Hey all, there are a few threads on these at the other place but I didn't see one here. Found a listing for a King Tempo bari, I have a message to the seller asking about the serial # (edit: it's 60165, second number 1406) but anyone have a clue to this one's era/condition from the pictures?
King Tempo Baritone Saxophone Famous King craftsmanship with a big, rich baritone sound. Recently professionally overhauled: • Complete cleaning • New pads installed • New springs where needed •...
www.craigslist.org
OK, well as already mentioned...King Tempo saxes were Keilwerth stencils. This is a New King model by JK.
No relationship to a King, Ohio design. So the seller is unaware.
Good horns, these. Their tone is Monster, intonation is decent, and they are fairly mouthpiece friendly. My first reaction was 'too expensive'. But then I look at condition and fact it was overhauled.
But then I look realistically apot the currently self-inflicted teetering of the US economy... and gotta ask what this guy is thinking. I think I know....he figures he can recoup the entire investment he made in the overhaul. That was a naive assumption. As a seller, from my perspective, he probably should have just done a $350 COA and a few new pads...and listed it for $1800....
Then as also already mentioned, for another $100 or so above his asking, you could easily get yourself a modern low A, used....
So....$400 overpriced. If he'd take $2250...not a bad buy, assuming you like it. I have been a big fan of vintage JKs over the years but the one niggling thing about them for me is the location and size of the pinky tables. They finally dealt with that on the Couf Superba....but the reach for someone with not-long fingers to that table always just bugged me, a little. Somewhere in the 25+ years of that table, they could have scootched it up the tube around 8mm and that would have been that.
But a playtest would answer that for you.
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