Questions
If you’ve got a saxophone question, and 1. You’ve either had no luck researching the answer yourself, 2. The answers you’ve gotten make no sense to you, or 3. You’re not even sure where to ask it, you can ask it on this page via a comment.
If I don’t know the answer to your question, I’ll do my best to research it, and get as much information as I can for you.
Photo by M. Margison. Photo effects by H. Kahlke ©2008
Suggestions
Also, if you have any suggestions for future blog posts, I would love to hear them. Feel free to post your ideas here, or use the Contact page to send me note with your idea.
Perhaps you have a vintage horn with an interesting history that you’d like to tell people about. I’m always open to having you tell your horn’s story on my website. Just get in touch with me, and we’ll figure out the details.
Photo & photo effects by H. Kahlke © 2009
I have a Selmer Paris baritone saxophone with low A, no scroll work, and the serial number: 294192
It is not stamped anywhere if it is a Mark VI, or Mark VII, or any other model. Is this a VI or VII or?
The Mark VII horns that I have seen were clearly stamped–albeit in unusual ways. So if it is not stamped with Mark VI or Mark 7, then go with it’s a VI, since so few VIIs were made compared to VIs.
Here are a few our gallery that should help you ID what your horn is: https://bassic-sax.info/pix/index.php?/category/12895/startcat-6#content
Hello! I have a Master Arts alto saxophone from the 1930s. Is that rare and worth anything?
I would need to see some photos of it in order to know what it is.
Please see this page to see what kinds of photos allow me to assist you best.
Hi Helen
I recently owned a 1930 Buescher True Tone bass saxophone and I have a question about this instrument: What is the purpose of this little mother-of-pearl key above the B? Does it have a function or is it purely aesthetic? I did not find any information..
thank you for your reply !
Hey there Laurent, thanks for that question. That is a good one.
A couple of things, your key has a MOP touch on it, mine did not. I am trying to figure out exactly when Buescher changed from plain metal to a MOP on that button. After carefully looking through all the TT bass photos in Bassic Sax Pix, I must say I am not at all any wiser. This extra MOP seems to be unrelatd to finish and/or age. At first I thought it was something that was added aftermarket–say during an overhaul–but yours appears to look the same as the MOP on your left hand key touches. Strange.
As for what its purpose is, that is a very good question. In the 20 years I owned my Buescher I never figured it out. It served no practical purpose that I could determine. However, you now have my curiosity peaked. I am going to check it with the bass sax players in the group I belong to, and see if anyone there knows for certain. I will report back with whatever I find out.
What can this key be used for?
Thanks Helen . I hope that a BUESCHER bass saxophone enthusiast will have the answer !
Hi Laurent, sorry it took so long to post an answer. I asked on the Bass Group I belong to, and a well-known tech replied with the following:
I am looking to sell my Lafluer tenor saxophone #170947. How much should I ask for it ?
I couldn’t begin to tell you. You don’t mention the model, and I know about the condition. Please see this page on my site to see how to determine the best way to figure out the best way to determine your horn’s value.
Hi Helen,
I have a Richard Keilwerth alto with the engraving ges.gesch.. on the bell. Do you know if this engraving can only be used for German made instruments? The serial number on the tenon is 15xx. The keywork design has a lot of Julius Keilwerth elements.
Hi quick question, how would i go about getting more info about a sax i own, only things i know about it is my mum got it second hand when it was purchased and then passed to me, it has made in GDR engraved on it and has some numbers 36907.
ive searched the internet far and wide and have come up with nothing so would love any help you can give.
Thanks.
Send me photos at: [email protected]
Check out this page on my website for some info on what photos are the most helpful.
I’ve got a Selmer London alto sax with the Pennsylvania engraving on it I want to find out where I can sell it and for how much
I am looking for the year and value of a Pierret Alto Competition.
I suspect that it is not really old (1970?) Because there are differences with the one I find on various forums. The one I want to buy does not have the usual address 207 Boulevard Voltaire in the engraving. Also the low C guard is different attached to the bow. The thumb rest is black (plastic?)
The serial number would be 52249. Thanks for watching this.
Marc
I am looking for a mouthpiece for original Saxette
I have a C.Jeuffroy Concerto Model Alto sax serial 3835. It was willed to me almost 50 years ago. I did play it for about12 years, I had it refurbished professionally back then but since then it has sat in an extremely sad excuse for a case ever since. I just pulled it out and was wondering if it’s worth restoring and if so what it might be worth these days.
Thanks
I just came across an old contract i have with Ward Music Ltd. It was for a clarinet. It was a guaranteed buy back certificate. Do you still honour it?
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
You do realize that this is NOT a Ward Music website, right? Ward Music went the way of the dodo bird more than a decade ago when it was sold to Long & McQuade. L&M then closed the Hastings location when they opened their flagship store on 1st & Terminal.
So my answer to you would be no, there is likely no one left that would still honour it. 😉
If Lord & McQuade bought Ward (not just the assets of Ward but the stock of Ward), they took over Ward’s liabilities. The closing of the location where the clarinet was originally bought would be irrelevant. Having said that you’d still have to convince L & M to honor the original purchase contract. It’s worth a shot.
To that I say: Good luck with that. 😉
The only way I could see them buying it back if it were something valuable like a Buffet or a Selmer (and then again only depending on model), and if the contract stipulated that the buy-back price was the same as the purchase price. This would allow them to sell it–depending on condition of course–for a hefty profit perhaps.
Hi Helen, I think Stephen now just takes on work that he feels will be interesting and the Pierret is not interesting enough to undergo the hassle of having to take it apart every time you change one key.
When I do get round to taking it apart I will let you know how I get on.
Best regards
Sue
Yes, please do. If you have never tried working on a sax before yourself, I’d suggest you get yourself a cheap student horn to practice on first. The Pierret will be quite a handful. 😉
Hello,
I bought a really strange branded Tenor-Saxophon and I hope you may have some informations about it.
The branding says “Weltklang” and it’s made in GDR. So far so good BUT the bell has a nice engraving with “CONDOR” on it. No Weltklang model is called Condor as far as I know.. Also the entire color of the saxophon is something that Weltklang actually hasn’t done.
I attached a pictures and If you need more I can send you as much as you want.
Also here you can find more pictures of it
https://www.directupload.net/file/d/5748/fbeu2ifd_jpg.htm
https://www.directupload.net/file/d/5748/a8nrjwb2_jpg.htm
https://www.directupload.net/file/d/5748/ushitlxp_jpg.htm
https://www.directupload.net/file/d/5748/9ongdesz_jpg.htm
https://www.directupload.net/file/d/5748/ipmgurjd_jpg.htm
So do you have any informations about it?
Hi Willy.
Yes please, do send me more photos of it. Use my email address: [email protected]
It certainly has all the hallmarks of a Weltklang, but the finish is certainly not one I have seen from B&S before. I have seen the finish in silver plate before, but this is most unusual. So a couple of ideas come to mind.
I’ll know more once I see the photos. The photos need to LARGE and CLEAR.
The number on my Kohlert tenor, which was given to me, is 0705 2306920. I’d like to know what the model is and the age of the instrument. How can I find these out?
I tried to email you but it bounced back. Is there anything you can tell me about Kranz-Smith horns manufactured in Baltimore MD ? This one is for sale in my area. Dec 8 1914 patent date according to the ad.
Many thanks for your prompt response, that is what I suspected from the info I had managed to find via your web-site and links – very pleased to hear that it is likely to be 1920s vintage. It has only a couple of very minor dents visible but otherwise appears complete, apart from at least one missing spring. I did manage to get a couple of notes out of it in its current state and it sounds like it could be a very interesting piece to play in due course.
I originally intended that this should be a renovation project for myself but I think it would be best to get someone more experienced to tackle it. There is a very good repair guy in UK (Stephen Howard) who has some experience in overhauling a later model Pierret – he has a very interesting write-up on his web-site – http://www.shwoodwind.co.uk/Reviews/Saxes/Alto/Pierret_Competition_alto.htm – worth looking at.
If you would like to add this to your gallery I’m quite happy for you to use my photos. Now I just have to find time to go to visit Stephen Howard’s workshop to see if he can take this on – looks like it would be worth it.
Stephen would be very good guy to take it to. It would be interesting to hear what he has to say about it.
If you do end up taking it to him, say “hi” from me. We’ve never met, but we’ve emailed each other over the years, and I use his site all the time for reference. He certainly knows his way around a vintage saxophone, and if I lived there, would be my go-to guy for sax repairs.
The sound on these on Pierret altos is very “soft”, and not very loud compared to today’s altos. Depending on what kind of music you’re going to play with it that might be a good thing—or not.
For example, I play in a 17-piece big band that specializes in playing the original charts from the big band greats from the 30s-50s. Both my Pierret alto and tenor do not do well in this environment. They are simply no match for 4 trumpets, 4 trombones, 4 piece rhythm section, and 4 other saxes who are all playing Selmer Mark VIs or VIIs.
The Pierret just doesn’t have the same projection and volume that the Selmer does—even when paired with my Dukoff mouthpiece—and it doesn’t have near the same overtones either.
Now if I was playing the Pierret in a small jazz combo, or in a classical setting, that would be a different story. However, if matched up against modern or electric instruments in a louder setting, the Pierret just doesn’t stand a chance.
Just something to consider as you plan and budget your saxophone repair bills going forward.
Good luck with your Pierret, and let me know how you make out… helen
thanks for the info – I play in a sax trio and have a preference for classical music or cool/ballad style jazz, so it sounds like that would fit in nicely with the Pierret’s sound.
I plan to get over to Stephen’s workshop in a couple of weeks time, so it will be interesting to see what he thinks – I will say Hi from you
Sue
I took the Pierret in to Stephen Howard today to assess what needed doing – he thinks it may be even earlier than 1920s from the relatively crude style of manufacture. It does however need a lot of work to properly restore it professionally, so not really viable. For the moment it will go back into store until I have a chance to strip it down to see whether it might be possible to get it playable.
Sue
Hi Sue. Sorry to hear that about the Pierret, but not really surprised. Stephen’s prices are what you would expect from a high-quality sax tech. For the most part, this is the news they are going to give you on these horns because of their difficult-to work on mechanics.
As far as the age goes, since Pierret’s paperwork is long-gone, we have no way to really assess exactly when a particular horn was made. That said, we do know that they didn’t up their mechanics on their horns until at the earliest the 1940s-50s. Everything prior to the horns with names (like the Competition and its contemporaries) appear to have the same, or similar, key work. Like my friend Pete Hales once said: they are like the VW Beetle of saxophones. They found a design and stuck with it–with only very minor changes–for decades, which is why dating them is very challenging.
I encountered this key work design issue on my Pierret alto when it went into the shop in Halifax around 2000 to get restored. In order to adjust on key on the lower or upper stack, the entire stack assembly had to be taken off. Layne (my tech) then had to reattach everything; try it to see if it played well; if not, undo everything and try again… He found the Pierret the most frustrating horn to work on that he had encountered in years.
I have a Pierret tenor that really should get restored. I am not looking forward to this, which is why I have been putting it off. 😉 I like my tech too much. 🙂 At the time of taking my alto in I didn’t know better, now I do. 😆
Hi Helen
I got the impression from Steven that he couldn’t face the hassle of restoring the Pierret and that it wasn’t special enough to warrant his attention. However , he did say that whatever I did to it wouldn’t make it any worse or degrade its (limited) value !! He also suggested it would be better off hanging on the wall as an ornament.
Despite this, I will have a go at getting it in working order later in the year – it will have to wait for some while as I have a house to finish building first .
best regards
Sue
😆 Yup, Stephen is a funny, but pragmatic guy. Pierrets unfortunately have very limited value. I picked up my lovely tenor for only $225 Cdn if I recall correctly. If I have my tech overhaul it, that will cost me about $1,000 Cdn. In the end I will have a sax worth about $500 Cdn. Thing is, I never restore anything for resale. I get them restored to play them for myself.
Stephen and I appear to have differing opinions when it comes to vintage horns. In general he tends to favour modern, Asian horns over tried and true vintage saxes. Why? Not sure. And I don’t know where/when he draws the line when it comes to vintage: Which horns; which brands; which models; or in what states of disrepair. For what kinds of players: beginning, intermediate, advanced? There are so many variables in this business it would take a very long book to lay out the various options available.
Huh… I just had an idea for a Coles Notes version of this. Thanks Sue! You just gave me a fabulous idea… I am working on something as I am typing this. I am already sketching out the outlines of a new article and flowchart!
I wish you luck with your Pierret. I do need to take my alto to my tech one day. It needs some tweaking. I would like to get my tenor fixed up. I pull it out of its case and play it like it is. It is such a cool old horn, with such a tone we don’t hear these days anymore.
Let me know if you get it up and running. I would interested in hearing about your experiences.
Warm regards…. helen