Are you referring to the G# trill key? There were so many revisions to the TT throughout its life cycle, starting with the octave mechanism and tone hole arrangement to the left hand pinky table especially if you count the various stencils that it's hard to keep track of all of those. So I don't think I understand what you mean but I get your point.
I've been trying to retrieve it but other than the title and bibliographic details, I have not had any luck :-(
for rolled toneholes: SML, kohlert, couesnon, beaugnier (sometimes), lyrist (sometimes), hohner (pre 1960), max keilwerth, julius keilwerth (as you say), fx huller (world), gh huller, weltklang, B&S, Migma, i should think several others i have forgotten about or do not know, to whom i can now add Montserrat. there was a large, complicated and thriving saxophone industry in europe, where the saxophone was invented. the wire used on the montserrat for the guards differs from that of the buescher. do you call that a trill key? an auxilliary, i think.... anyway, not g#, but e-f (for transposers), the key not on the principal line on the right hand, for the second finger, when open it plays f. yes, i do agree that many manufacturers bought in parts from a few principal foundries, it does make life confusing. you'd have to see the rolled toneholes, conn's were never so fat. there was a great deal of innovation in saxophone production in europe, in germany they experimented a lot with alternative keywork, and in france there is the famous example of the LeBlanc 'rationelle' (and subsequent).
perhaps not 20,000 saxophones but instruments in general..... the museum is not interested in collecting other examples except by donation. i cannot afford to give this sax away, much as i would like to give everyone access to it. also, if it were in a museum no-one could play it, and it plays well.
My computer doesn't want to touch the spanish patent office. But I found a book on the patent on dialnet:
from what i understand from the title that sounds a really interesting book, or at the least highly relevant to the identification of this sax. my spanish is not up to the task, however.
adolphesax.com
Dang, that tenor looks AWESOME!and a tenor:
Restauración Saxofón Francisca Montserrat
Hola a todos, Quería dar las gracias a Julio. Un luthier de 10. Que hizo un trabajo magnifico en un saxo que le lleve muy dañado en todos los aspectos y lo dejó perfecto. Sin duda, uno de los mejores luthieres de España. Gran profesional y persona y eso se ve reflejado en su forma de proceder...
I guess the sound is in the neighborhood of the Couesnon Monopole.
i very much like couesnon tenors and sopranos, i think the alto is a little restricted in its expressive range, perhaps better for classical music. just looking at the montserrat tenor i imagine something like an old buffet, or with luck, a drouet... although it might perhaps be a bit dark and stuffy.... sometimes old tenors are like that.
Looking at the fifth picture of the tenor. I don't think it is stuffy.
that's interesting. sometimes i think the old tenors (pre 30's) do not project so well. it does not seem much of a problem with altos.....
I think Maarten Postma has the best explanation for changes in alto's and tenors after the second patent of Sax.
this is interesting stuff, but the bore was also altered around 1929 for selmer with the 'new large bore' model, a significant improvement in tone is noticeable i think in these (alto) saxophones from the previous generation. some suggest (without evidence) that Sax was involved in this redesign too. his company was by then under selmer's control.
Yes, that's as far as I got. I looked through espacenet, Wipo, Google and all the other usual and unusual suspects. Thanks for looking and posting, these patents are always some nice pieces of history!
that at least proves that Montserrat was an active maker/designer of instruments for 30 years. enough time to make 20.000 instruments, i suppose. i do find it surprising that after these years collecting, buying and selling saxophones i had heard of italian, french, german, czech, romanian and brazilian horns, but never before one from spain. thanks to everyone for your help. the 'victor' is a nice instrument, i expect that other montserrats might be equally good.
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