Saxophones B&S Blue label

[Rotkvica]

Hi there,

I have just bought B&S Blue Label tenor sax, silver plated finish. It plays very nice, and it has SN 36xx I cannot get any information about their serial numbers, is there someone who know what year it could be made? Also it has guard on C# key. There are few photos of one B&S Blue Label on Internet with SN 4053 but it has no C# keygard.

Thanks

 

[thomsax]

I had a B&S blue label tenor. If I remember right it was a 38XX or 39XX standard sax. Clearlaqued body and nickel keys . It was a high F# sax. I bought mine new in 1980 and the price was 1800 s e k (c 200.00). The dealer/shop owner used to dirive down to Marknuekirchen or Klingenthal (DDR) to buy saxes. He told me he imported the sax in 1979. I liked the B&S tenor. Wellbulit and sturdy. They knew how to built saxes in both GDR and Czechoslowakai. A long tradition. They made saxes for other firms as well. I don't remember about the C# keygaurd. The metalmoutpiece that came along with the sax was also good. It had a black dot as biteplate!

Thomas

 

[Rotkvica]

Yes, quite good mouthpiece came with it but with white dot, I assume it`s because everything is silverplated including mpc. I just do not understand, no model name just blue-gold logo and completely different finishes yours was lacquer with nickel keys, mine is silver, one guy has silver with lots of engraving and more pearl and different high F# button and one i saw first is exactly as mine but with no C# key guard and all between 3600 and 4060 SN. Even Czechoslowakian saxes had consistent different series. But who cares, it has realy nice tone and it`s easy to play, I`m happy.

 

[kevgermany]

Congrats on your sax. If you scratch around on the web, you'll find that the B&S blue label saxes are very well thought of. (As are the Yamaha 62 Blue Labels). There's also a some history about the Intstrument maufacturing area known in the Marktneukirchen/Graslitz area. However serial number information is often sketchy. There are some posts on saxontheweb (forum.saxontheweb.net). And some info on saxwelt.de (if you read german).

Enjoy.

 

[thomsax]

I think B&S, Weltklang ... made saxes for other brands that was actually out of production. I've owned and played French , Dutch, West-German and American saxes that I got a feeling that they was made behind the iron curtain. Some firms said that thier saxes was made in Eastern-Europe, like Boosey and Hawkes, Corton and Lemaire. I guess a silverplated B&S was actually made for another company/brand. Maybe they got a couple over that they could sell under thier own name? Most DDR saxes was made as student saxes.

Sweden and Austria had "good" connections with DDR and Czechoslovakia because the were both neutral contries. In Steyr, Austria UMI had a European office. The Musica Steyr "factory" didn't have any real production. All this changed after 1990. We have lots of DDR saxes here in Sweden. Many good musicians started to play on saxes with bad ergonomics, un-balanced, bad intonation ..... . How was it possible?? I'm really looking forward to the next generation saxplayers. They don't have to struggle with bad saxes!!

Nowadays I think all saxophone manufactoring is closed down in former DDR. Amati-Denak is still in business. But it must be hard for them to compete with Chinese and Tawainese saxes?

East-Germany (B&S, Weltklang.....) had a long tradition of making saxes and I think they were good ( I could buy three Weltklang low A bari for the same price as one Selmer MkVII bari. And the Weltklng was better on a small clubscene. I played bari in a punkband in the 70's!) The knew how to built saxes. They didn't copy other saxes. They did thier own products.

Take care of your B&S. It can be a milestone reminding us of the era when "East was East and West was ..." . But I think it was pretty much mixed-up!! I like the dark tone. A good ballad sax. A slow blues is also coming out fine on B&S.

Thomas