Saxophones My new one-of-a-kind tenor

[aldevis]

This isn't Leopold's work or my SML tenor, but I guess that this Scandinavian tech is doing something similarly ambitious on his Conn New Wonder alto.

I am glad that I tried your tenor, because I was expecting the modifications to change the character of the SML.
It actually played like the other SMLs I tried, but I was very surprised.

 

[jonf]

We're talking thousands for the conversion, I would guess (Euros, dollars, pounds). Let us know what Leopold tells you.

You can find the eBay sale easily enough if you want to know what it cost used: http://www.ebay.com/itm/SML-Tenor-Saxophone-Leopold-Kondratov-Modified-WOW-/140710959564

Rhys

That's actually not as much as I was expecting. Compared to £13k for an SBA noted elsewhere, it's pretty reasonable. I can at least understand the cost of the craftsmanship.

 

[rhysonsax]

I am glad that I tried your tenor, because I was expecting the modifications to change the character of the SML.
It actually played like the other SMLs I tried, but I was very surprised.

Well, the whole tube is original, from neck to bell and none of the tone holes or chimneys has been changed. It really just has a new and fancy way of closing those pads.

Glad you enjoyed it and you are welcome to play it again, or any of my other saxes including the Grafton, the low A alto, the low A bass, the straight alto and the TopTone alto with its titanium discs.

It was great to meet you at last and thanks for the really enjoyable workshop.

Rhys

 

[aldevis]

Well, the whole tube is original, from neck to bell and none of the tone holes or chimneys has been changed. It really just has a new and fancy way of closing those pads.

The bit I was skeptical about was the cut and re-solder of the body. I know that in theory id shouldn't have any effect, but still... A very neat job indeed.

 

[Out in the sticks]

Hi Rhys sorry I'm away on business not back till Friday I don't play it to often but it's almost always in tune I'll check on Friday night. We are about 485 miles away Preston looks mileage wise about the middle. Andy

Doesn't seem to matter which mouthpiece I use It's pretty much bang on the button all the time, I have an Andy Sheppard and a Yani 9937 and I'd say its as good as either of those sounds fantastic. I find with the ergos OK if my hands were a bit larger I think it be amazing. Then again the same could be said for the Andy Sheppard larger hands would definitely be a benefit.

 

[rhysonsax]

Doesn't seem to matter which mouthpiece I use It's pretty much bang on the button all the time, I have an Andy Sheppard and a Yani 9937 and I'd say its as good as either of those sounds fantastic. I find with the ergos OK if my hands were a bit larger I think it be amazing. Then again the same could be said for the Andy Sheppard larger hands would definitely be a benefit.

Those are three great tenors to have ! You are welcome to try my modified SML if you ever come this way.

I read up on-line about sharp notes in the second octave and one suggestion was that the neck octave pip hole being too large could contribute. The neck pip hole on my SML is certainly quite large, so I made it smaller with a small bit of tubing and that seems to have helped the intonation issues.

Rhys

 

[Out in the sticks]

Yeah they are great tenors it was my ability to be able to pay not my ability to play.Trying to stop wasting money on cars.

 

[DavidUK]

Leopold replied:

"Hello David,

thanks for your interest.
I am sorry for the delay of answering, it is because I was on holiday.
I did several conversion of saxophone mechanics, on various vintage instruments as well as eg on Selmer. Also I offer a new 'Leopold Kondratov Saxophone' with the mechanics you saw at the SML which is named 'Varioklappen Mechanik' (=vario key m). My homepage www.meinsax.de with further details is planned to be available in English soon.

The complete modification as done with the SML costs 5500 € plus VAT (Germany 19%).
But as well can be done a conversion of only a few keys, just as you choose.
Best regards,
Leopold"

 

[MMM]

Cheap as chips! I assume that's on top of the actual sax, if not it's a bargain!

 

[rhysonsax]

Wow !

Good to know but scary.

Rhys

 

[ProfJames]

I'm having all of mine done.......................soon........

 

[just saxes]

I like that ball joint idea on the key cups, i guess you can pop the cups off as and when they need repadding so not disturbing anything else...neat!

All you need now is a decent Lawton 8*BB and away you go.

And the burning question I'm sure everyone wants to know, but are to polite to ask? yeah that one, come on...

This is a bit post-thread, having been pointed here by Rhy, but that is a good point I hadn't considered previously.

To be able to pop cups out to change pads is potentially a plus.

 

[just saxes]

OK...a few quick notes upon an irresponsibly quick reading (I will have missed things) of the thread.

Mr. Kondratov is a skilled tech. That is rad.

He may have counters/better insight into what I'm about to say, and may have taken this into account in how he executed his ideas, but my first reaction, in case at some future date you can't get him to be your repairperson: for this horn, pressed felt pads, not hard woven felt.

 

[Tim Zannes]

Wow. That's something totally different than anyone else has attempted. Looks marvelous.

 

[just saxes]

Bringing this thread up both because it's relevant, suddenly, to other discussions at the moment, and also because I somehow hit it yesterday and got very curious about a couple of things:

- Who else has played Mssr. Kondratov's system or inventions??? I ended up back here on this thread, posting, mainly because I looked for clips on Youtube and elsewhere and didn't find any. I want to hear the response and so forth for myself, because....

- This system looks a lot like the Wolf Codera "Resoblade" system, at least I think that was the name, that used to be available at wwbw.com like 20 years ago? That got some good reviews back then, and some mixed. Is LK's system similar or even identical in some ways, not in others?

I really need and want to hear sound samples for myself. @rhysonsax , if you're still here, maybe you could post some, showing response in different ranges, e.g. in particular full voice and subtone in low notes (which shows how tight horns are sealing, more than other ranges of the horn), as well as some faster passages (even if it's just half-step chromatic scales)?

 

[just saxes]

Ah -- an aside: I just remembered why I hit this. Someone recently scored a late era RTH SML alto on eBay. It looked *maybe* goldplated, very hard to be sure, but probably not, and they got it for like US$800 -- a bargain. I was so tempted to pick it up and modernize the LH table, because SML altos are really, really good. 15 years ago, I would have, but today I have a Couf S1 that I don't think an SML is going to supplant, so I passed on trying to score that recent one at that price. But other than the C# tonehole location, the SML is a natural for a modernization project. The stacks are already up to snuff, and don't need to be improved, and probably the low Bb and B would be a breeze (to modernize in a "normal" way).

Worth mentioning, and on topic, roughly: I can see why someone would modernize an SML, i.e. they want to play an SML in particular -- that's their jam -- and they just want different keywork so they can get married to a particular SML forever. This is something that was part of my reaction to the Kondratov work in the past, when this thread was originally current: it makes sense to me to do this kind of work on an SML, because the horn's voice is unique and some people will choose that over everything else out there.

My second saxophone teacher -- very good player, an artist without a doubt, and also the best tech in NOLA for quite a few years -- chose an SML tenor from all those available for a good spell (a tech can basically have anything they want). Not sure if he still plays it.

 

[rhysonsax]

I was browsing through eBay (as one does) and came across a similar converted SML tenor for sale. The donor SML was a bit newer than mine (Gold Medal model made in the early 60s whereas mine was a Rev. D made in 1954) and the pad cups are conventional. But both have had the "cut and shut" treatment on the main body tube and use balanced action style keywork.

The conversion work on this eBay horn was done in 2013 by Saxworks in Denmark and they posted some videos:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wk62SoKulO4

View: https://youtu.be/PrELzdNDH6o?si=Bb8TU8qoPTtv7icf

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bneBeJDCCn0


eBay has this one for sale at $12,000 (Buy It Now) plus of course any tax, duty, shipping and insurance charges. Blimey.

Rhys

 

[Ivan]

Well, the videos are all about the bling, the ergonomics and the craftsmanship... on the face of it all good

But there's nothing about how it plays

 

[rhysonsax]

Well, the videos are all about the bling, the ergonomics and the craftsmanship... on the face of it all good

But there's nothing about how it plays

There's a good way to find out .......

Rhys

 

[Ivan]

There's a good way to find out .......

Rhys

Does an instrument like this become a collector's piece, or, through use, does its appeal slowly wear away?