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In the near future a Pan American (Conn Stencil) Baritone will be offered in the yard sale.
Importantly, the sale is about good will, and largely some fund raising for the Cafe.
Some months ago, as I browsed the shelves of a music shop I was asked by one of the sales team if I knew the value of a certain used mouthpiece.
Well thats a different story I don’t want to detract from this thread except to say, I gave a very conservative figure to the new owners who had inherited a musical pile of stuff from a late relative, knowing that with the right market it could be worth considerably more and I gave them my number incase they needed any more help. That was my sole involvement.
Here we are some months later with the dust settling and they contacted me.
The main quest was to help them understand what Baritone sax they had.
As the discussion evolved it became clear that they would have to spend more time, energy and a bit of money than they had in order to move on bulky item that didn’t mean much to them.
With good causes in mind over a few conversations I got the go ahead to see if we could launch a double pronged attack on having the new owner see a modest amount for their trouble and the rest of any proceeds being donated to the cafe.
All of this while making the saxophone an attractive price for a new owner to complete a circle of good will.
Well, this was all a nice idea but the condition of the Baritone was as yet unknown to me.
I approached Pete Thomas with the theoretical idea to help the Cafe financially and he welcomed it in the face of continuing financial battle to keep the Cafe running without a loss.
I also contacted Steve Howard who I’m sure needs no introduction here to see if I could perhaps lean on him a little for the cause and help us out ensuring the thing would play ok.
Naturally Steve was quite sceptical about an old Baritone that none of us had seen, fearing it may require some expensive work. I completely understood and the Baritone that was due to arrive at my door could be a complete basket case. Either way Steve generously offered to take an initial look at it.
Roll on to it’s arrival and I was pleasantly surprised. No horror stories that I could see but none the less it needed to be looked at by someone who would really know.
I made my way over to see Steve who I haven’t seen in a long time. Great to catch up a bit and to see him tutting away at a couple of leaks on Selmer Reference 36 Tenor on his bench.
As soon as he had a moment to free himself from that we took a look at the baritone together.
First of all the case is shaped croc skin Selmer case thats completely intact but all baritones deserve better. Baritone players will no doubt be familiar with the manipulation required to close or open all the catches on something like this and the limited internal padding.
Opening the case I tried to see through Steve’s poker face to make sure he wasn’t going to run in the other direction and out of the door. He took it out and I soon got the impression that this was something that wasn’t going to conjure thoughts of “what have I got myself into now”.
After a quick blast up and down and another look, we came to a conclusion.
A good conclusion.
In short, it’s been pretty well looked after and has clearly been played a lot, with some lower body battle scars and lacquer is redone but mechanically it’s decent, regulation is pretty good for the most part and on the whole its a nice bit of kit thats about 80% good as it is.
I’ve left it with Steve.
He is very kindly contributing to the fund raising and the thought process is, a bit of a clean and lubricate, a pad or 2 and a look at a tone hole or 2 before this thing reaches the yard sale.
From there on, someone should just play it until the pads are trashed. Then get it sorted. So we are not looking at an overhauled 100% . Instead something tidy in good playing condition that will get someone up and running. It will be priced at the lower end accordingly.
Currently I’m hoping to find an inexpensive mouthpiece to go with it if anybody has any ideas.
As I’ve mentioned already, the owner gets a little for their trouble, the Cafe gets the rest. There are no middle man or maintenance proceeds. So to complete the cycle, this should be an attractive price.
Are you looking at your first footsteps into the Baritone world?
Do you know of an aspiring Gerry Mulligan, Ronnie Cuber or Dana Colley that needs a helping hand?
If you wish to know more about it especially if you have an eye on buying please feel free to message me before it hits the yard sale.
Here is the big caveat, the case and bulk of the item makes it undesirable to ship.
Collection in Hampshire UK is ideal but I’m not averse to helping with some kind of meet up to reduce your your travelling distance.
But all comments welcome in this thread.
I think Steve will make some comments photo contributions here as and when.....
Importantly, the sale is about good will, and largely some fund raising for the Cafe.
Are you interested in getting involved? If so please read on.
Here is the tale.Some months ago, as I browsed the shelves of a music shop I was asked by one of the sales team if I knew the value of a certain used mouthpiece.
Well thats a different story I don’t want to detract from this thread except to say, I gave a very conservative figure to the new owners who had inherited a musical pile of stuff from a late relative, knowing that with the right market it could be worth considerably more and I gave them my number incase they needed any more help. That was my sole involvement.
Here we are some months later with the dust settling and they contacted me.
The main quest was to help them understand what Baritone sax they had.
As the discussion evolved it became clear that they would have to spend more time, energy and a bit of money than they had in order to move on bulky item that didn’t mean much to them.
With good causes in mind over a few conversations I got the go ahead to see if we could launch a double pronged attack on having the new owner see a modest amount for their trouble and the rest of any proceeds being donated to the cafe.
All of this while making the saxophone an attractive price for a new owner to complete a circle of good will.
Well, this was all a nice idea but the condition of the Baritone was as yet unknown to me.
I approached Pete Thomas with the theoretical idea to help the Cafe financially and he welcomed it in the face of continuing financial battle to keep the Cafe running without a loss.
I also contacted Steve Howard who I’m sure needs no introduction here to see if I could perhaps lean on him a little for the cause and help us out ensuring the thing would play ok.
Naturally Steve was quite sceptical about an old Baritone that none of us had seen, fearing it may require some expensive work. I completely understood and the Baritone that was due to arrive at my door could be a complete basket case. Either way Steve generously offered to take an initial look at it.
Roll on to it’s arrival and I was pleasantly surprised. No horror stories that I could see but none the less it needed to be looked at by someone who would really know.
I made my way over to see Steve who I haven’t seen in a long time. Great to catch up a bit and to see him tutting away at a couple of leaks on Selmer Reference 36 Tenor on his bench.
As soon as he had a moment to free himself from that we took a look at the baritone together.
First of all the case is shaped croc skin Selmer case thats completely intact but all baritones deserve better. Baritone players will no doubt be familiar with the manipulation required to close or open all the catches on something like this and the limited internal padding.
Opening the case I tried to see through Steve’s poker face to make sure he wasn’t going to run in the other direction and out of the door. He took it out and I soon got the impression that this was something that wasn’t going to conjure thoughts of “what have I got myself into now”.
After a quick blast up and down and another look, we came to a conclusion.
A good conclusion.
In short, it’s been pretty well looked after and has clearly been played a lot, with some lower body battle scars and lacquer is redone but mechanically it’s decent, regulation is pretty good for the most part and on the whole its a nice bit of kit thats about 80% good as it is.
I’ve left it with Steve.
He is very kindly contributing to the fund raising and the thought process is, a bit of a clean and lubricate, a pad or 2 and a look at a tone hole or 2 before this thing reaches the yard sale.
From there on, someone should just play it until the pads are trashed. Then get it sorted. So we are not looking at an overhauled 100% . Instead something tidy in good playing condition that will get someone up and running. It will be priced at the lower end accordingly.
Currently I’m hoping to find an inexpensive mouthpiece to go with it if anybody has any ideas.
As I’ve mentioned already, the owner gets a little for their trouble, the Cafe gets the rest. There are no middle man or maintenance proceeds. So to complete the cycle, this should be an attractive price.
Are you looking at your first footsteps into the Baritone world?
Do you know of an aspiring Gerry Mulligan, Ronnie Cuber or Dana Colley that needs a helping hand?
If you wish to know more about it especially if you have an eye on buying please feel free to message me before it hits the yard sale.
Here is the big caveat, the case and bulk of the item makes it undesirable to ship.
Collection in Hampshire UK is ideal but I’m not averse to helping with some kind of meet up to reduce your your travelling distance.
But all comments welcome in this thread.
I think Steve will make some comments photo contributions here as and when.....
