I happened to come across this Hammerschmidt-stencilled Genton on eBay. The eBay dealer had it in his store for close to a year before it finally sold. I found his description of the sax quite interesting. Since I don’t have my alto restored, I can’t comment on the accuracy of the tonal description of the horn. Nonetheless, this is a colourful insight into a Hammerschmidt alto sax:
Hammerschmidt, Germany Professional Alto Saxophone, Rolled Tone Holes, REAL Pearl Buttons, Inlaid Pearl or Shell G# key, Bell Engraved with Genton, Overhauled by the Selmer Authorized Dealer, Superb Playing Condition, s/n 06xx. This is one of the best values in professional saxophones today; the relatively unknown Hammerschmidt, Germany saxophones are almost a combination of Kohlert and Keilwerth properties. If you have never played a Hammerschmidt, this horn will change your mind, about saxophones…
This horn has the dark tone of the Kohlerts, and the fliud playability that is associated with Keilwerths. Kohlert often used a ‘flame’ design on the neck of their horns, and the octave key on this horn resembles that Kohlert ’57’s and Winnenden’s. The horn has a vintage patina, and it is a bebop monster!
Update for 6/27/08! Today I playtested this horn with a Brilhart Tonalin 3 and a La Voz Medium reed, and this set-up will take you to BeBop Nirvana! The Brilhart mouthpiece and the La Voz reed produce a HUGE sound, and the tone is totally 1950s…
Source: eBay.com
**Please Note**
Because the of the size of the various vintage saxophone galleries on my site—and the lack of their searchability—I have created a separate area of my site called Bassic Sax Pix. Bassic Sax Pix allows you to find what you’re looking for quickly and easily. I have therefore stopped updating the individual Hammerschmidt and Hammerschmidt Stencil galleries here, and have copied all of the information already contained in these galleries over to the Hammerschmidt galleries at Bassic Sax Pix.
New Hammerschmidt and Hammerschmidt stencil horn images continue to be added regularly to the galleries at Bassic Sax Pix. If you are looking for photos of Hammerschmidt stencil horns, I recommend you jump to the bigger, and more searchable galleries. Fear not however, I will continue to add more stencil names to this list as I find them. They will just link to the new galleries.
