Saxophones Grassi Saxophones

[Jazz Is All]

That detail photo of the case compartment with the upside down neck and the bunch of reeds with the frayed-tipped one on top is something special. The seller is clearly not a saxophonist or he'd know that that view of the neck is about as useful as tits on a bull.

in fact I'd wager that he's either a painter or an art historian because the resemblance to an 19th century trompe l'oeil still-life paintings with a musical instrument in them is striking. The green felt background with items carefully juxtaposed on it with the upside down neck in that angular placement meant to lead the eye towards the center of the painting and normally taken by a pipe is too uncanny to be pure chance.

Whoever buys the sax will be purchasing a work of art at the same time. 😀

 

[Jazz Is All]

Here's another example.

 

[Pete Thomas]

It went for £206 and considering you'd be paying easily £400 to make it play unless you are really lucky, it wasn't really a great bargain.

 

[Jazz Is All]

Well, the sax closed at 206 pounds (285€), which shows you how much in demand these saxes aren't.

Frankly, if I had seen this yesterday and was less cautious than I am at the moment, I would have been on it like a dog on a bone. I mean, what non-Chinese tenor sax can you get for under 300€??

Of course there is not one bit of detailed info in the ad about the playing condition of the horn or the state of the pads, etc. The only thing it says is "All is in good working order" which is the same as saying nothing at all IMO. So if i had wanted to get serious about this sax I would have had to message the seller to get answers to specific questions before making a decision. The price may be low but if this is what the market values these saxes at and you have to pay a tech that much more again to repad this to make it play, it would have to be for its sound and playability and not for financial reasons.

 

[Jazz Is All]

Pete you beat me to it while I left my post sit to go eat lunch. I got peckish before pressing the button to post it and upon doing it now that I am stuffed and coffeed up I see that you stated the reality of it too.

I find it a bit sad that a saxophone this good gets so little respect that people will go and buy any old Chinese sax for more and turn their noses up at this in the process. Again, it's casting pearls before swine.....so to speak.

I was up at Sax-On on Friday....you know, the place I took you.....and Miguel showed me that the lower priced Yamahas are now made in Indonesia. Stamped right on the back of the bell as plain as day. I declined to handle the thing for fear that it might fall apart in my hands. He said that someone will probably be making name brand saxes in India pretty soon.

 

[Pete Thomas]

The only thing it says is "All is in good working order"

It means: "I tried moving the valve things and they all seemed to moved and down OK."

 

[Clivey]

Adam Smith was one observant cookie, and for sure barring a couple of pretty safe marques The Value / Price of used Saxophones and Altos in particular continues to tumble.

 

[Jazz Is All]

It means: "I tried moving the valve things and they all seemed to moved and down OK."

Yep, ya got that right. And he didn't even say anything like "it doesn't have and dinks or dints [sic] in the metal".

Speaking of valves I just bought a Cornet on Ebay really cheap and while I was following a couple there was one where the seller said "The three valves do move slowly and I blew on it and it does play....I am not a musician and not a music instrument expert."

Translated that means, "The pistons are gummed up and will probably need an overhaul with new springs. But it does play as is, to the extent that I can play, which is not at all other than to make awful farting sounds come out the megaphone part."

 

[altissimo]

there's another one here in playing condition - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/331575662117?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

 

[Pete Thomas]

Makes me wish I'd bought that alto with square keytouches that @milandro was selling years ago.

 

[DavidUK]

Makes me wish I'd bought that alto with square keytouches that @milandro was selling years ago.

I believe the rectangular key option was available on all models. Do you recall which it was? Was it the model that appealed, the keys, or a combination of both?

 

[DavidUK]

Makes me wish I'd bought that alto with square keytouches that @milandro was selling years ago.

I've found one for sale Pete, but the seller wants €1200 for it! Crazy price.

 

[richardr]

I've found one for sale Pete, but the seller wants €1200 for it! Crazy price.

We're both complaining that these saxes are under-valued and grumbling when someone charges more?

 

[Jazz Is All]

Who said you had to be consistent. You do remember that the rule is buy low, sell high, don't you?

 

[DavidUK]

Who said you had to be consistent. You do remember that the rule is buy low, sell high, don't you?

That's tattoo'd right through me!

 

[aldevis]

We're both complaining that these saxes are under-valued and grumbling when someone charges more?

This should go on the cafe wall.

 

[Ads]

Ahhh, but there`s a difference between Undervalued in musical instrument terms and Undervalued in monetary terms ...... just because an instrument falls into the former category doesn`t automatically make it fall into the latter also, and in fact rarely if ever at all in the UK unless it`s ludicrously cheap ............

There are horns which fall into the former category but go as far as to be vastly overvalued in the latter .. (prime example being the Cannonball Gerald Albright Blingathon) -

 

[Jazz Is All]

I love my The Martin Tenor made in 1945 and don't really care what it is worth monetarily because I won't ever sell it. I suppose for the benefit of my heirs it would be great if it was worth what a Selmer is, but in terms of how it sounds and plays that is not really pertinent to anything for me.

 

[richardr]

I love my The Martin Tenor made in 1945 and don't really care what it is worth monetarily because I won't ever sell it. I suppose for the benefit of my heirs it would be great if it was worth what a Selmer is, but in terms of how it sounds and plays that is not really pertinent to anything for me.

Same applies to my Grassi.

 

[Nick Wyver]

Here's another one:

Anyone know what this is?
It's got this lot written on it:
IDA MARIA GRASSI number 29363Trademake IT 17.433C/70 USA 358.195
It's probably for sale. I've not seen it yet so I've no idea about state of pads, etc. It's been in a loft for a couple of years.