Saxophones Advice on buying a saxophone - Weltklang

[JayeNM]

We all get into trouble. Getting out of it is the skill. If you can do it with style all the better. Better still if you don't get caught.

Are we talking improvising ? 🙁 Or something else ?

 

[JayeNM]

Most of my buddies who play for pay are putting their old horns in the closet and playing Japanese & Taiwan horns.

That's interesting...more than half of my pro or semi-pro customers who have bought Vintage horns already play contemporary ones but they want the particular sonic qualities and blowing response most commonly embodied in a good vintage model .....

They wanna spread their wings, basically....or have a horn which in certain gig contexts would be a little more apropos to that context....

(That'd be an average of around 20 customers a year, for the past decade-plus, at least.....)

Whether intentional or not, your comment contains an oft-heard intimation which ...in reality...is quite misleading....

 

[Tonehole]

Yes I interpreted it wrong, an "If" added would have clarified your intent.

No harm no foul.

Long & McQuade is the biggest instrument retailer in Canada, they dominate all cities and towns. They want to sell new horns so used vintage horns are not present or limited in their retail stores. Decent techs are hard to find and if you walk in a store with a vintage horn the techs don't want to work on it or it will take months in the queue unless you are a top player with a name. L&M have 48 stores in Ontario alone... Music Stores In Ontario | Long & McQuade

They are as much a real estate holding company as a music retailer.

This is their used inventory for all of Canada, hundreds of stores. Local Store Specials, Deals & Discounts | Long & McQuade
They have one 6M for sale it seems.

 

[Ghr9204]

rather than it being a "placebo horn" (an unfair characterization of even a Welt, really)

Well, I didn't hear @PigSquealer squealing much after I said that. 😉 And, I was facetious when I said that. 😀

But, all applicable discussion on obtaining a preferred tone goes to show that unless a horn is in badly need of repair or had an intrisic design or had manufacturing defects that even a tech cannot cure without considerable effort and cost, it is basically up to the player to make it shine.

Happy with your Weltklang? Then there is no reason to switch. I see the bottom line as if a shop or owner is within reasonable commuting distance and has one to try out and you like it, then go for it. Otherwise, the various techs and individuals have piped in that due to various quality control issues through the years, one is better off by going to a brand name used instrument in a reasonable state of cosmetic looks & repair, and is in playable condition.

 

[Pete Thomas]

y'all get the idea....

Yes, this is why I mentioned Dick Heckstall Smith

 

[PigSquealer]

Noon today it’s been a week since the OP was last seen. Four days after his one and only post.
Was this a drive by free review, appraisal for a flipper looking to buy ?
A workaround the yard-sale ? Four pages and 65 posts of free exposure to his listing?
Common on the other place, but here

 

[Woodpad]

Thanks for your honest reply.
Honestly that’s the way I feel.
Nobody goes out in life planning on a bad day.
Who practices endless hours to disappoint ?
Who buys a venue ticket expecting more than just a true live performance.
The real deal fans.
Some appreciate what is in front of them
The now and live.
Pub or zillion seat venues.
Those who know and appreciate will always be there.

Thanks for this back to the future vibe at the dawn of this bleak winter.

 

[Targa]

Noon today it’s been a week since the OP was last seen. Four days after his one and only post.
Was this a drive by free review, appraisal for a flipper looking to buy ?
A workaround the yard-sale ? Four pages and 65 posts of free exposure to his listing?
Common on the other place, but here

If it was an attempt to help a sale it backfired in that more comments are anti than pro.

 

[JayeNM]

Noon today it’s been a week since the OP was last seen. Four days after his one and only post.
Was this a drive by free review, appraisal for a flipper looking to buy ?
A workaround the yard-sale ? Four pages and 65 posts of free exposure to his listing?
Common on the other place, but here

We have expended a lotta energy on side discussions here (not uninteresting ones, mind you, but....)

Yeah pretty much what you say, methinks.

 

[JayeNM]

If it was an attempt to help a sale it backfired in that more comments are anti than pro.

Unanimous, really....not even the Weltklang fans suggested it was anywhere near a reasonable price.....

 

[Pete Thomas]

If it was an attempt to help a sale it backfired in that more comments are anti than pro.

Well we do always try to give anyone the benefit of the doubt and assume a legit question. But we’d also assume after so many helpful responses warning someone off wasting their money, that there would be some acknowledgment.

 

[Tonehole]

Well someone is trying to move few alto saxophones out of Ukraine.
That has to say something about the desirability. 😜

 

[Stephen Howard]

Well someone is trying to move few alto saxophones out of Ukraine.
That has to say something about the desirability. 😜

To be precise, those are vintage models - a far cry from the modern abominations. Sure, they aren't the best of the genre but they do have some merits (mainly price).

I am nothing if not fair.....

 

[PigSquealer]

Well someone is trying to move few alto saxophones out of Ukraine.
That has to say something about the desirability. 😜
View attachment 32311

First one looks tenor. Is this CAD or USD $. $299 OBO. Then add the pork fat fees and $85 shipping.

 

[JayeNM]

Well someone is trying to move few alto saxophones out of Ukraine.
That has to say something about the desirability. 😜

Interesting interpretation.

I would be inclined to posit that this has LESS to do with "desirability" ....and a bit more to do..... with the reality that the unfortunate person is living in a war-torn country with an economy that might not be the greatest for the sale of non-necessities ? 🙁

 

[PigSquealer]

Interesting interpretation.

I would be inclined to posit that this has LESS to do with "desirability" ....and a bit more to do..... with the reality that the unfortunate person is living in a war-torn country with an economy that might not be the greatest for the sale of non-necessities ? 🙁

Or they’re selling looted goods.

 

[JayeNM]

Or they’re selling looted goods.

Except the prices aren't turn-and-burn. They aren't particularly 'steal' prices, either here or across the pond.

 

[thomsax]

Here is Wuffysax playing on a Weltklang tenor. I like it ....!

Misc recording - Purple Rain per Sax

is it possible to make such a great pop song sound audible ? View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-Armw-3CBE listen yourself if it has become something Best Greetings from Blackforest Wuffy

cafesaxophone.com

 

[thomsax]

I just want to make clear that every person who plays the saxophone, no matter genre/style, level, brand of the sax/equipment ... have my heart. The more the better. Of, course, I like Blues- and Rock & Roll Saxophone ...... .

To buy a new low price asia sax or an old Weltklang, Conn student, Bundy II ...... is not so important.

Here is a late "Weltklang" tenor with high F#.

Weltklang solist silver tenor

Offered for sale is my weltklang solist silver tenor sax. Well built and fab sounding instrument and a reluctant sale. Has just been serviced and it is playing perfectly with a great sound. I have had this sax for 5 years and it has been played at least 3 times every week with me and I have...

cafesaxophone.com

 

[mark_addy]

Interesting interpretation.

I would be inclined to posit that this has LESS to do with "desirability" ....and a bit more to do..... with the reality that the unfortunate person is living in a war-torn country with an economy that might not be the greatest for the sale of non-necessities ? 🙁

It makes me wonder too about the process which got DDR saxophones (DDR made the 'best' consumer goods / scientific instruments etc in the Eastern-bloc though CZ also turned out some good stuff) back into the USSR-proper (as Ukraine was), and what people did with them once they were there. I remember reading that communism had a difficult on-off relationship with jazz - for a while proletarian-art (good) but then western-decadence/individual-freedom (bad) and so on, and on. A compilation called 'Spiritual Jazz 18: Behind the Iron Curtain' appears to be a thing - anyone listened to it?

Getting hold of things to listen to back then and there must have been really, really difficult. A Polish friend's mother was telling me about dictating forbidden books onto audio tape when it became available in the 80s (open reel) - when the economic situation in Poland was so dire than acquiring even a basic locally-produced (Unitra ?) deck must have been a massive deal. Taping from foreign radio was a thing, of course. But in the 60s, and even 50s...who knows.