Hey Griff
The sax arrived today.
(see elsewhere on this forum about a current Ebay thread)
So, I got lucky. It actually arrived and was pretty much what I expected. It had been described as "plays well" but that's stretching the imagination. It plays, sort of 'alright' in the first octave, but there's an issue with the octave corks that make it not work above C.
I can tell from the sound of the first octave that this horn isn't dead, it's just sleeping. Through the dirt and grime and years of neglect, it has a truly lovely sound.
The serial number is in the range 554534 (which from my books puts it in the mid 50's, however I may be wrong) there are no other markings or letters in the usual place. The Bell simply has some Gill Sans type on it saying "CG CONN LTD. USA". No decorative engraving. It came in a case that had a French distributor's name and address. From my years of playing, i can clearly see that this is an old horn, just from the key layout.
As mentioned, the bodywork is brass, the keywork is nickel. All lower bell keys are on the left side. The crook is not underslung and it has no 'micro-tuner'.
The finish is devoid of lacquer and I intend to give it a good clean and refurb job which shouldn't be difficult. There are some inevitable dings in the lower curve but other than that no obvious damage to the sax, other than a missing retainer post to the octave rod (where it guides the rod into position) at the crook joint. The crook doesn't fit very well and may have come from another instrument. It is too slack.
From my initial observations it looks like this has been repaired on the cheap a few times over recent years. At some point it has had new pads put on which appear (from what i can see) to be 'ok'. However, the biggest problem seems to be balancing and corks. They have been repaired and replaced on an 'ad-hoc' basis.
Would you fancy having a go at servicing it? I'd love to ask someone from the forum, post some before and after pics etc. Let me know.
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