peterpick
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- Locality
- Lewes, East Sussex
I have recently bought 3 malernes. One malerne is a rarity and 3 is clearly excessive, but then I suffer a terrible curiosity when it comes to obscure French saxophones, or saxophones in general I suppose, and it seems to me that the best way of finding out about them is to play them. All these malernes are different, 2 are altoes and one is a tenor, and they are also called different things.
The first is called an ‘acme artist’ (just like a loonytunes cartoon saxophone) and doesn’t say ‘malerne’ on it anywhere. It is an alto and plays with a sweet, vintage tone. Judging by the serial number (4089) and the general design, especially including the bell-body brace this is the oldest of the three, and it certainly sounds like it. It’s well built with simple, strong square profile wire keyguards. The engraving is very sparse, amounting only to the name ‘acme artist’ on the bell. It’s finished in a honey-gold lacquer which has worn well, it’s slightly mottled but intact. The bell brace is a square profile wire bar which curves upwards to the bell. The posts are individually mounted. The bell keys are on the left. It has the 2 typical distinguishing features of malernes, the shape of the left-hand little-finger table and the extended ‘low c’ (sounding E flat on the alto) key. If it reminds me of anything it is a conn, not that it has a conn’s centred tone, but it has the compact, purposeful look of one. Its own tone is very sweet and soft. I think it dates from the 1940’s, but reliable information seems hard to find.
The second is marked malerne ‘artist’ and is also an alto. This also has a curved square-profile wire bell brace and although the keywork is in nickel it is largely similar, apart from the fact that the bell keys have moved to the right hand side. This one plays beautifully, especially with a selmer soloist style mouthpiece (I don’t usually use one of these but it suits this sax really well). It has slightly more engraving on the bell where it has some foliage with the text “r malerne paris ‘artist’” below a sort of crown. The lacquer has not fared so well on this example, but that might be due to storage issues. The serial number of this model is 10309 and I would estimate it to be from the 1950’s. the little finger table for the left hand and the extended right hand ‘c’ key are identical to the previous model. Neither of these altoes has a brace below the curve of the neck. The keyguards are flat metal, not wire, and have pearl buttons as decoration. The bell keys are covered by one guard which has a tulip or campanula cut out of it for further decoration. This is a really good sax! It plays beautifully with an even tone, more focussed than a selmer mk VI or a beaugnier but not hard like a keilwerth, conn or buescher.
The third one is the tenor, named simply as ‘artist’. It’s different in many ways and seems to me to resemble saxes of Italian design and manufacture such as rampone and cazzani. I am far from an expert in Italian saxes however, and there seems to be a good deal of confusion about whether malerne had these saxes made in Italy or used Italian parts or whether Italians copied features of malerne’s design. The bell-brace is a flat metal piece with 2 segments cut out of it and resembles something Italian in my hazy recollection. The octave key on the neck is flat metal rather than wire. The keyguards are also flat metal and have pearl buttons like the ‘artist’ alto, but they are more crudely made, the ‘tulip’ shaped cut out now resembling a bell. The lacquer is far paler in colour than that of the 2 altoes and the keywork is nickel plated. Both little-finger arrangements are similar to the altoes, but some of the keywork differs, in particular the linkage from the left hand little-finger table to the bell keys which run closer together. The engraving is thin and weak. Instead of a large post with a pearl button the octave key thumbrest is black plastic and the lower thumbrest once had a plastic covering which has fallen off. Despite all this slightly negative reporting the sax is a beast, the tone much brighter and harder than the altoes, a big brash noise it makes indeed and I think this is a more modern sax altogether in tone and approach, I would date it to the 60’s or 70’s. the serial number is 15575. In reference to the serial numbers I should state that the altoes have the number stamped laterally along the body of the sax just below the thumbhook, whereas the tenor has the number stamped horizontally in the same place and also on the back of the g# key. The last 3 numbers are stamped on the tenon of the neck too. It’s possible that this means parts were sourced more widely for this model of malerne, but it could mean nothing. My example has 2 bare dots on the left hand side of the main tube indicating to me that it has lost a keilwerth type guard at some time in its history.
All 3 of these saxes are ‘professional’ quality, whatever that means to you. To me it means that they are carefully made out of good materials and their intonation is good. I could not say that there is a particular malerne sound – each of these saxes sounds significantly different from the others.
The first is called an ‘acme artist’ (just like a loonytunes cartoon saxophone) and doesn’t say ‘malerne’ on it anywhere. It is an alto and plays with a sweet, vintage tone. Judging by the serial number (4089) and the general design, especially including the bell-body brace this is the oldest of the three, and it certainly sounds like it. It’s well built with simple, strong square profile wire keyguards. The engraving is very sparse, amounting only to the name ‘acme artist’ on the bell. It’s finished in a honey-gold lacquer which has worn well, it’s slightly mottled but intact. The bell brace is a square profile wire bar which curves upwards to the bell. The posts are individually mounted. The bell keys are on the left. It has the 2 typical distinguishing features of malernes, the shape of the left-hand little-finger table and the extended ‘low c’ (sounding E flat on the alto) key. If it reminds me of anything it is a conn, not that it has a conn’s centred tone, but it has the compact, purposeful look of one. Its own tone is very sweet and soft. I think it dates from the 1940’s, but reliable information seems hard to find.
The second is marked malerne ‘artist’ and is also an alto. This also has a curved square-profile wire bell brace and although the keywork is in nickel it is largely similar, apart from the fact that the bell keys have moved to the right hand side. This one plays beautifully, especially with a selmer soloist style mouthpiece (I don’t usually use one of these but it suits this sax really well). It has slightly more engraving on the bell where it has some foliage with the text “r malerne paris ‘artist’” below a sort of crown. The lacquer has not fared so well on this example, but that might be due to storage issues. The serial number of this model is 10309 and I would estimate it to be from the 1950’s. the little finger table for the left hand and the extended right hand ‘c’ key are identical to the previous model. Neither of these altoes has a brace below the curve of the neck. The keyguards are flat metal, not wire, and have pearl buttons as decoration. The bell keys are covered by one guard which has a tulip or campanula cut out of it for further decoration. This is a really good sax! It plays beautifully with an even tone, more focussed than a selmer mk VI or a beaugnier but not hard like a keilwerth, conn or buescher.
The third one is the tenor, named simply as ‘artist’. It’s different in many ways and seems to me to resemble saxes of Italian design and manufacture such as rampone and cazzani. I am far from an expert in Italian saxes however, and there seems to be a good deal of confusion about whether malerne had these saxes made in Italy or used Italian parts or whether Italians copied features of malerne’s design. The bell-brace is a flat metal piece with 2 segments cut out of it and resembles something Italian in my hazy recollection. The octave key on the neck is flat metal rather than wire. The keyguards are also flat metal and have pearl buttons like the ‘artist’ alto, but they are more crudely made, the ‘tulip’ shaped cut out now resembling a bell. The lacquer is far paler in colour than that of the 2 altoes and the keywork is nickel plated. Both little-finger arrangements are similar to the altoes, but some of the keywork differs, in particular the linkage from the left hand little-finger table to the bell keys which run closer together. The engraving is thin and weak. Instead of a large post with a pearl button the octave key thumbrest is black plastic and the lower thumbrest once had a plastic covering which has fallen off. Despite all this slightly negative reporting the sax is a beast, the tone much brighter and harder than the altoes, a big brash noise it makes indeed and I think this is a more modern sax altogether in tone and approach, I would date it to the 60’s or 70’s. the serial number is 15575. In reference to the serial numbers I should state that the altoes have the number stamped laterally along the body of the sax just below the thumbhook, whereas the tenor has the number stamped horizontally in the same place and also on the back of the g# key. The last 3 numbers are stamped on the tenon of the neck too. It’s possible that this means parts were sourced more widely for this model of malerne, but it could mean nothing. My example has 2 bare dots on the left hand side of the main tube indicating to me that it has lost a keilwerth type guard at some time in its history.
All 3 of these saxes are ‘professional’ quality, whatever that means to you. To me it means that they are carefully made out of good materials and their intonation is good. I could not say that there is a particular malerne sound – each of these saxes sounds significantly different from the others.
