Saxophones New Bass Sax Section on Bassic Sax

[helen]

When I started Bassic Sax over 20 years ago, its original purpose was as resource for bass sax players, and would-be players. Fast forward a couple of decades and the site has evolved, acquired some new domains, and grown way beyond its original focus of bass saxophones. As a matter of fact, bass saxophones have been a bit neglected as of late, so I felt it was time to change that.

For the last 5 or so years I have been gathering together data and images of bass saxophones of all stripes and ages, with the intent of putting together a brand new bass sax section on the Bassic Sax website. Today I am pleased to say that that work has begun in earnest, and a number of the new pages are now published already--with lots more on the way.

As of today, the following new pages are now live:

Under the category of vintage bass saxes​

Conn bass saxophones: models & variations
Conn second line & stencil bass saxophones
Orsi bass saxophones
Orsi stencil bass saxophones

Under the category of modern bass saxes​

Five bass saxophone models by J’Élle Stainer from Brazil:​

Short wrap Low Bb Bass
Compact Bass
Low A French Wrap Bass
Traditional Low A Bass
Vintage Bass

Bass Saxophone Resources​

This page lists the resources that I currently have available on Bassic Sax, as well as useful resources I have come across online.
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My next steps:

• Finish the players page I have been working on for weeks now.
• Add some new manufacturers. I have had pages that I worked on years ago, but never got around to publishing. Those are next up.

After that I have a long list of things to do. I am just trying to do a little bit every day, so we’ll see how it goes.

What I'm asking from all bass sax players and would-be players, is the following: Please take a look at the section: What you'll see in this section, on the bass sax info main page, and see if you can see anything that I've missed that should be included. If you do, please mention it here on this thread.

Also, if you've got any info, horns, old catalogue pages, etc, etc, that you would like to contribute, please let me know on this thread, or send me a PM. Thank you!!!

 

[lydian]

Looking great so far. Thanks for all the hard work on this one of a kind resource. I just read the Sax Journal issue which I never ran across before. It's fantastic.

A few things that would be nice to add:

Rollini's Melody Maker articles:

http://www.modernbarisax.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/MM-Complete-1929-Bass-Sax-series-by-Adrian-Rollini.pdf

and solo in post #4 here:

The Bixography Discussion Group-Adrian Rollini in the Melody Maker, Sep 1929

Thanks to the generosity of Russ B, here is part 9 of a series of articles written by the great Adrian Rollini about the bass saxophone. Thank you ver

www.tapatalk.com

Selmer bass/bari mouthpiece comparison on this page:

Bass Saxophone – Modern Bari & Bass Saxophone

Lots more great bass sax content on pages 2 & 5 of the above (3 and 4 are gone), now defunct site modernbarisax.com via the wayback machine.

Bass Saxophone – Page 2 – Modern Bari & Bass Saxophone

Bass Saxophone – Page 5 – Modern Bari & Bass Saxophone

And maybe a few where to buy resources like this:

Instruments Archives - PM Woodwind

 

[rhysonsax]

Looking very good and interesting.

If you would like some more information on recent Keilwerth and/or Selmer bass saxophones, I have some catalogues from the last 25+ years. And also some pictures and information on my Keilwerth-based low A / high F# "masterpiece" bass made by Martin Grunewald, as reviewed by Stephen Howard.

Rhys

 

[turf3]

Helen, you write that Conn basses don't have fork Eb. This is inaccurate. Conn basses like Conn baritones, Holton basses and baris, and King Zephyr baris, have the fork Eb tone hole on the lower stack. You can see that the last hole on the lower stack is roughly across from the usual Eb tone hole. This is a better design than the back door key as the full size tone hole properly located means the fork Eb sounds just as clear and in tune as the little finger Eb.

 

[helen]

Helen, you write that Conn basses don't have fork Eb. This is inaccurate. Conn basses like Conn baritones, Holton basses and baris, and King Zephyr baris, have the fork Eb tone hole on the lower stack. You can see that the last hole on the lower stack is roughly across from the usual Eb tone hole. This is a better design than the back door key as the full size tone hole properly located means the fork Eb sounds just as clear and in tune as the little finger Eb.

Thanks. I did respond to this on SOTW and am in the process of correcting it.

BTW, this is why I posted to these discussion boards. You folks are all so knowledgeable and helpful. Before these new pages become completely entrenched in Google, I wanted to make sure that they were as accurate as they could be.

 

[helen]

Looking very good and interesting.

If you would like some more information on recent Keilwerth and/or Selmer bass saxophones, I have some catalogues from the last 25+ years. And also some pictures and information on my Keilwerth-based low A / high F# "masterpiece" bass made by Martin Grunewald, as reviewed by Stephen Howard.

Rhys

Hey there Rhys.

Yes please. Thank you for the offer of catalogues. I have a few, but not many. So I would really appreciate them. I'll send you PM with my email.

 

[helen]

Looking great so far. Thanks for all the hard work on this one of a kind resource. I just read the Sax Journal issue which I never ran across before. It's fantastic.

A few things that would be nice to add:

Rollini's Melody Maker articles:

http://www.modernbarisax.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/MM-Complete-1929-Bass-Sax-series-by-Adrian-Rollini.pdf

and solo in post #4 here:

The Bixography Discussion Group-Adrian Rollini in the Melody Maker, Sep 1929

Thanks to the generosity of Russ B, here is part 9 of a series of articles written by the great Adrian Rollini about the bass saxophone. Thank you ver

www.tapatalk.com

Selmer bass/bari mouthpiece comparison on this page:

Bass Saxophone – Modern Bari & Bass Saxophone

Lots more great bass sax content on pages 2 & 5 of the above (3 and 4 are gone), now defunct site modernbarisax.com via the wayback machine.

Bass Saxophone – Page 2 – Modern Bari & Bass Saxophone

Bass Saxophone – Page 5 – Modern Bari & Bass Saxophone

And maybe a few where to buy resources like this:

Instruments Archives - PM Woodwind

Thank you for all of this lydian! Wow. Exactly what I've been looking for. You have given me great ideas of what to add.