couple of articles in my blog about how I came to find out about this sax, and about this saxophone’s history as far back as we know it.

This is an exceptionally well preserved example of a horn that is more than a century old.

Horn Specs:

  • Manufacturer: Buffet-Crampon (Evette & Schaeffer)
  • Model: Buffet didn’t have model names for their early saxophones. Pete Hales simply calls these horns “Early Buffet-Crampon Models”
  • High Pitch
  • Serial #: 75XX
  • Finish: Silver plated
  • Features (or lack thereof in this case): Keyed from low B to high Eb; no rollers; no pearls; no automatic octave key; no water key; fixed neck.

This saxophone came with a vintage Conn mouthpiece, which a first glance, looks almost identical to my vintage Geo Bundy bass saxophone mouthpiece. When you look through these photos, the Bundy mouthpiece is always the one on top.

Randy Emerick noticed a tiny roll over baffle behind the tip rail of the Geo Bundy mouthpiece. He therefore believed it would be a tad brighter perhaps, but thought that both would work on this baritone. In case some of you don’t know Randy by name, he is a professional player, vintage sax collector, repair tech, and owner of an Adolphe Sax bari that is approximately 20 years older than this horn.

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