2020. 2. 21. 21:52ㆍ카테고리 없음
The very first saxophone made in the United States was built by Gus Buescher (properly pronounced Bisher) in 1888 when he was a foreman for Conn. In 1894 Gus Buescher left Conn to start his own company, The Buescher Band Instrument Company.
For many years, Buescher saxophones, as well as their other brass and wind instruments, competed well with Conn, Martin, King and Selmer. Buescher saxophones are noted for their rich and smooth sound. Sigurd Rascher, the well known classical saxophonist, author and teacher played a Buescher Tru-Tone throughout his playing career, and in jazz, Johnny Hodges sweet and soaring tone was played on a series of Bueschers, most notably an Aristocrat and a 400. Sonny Rollins also played a Buescher Aristocrat tenor early on such recordings as 'The Bridge'. Later on, Selmer bought the company and that ended their production of high quality professional horns. At the end of WWII Buescher commemorated it with the production of the 400 line. Its model run continued until the 1970's, but the best and most sought-after models are the first and second series, with a Top Hat and Cane engraving.
It also featured bell keys that were positioned to the rear of the bell, rather than to the left side like other American saxophones, or to the right like Selmer. The bell flare was also larger than any other saxophone, the prototype to many modern saxophones today. It also sported an underslung octave key similar to the King Super 20.
Johnny Hodges had a custom-made model with more elaborate engraving on the bell and neck. King saxophones, as well as their other brass and wind instruments were manufactured by the H.N. White Company of Cleveland, Ohio. Later on, they moved production to Eastlake, Ohio, but it is the King Cleveland made saxophones which are considered the best. Though they made saxophones early on, it wasn't until they made the King Zephyr in the 1930's that they made any saxophones of consequence. The Zephyr and the Super 20 are saxophones with big, bright sounds that are considered the epitome of a modern jazz sound.
King Sax Serial Numbers
The Super 20, which followed the Zephyr and which was basically a Zephyr with an improved mechanism and ergonomics is still one of the most popular vintage saxophones, with a market value second only to the Selmer Mark VI and Balanced and Super Balanced Action saxophones. Zephyr Specials and early Super 20's have elaborate engraving on the bell and keys, and pearls riveted to the key touches. They also featured an underslung octave key.
Later models would use the standard top octave key. The most popular and the most sought-after are the SilverSonic models, with sterling silver neck and bell. The Super 20 was not only used by notable jazz players like Charlie Parker, Cannonball Adderley, James Moody and Yusef Lateef, but by many rock, blues and r&b bands of the 50's and 60's. In the 1980's, King tried to market a Super 21 model, and several prototypes were made, but the market wasn't there so it was discontinued.
The Martin company was first founded in Chicago in the 1860's, but when a fire destroyed the factory, John Henry Martin moved to Elkhart, Indiana where he became a foreman for Conn. In 1904 he once again opened his own factory in Elkhart.
Martin saxophones are sought-after collectibles, but very underrated in the vintage market, which is good for the buyer. They are top quality vintage horns that can be had for a bargain. Martin saxophones feature soldered tone holes, which add weight and resonance to the tone. The tone holes on Martin saxes until the Committee II are beveled. All Martin saxes that I've played have a rich, dark sound, great for jazz or blues. The most popular and sought-after of the Martin saxes is the Committee III line, which simply had 'The Martin' with either Alto, Tenor or Baritone engraved on the bell.
Other interesting features of the horn are improved ergonomics and an adjustable thumb-hook which moves up and down rather than side to side, which I find to be a much more practical idea than standard thumb-hooks. They also have beautiful engraving. In the late 50's Martin released the Magna, which was basically a standard 'The Martin' with sterling silver keys, and a cross on the bell, which I guess was employed to keep vampires away when you soloed. Art Pepper, Tex Benecke and Louis Jordan played Martin saxophones. Just about every major player in the world is using or has used a Selmer Mark VI at some point.
It has been called the greatest saxophone ever made, the Rolls-Royce of saxophones. The reason for its success is due to the balance of its ergonomics and sound. It has a homogenous, slightly dark tone, that can however be shaped by the player, making it a very versatile horn, and balanced with its key ergonomics, made it the most popular saxophone, the most sought after ever made. Its design is now pretty much standard for all modern horns made by manufacturers around the world.
Its homogenous but flexible tone lends itself to studio and ensemble work, and just about every jazz player seems to have one. It was designed partly by Marcel Mule, the eminent classical saxophonist. Yet it was never embraced by the classical players to the extant it has with jazz and rock players. Now in my experience, I've played literally hundreds of Mark VI's, and there are large inconsistencies from one to another in terms of tone quality, as most saxophones are anyway. However, when you find one that sounds and feels right, you really can't go wrong. Those of you who read my review of the Buffet 400 line already know the company's history, so I won't go into it here. What I will go into is that of all manufacturers making saxophones today, Buffet has been at it the longest, building them since 1866, only 20 years after Adolphe Sax patented his invention.
They make what are probably the most popular clarinets in the world. However, for some reason, their saxophones never achieved the recognition or respect of some other makers. This is odd considering that they made and continue to make some of the best saxophones on the market. In fact, the Dynaction, Super Dynaction and S-1 models are said to have even smoother key work than a Selmer, excellent build quality and beautiful complex tone. Perhaps the reason they never caught on is because they have considered more of a classical instrument than a jazz sax. The fact that they are undervalued in the marketplace means that if you want a fabulous saxophone with great ergonomics, key work and above all sound without breaking the bank as you would for a Mark VI, then you really should be on the lookout for these. I think a little recognition and respect is due these saxophones.
There are a few other vintage horns which I tried from smaller companies like SML, Dolnet and Cuesnon. However, I haven't played enough of them to make a fair evaluation like I have the other horns I discussed. However, a Cuesnon alto called the Monopole came into the shop and is being sold at a student sax price. I've been playing it and I am surprised and delighted. It seems to combine design elements of both Conn and Selmer. The tone is light and airy, good for those Desmondesque type solos.
In any case, this horn plays and sounds nice, and is had for a real bargain.
Manufacturers,models - stencils andserial numbers' ' 1931Vintagebronze lacquer, late model. Goodplayer1931, s/no 104xxx - literally the last ofthe C-Melody line, lovely!! I don't have a good enoughcamera to capture the real dark vintage lacquer colour - it'sgorgeous.Modernaction, gone are the quirky vintage forked Eb and G# trillkeys. High palm keys all sensibly long - no more'button' palm keys. Add to that the essential auxiliaryFront-F mechanism, and you have a C-Melody and this is a delight toplay. Intonation is extremely good - a solid powerful hornwith well preserved Martin case andaccessories.
( Kingstencil - relatively rare)Iaffectionately call her ' Big Ugly'. Verymuch a project and a half. Quite a rare beast this one,I've only seen one other for sale. After Lyon & Healystopped making their own C-Mels - based around Martin design/tooling -they had stencils mostly made by Buescher. This is the moreelusive King stencil, with classic King domed cups, and, moreimportantly, the auxiliary Front-F mechanism - a rare find on stencilhorns. The silver plating is almost completely worn orabraded from the body, but some remains on the keys - giving a two-toneappearance. A real workhorse.
A current project, at themoment, regrettably NOT FOR SALE. Pleasenote: Page (always) under re-structuring.
June 2011.The aimof this page is to (hopefully) help you to identify the manufacturer,and even possibly the'build year' of your C-Melody. I know you could look on thebell andsay 'Ah - Martin', but sadly that doesn't apply tostencils. So, thetable on the right will have links to a pages showing a selection ofC-Melodysaxes, some I've owned, some I still do, and with the mechanism anddesign features of each manufacturer - the pictures are quite goodresolution,and unprotected, so can be copied and pasted into a suitable graphicspackagefor better viewing, e.g.
Please feel free to dothis, but if youre-use the pictures in any other context, please ask me first, and I'dalso appreciatea mention of this site.Ratherthan put 'return' links on each page, I've either opened some in a newwindow,or others require the use of your browser 'back arrow' to get back tothis page. It will take awhile to findexamples showing all the differences, and I hope to be able to make a'truth table'as well, for quick checking and identification. Until then,please,and check out the excellent pages by Saxpics, Dr Rick, and Cybersax, toidentifywhich manufacturer built your stencil.Sadly, e.g.,allMartin stencils don't haveall the standard Martin features etc. And, some Stencilnames appearon saxes from more than one manufacturer! Fun, isn't it?I'm stilllearning a few things myself in the process. A far fromcomprehensive listof Stencil names is at the end of the page- link is on the table opposite - andI'll also set up a gallery of pictures of C-Melody saxes I've owned inthe past,as examples of most manufacturers art. The vast majority ofthe pictureswere taken by (and owned by) me, but, if I've inadvertently usedsomeone else'sexample, I sincerely apologise - drop me an email and I'll eithercredit you, orif you so wish I'll remove the picture.Below are shortlists of serialnumbers for the years ( mostly up to the thirties ) that C-Melody saxeswere produced 'inquantity'.
I thought itwould be useful to have them for all the C-Melody manufacturerstogether in oneplace (and in alphabetical order, not preference.). Linksto pages with more comprehensive serial number listings, and furthermodel info, areincluded with each list, as are references to the origins of thedata. I'd just like to say a great big' Thanks! ' to anyone involved in compiling and/or publishing thoselists - very muchappreciated!!Please notethat C-Melody ' stencil'serial numbers don't usually correspond with therelevant manufacturers 'own brand name' sequences - there are sometheories asto how you can work the date out, but I'm afraid the answer is usuallyjust ' made in the 1920's. 'Also be awarethat the serial numbers below weren't just for C-Melody saxes, eachinstrumentproduced was assigned a sequential unique number, so (for example) inJan-1924, 60993 couldhave been a Tenor Sax, 60994 a C-Mel, 60995 a Soprano, etc. atleastthat's how I understand it? Thinking about that, it'sprobably morelogical that the numbers were assigned in 'blocks' to maybe a groupC-Mel's,then alto's etc.
King Alto Sax Review
For a certain production run. Each group of bodiescould thenbe stamped sequentially. Anybody out there know how it really was?Soanyway, you should also beable to use these lists to date some of the vintage saxes of thatperiod.Pleasenote: Page (always) under re-structuring.
June 2011.A C-Sax may beavailable for purchase -Please note - the followinglinks are to pictures of, and information about, C-MelodySaxophones that either I've owned/sold, or as supplied by other owners/sellers.Some of the text may not now be relevant - I am slowly editing thepages as I find corrections are needed - the information is providedhere just for reference. Please enjoy!(coming.).Buescher (below)Conn (below)Martin (below)( straight/altostyle neck)( curved/tenorstyle neck)another- Martinstencilanda.King (below)(needscleaning.).
YearModelSerial Number1922Model 1921921921926Model 219219219201930'Cigar Cutter'/'Super Sax'-57330The listcontinues right up to 1992, so is well worth a visit - link below( courtesyof -).YorkSerialNumbersComments0 -8497Made prior to 19038500 -57,000Made between 1903 and 191357,000 -112,000Made between 1913-1938.Pleasenote: Page (always) under re-structuring. June 2011A fewStencil names - ( I'm sure there are loadsmore out there.