Saxophones Sebastian Buckley Saxes

[saxplorer]

Yesterday a sop branded "Sebastian Buckley Aquae Sulis" sold on ebay: it was sitting at £100 for ever so long and I was sorely tempted, but it went for £251 in the end.

Not a brand I had heard of, but it looked very like a BW - described as a copy of a Yani, and material was phosphor bronze, so a very pretty number.

Does anyone have any more information on this brand?

 

[Tenor Viol]

Isn't "Aqua Sulis" Bath?

 

[saxplorer]

'tis indeed Bath and said Sebastian Buckley appears to be based there. Seems that he is bringing in instruments from far east and from the little information I can gather, they seem to be pretty decent ... very little other information though.

 

[aldevis]

Johann Sebastian Bath?

 

[Tenor Viol]

Johann Sebastian Bath?

You should be ashamed of yourself! That's terrible.))

 

[Pete Thomas]

I've met Sebastian a few times, he's usually at the Frankfurt Musikmesse, so I think he's been doing his homework on what are decent horns for the money.

 

[kevgermany]

Johann Sebastian Bath?

You're Baching up the wrong tree

You should be ashamed of yourself! That's terrible.))

Was mine more to your liking?

 

[DavidUK]

Weird. Nine years later and I've only just heard of a second Sebastian Buckley sax emerging from the mists of time.

I'm guessing in the interim nobody else here will have seen or played one? Did they just come and go almost immediately? And what of the man himself? Perhaps @Pete Thomas could shed some more light on what happened.

 

[Stephen Howard]

I've seen a few. Nothing special, just A.N.Other Chinese horns.

 

[DavidUK]

The earlier comment about them looking like a BW, particularly the phosphor bronze... does that have any merit as far as how they play too? I remember comparing a Carmichael tenor to a BW one and they were absolutely identical apart from the name. Here's a Buckley tenor...

 

[Stephen Howard]

Nope. There were plenty of lookalikes knocking about at that time, but the bore geometry of the BW was unique.

 

[GJ77]

I borrowed an alto flute marked 'Aqua Sulis' for a run of gigs a few years back. It was a decent enough instrument actually, and didn't let me down.

 

[Pete Thomas]

Perhaps @Pete Thomas could shed some more light on what happened.

Sorry I know nothing

 

[Pete Thomas]

The earlier comment about them looking like a BW, particularly the phosphor bronze... does that have any merit as far as how they play too?

To add to Stephen Howard's comment, there are plenty of identical looking instruments from China but there is no reason to think they are all the same quality or identical in playing characteristics. There are design templates that can be used by any factory. However there is no reason for the important playing aspects, ie bore dimensions, to be the same nor, crucially, the manufacturing quality.

Even within the same factory a wholesale customer can be offered different prices for an identical instrument or accessory because the factories will cater to your budget. So if you want a cheaper version of the same horn you can have it. It just won't have the same construction or final inspection quality.

 

[adysaxman]

Nope. There were plenty of lookalikes knocking about at that time, but the bore geometry of the BW was unique.

Interesting Stephen, how so?