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Saxophones Buying sax tomorrow. Please help.

ChristineMoon

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I am meeting someone tomorrow to (possibly) purchase a Selmer Bundy 2 alto sax. She claims it is like-new condition (no dents/ scratches), but it is several years old. First, what is a reasonable price assuming it is perfect?

Second, What do I need to know/ look at? Is there any way for someone to check pads or spot other problems? I know nothing about the sax, including how to play it. (I tried for the first time today in case I had to test the new one tomorrow).

I will be buying it near a music store, but I'm sure it would be frowned upon to ask the clerk to look it over, since I will not be doing business there (over an hour away).

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
 
Best advice is to take someone with you who can play. The best way to test a saxophone is to play it. This will reveal any little niggles. The saxophone has a lot of interlinked moving parts and any thing slightly out of whack can make it unplayable. Even a brand new out of the box instrument may not play. If you can't make little adjustments yourself then budget into the price an inspection and regulation by a tech and regular servicing.

For prices, check ebay for a ball park figure.
 
Best advice is to take someone with you who can play. The best way to test a saxophone is to play it. This will reveal any little niggles. The saxophone has a lot of interlinked moving parts and any thing slightly out of whack can make it unplayable. Even a brand new out of the box instrument may not play. If you can't make little adjustments yourself then budget into the price an inspection and regulation by a tech and regular servicing.

For prices, check ebay for a ball park figure.

Like what Colin said, also have you considered hiring one to start.
 
It can be very difficult to buy a sax this way if you are not a player,get the person who you are buying it from to play it chromatically up and down the instrument providing that they can play and get something in writing to the effect that the horn is in playable condition,other than that as Plod says consider buying or hiring from a music shop.
As Colin says check Ebay for prices,good luck with your purchase and welcome to the forum.
 
Agree with the rest. It'll be quite old. Don't overspend, they're not the most sought after saxes, even in perfect condition. Budget for a setup as well, just in case.
 
I will be buying it near a music store, but I'm sure it would be frowned upon to ask the clerk to look it over, since I will not be doing business there (over an hour away).

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Speak to the store they may look it over for a small fee and if they do repairs you can give them the opportunity to quote for any work needed, assuming of course they know saxophones!

Jx
 
Saxpics:
Series IV: from about 45xxx to 905xx. These are a somewhat cheaper looking horn, with sheet-metal keyguards. This is the series that the extremely famous H-Couf, Conn DJH Modified, King Tempo, Armstrong Heritage, Bundy/Bundy Special (and a few others) are stenciled from.

The Bundy Special II are good horns. Most of them were made in USA and they have the bellkeys on the right side of the bell. A very popular student sax before Yamaha sat the standard. The tube was constructed by Keilwerth, Nauheim. I have both Keilwerth "The New King" and "Selmer Bundy II" tenors. I think the Bundy is better! But Selmer Bundy can be real beaten up. Student horns you know. I think a good Selmer Bundy II is better than a new low price Asia made sax. Make sure you have some money left to spend on a service.
 
....but this is not a Bundy special but a Bundy II, ( a very different animal).

Which is a saxophone that I’ve never liked much and one that I have been able to bend the LH pinky by the sole force of my pinky.


If you MUST buy this horn (although perhaps you've already bought it) then make sure you have someone with you who can play.

You could go to the shop and ask them to assess its value and tell you if there is any work to it and just forget to say that you are buying it while you really would look like you want to sell it or repair it.

There is always the potential for this to backfire because some shops will tell you a horn is bad and needs lot of repairs because they will then tell you that you could buy one of theirs.

My personal advise is not to buy it, there are other and better horns out there and even if this is cheap so can others be.
 
....but this is not a Bundy special but a Bundy II, ( a very different animal).

Which is a saxophone that I’ve never liked much and one that I have been able to bend the LH pinky by the sole force of my pinky.


If you MUST buy this horn (although perhaps you've already bought it) then make sure you have someone with you who can play.

You could go to the shop and ask them to assess its value and tell you if there is any work to it and just forget to say that you are buying it while you really would look like you want to sell it or repair it.

There is always the potential for this to backfire because some shops will tell you a horn is bad and needs lot of repairs because they will then tell you that you could buy one of theirs.

My personal advise is not to buy it, there are other and better horns out there and even if this is cheap so can others be.

You're right. The Bundy Specials were made in West Gemany and shared the same tube with The New King. The Bundy II is not based on a Keilwerth tube. My mistake. But I still think a Bundy II tenor is a nice sax. A sax for less money. I bought my Bundy II because some of bluessax players I listen to are playing on these saxes.
 
well, one of my mates who plays in a community band where I play, a 70 years old gentleman, plays on a Jupiter and he has the most incredible and sweet sound on it, which says more about him than about the Jupiter he plays on. If he ever would overhaul his horn it would cost him more that the horn is worth.


I don’t put in any doubt the fact that some good players might be playing and even sounding well on a Bundy II.

Like my old friend, great players are great on everything and a Jupiter ain’t that bad a horn after all.

Nevertheless, Bundys II (the revenge :) ) are, in my opinion and experience, both not terribly well made nor they are easy to re-sell.

I often buy and sell saxophones.

I wouldn’t touch one of these with a 10 ft. pole , wouldn’t even spend money on an overhaul if someone would give one to me because there is no way that I would ever get anyone to pay me the money that even the cheapest of overhauls could cast me.

Moreover, I really think that most of these are seriously badly made.


Maybe you were lucky and got a good one.

This is, of course, just my opinion.
 
I was quite suprised at how good the later Jupiter student horns were , I`ve got a 567 Alto here , it`s better than a TJ classic or the Elkhart Series-II , more like a TJ Revolution-II . I`d say one would be more than worth having serviced ...... The older "500-series" labelled horns weren`t as good - the 700 and 800 series are easily Pro level .

I also found the Bundy-II Tenor I played a while back sounded pretty good, a bit agricultural in the keywork and not an easy horn at the extremes but that was probably more down to a lack of servicing than the horn itself.
 
Strange!. I often buy but selldom sell. Unless it's an Asian sax. :)

well, buying and selling has been an educational exercise and lots of fun. Over the years I have had in my hands at least 100 horns of at least a couple of dozens different brands.

I have learned a fair bit about those and this has given me some hands on experience on both the marketplace and the way saxophones are made.
Any profits I have reinvested in new horns and so forth.
 
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