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Saxophones So where does the King Super 20 fit into the scheme of things?

DavidUK

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I mentioned elsewhere I'm on the trail of a Super 20 Alto and it may come to fruition.

It's a late 1930's Cleveland full pearl with solid silver neck, owned for 25+ years by its present owner, a qualified instrument repairer, who has completely overhauled it twice in that time. No dents. Excellent condition.

My sax tech advised me to look out for one, but in the great "hall of fame" where does the Super 20 fit, and why?
I'm playing my Buffet SDA now but there's always that elusive better horn...

Is this model, apart from the Silversonic, a good one to go for? I'll have an opportunity to play it before purchase.
Price-wise, it seems very reasonable.

Any help or information welcomed.

:thumb:
 
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This my not be a great deal of help as I`ve not played the Alto version but In my Estimation the Super-20 is one of the best Tenors ever made full stop and would be my second choice for a vintage tenorafter the 10M which would be first but then that`s me and my music... BTW the Silversonic is just a Silverplated Super 20 .
 
This my not be a great deal of help as I`ve not played the Alto version but In my Estimation the Super-20 is one of the best Tenors ever made full stop and would be my second choice for a vintage tenorafter the 10M which would be first but then that`s me and my music... BTW the Silversonic is just a Silverplated Super 20 .
I thought the Silversonic had a solid silver bell as well as neck?
Fraser.......!!??
 
I thought the Silversonic had a solid silver bell as well as neck?
Fraser.......!!??

I didn`t know about that , I just remembered it as being a Silver Super-20
 
BTW the Silversonic is just a Silverplated Super 20 .
This is quite wrong, the silversonics had a solid silver neck and bell as opposed to the regular Super 20 that came with a solid silver neck (but you could specify brass if you wanted) and a brass bell. HN White only produced around 200 Silversonics each year, apparently.
 
There you go - you learn something every-day . :) I`d not have known about the bell just by looking at the horn , I wonder if there was any benefit or was it just a king-bling moment to make a Flashy-Super-20 .. a mates S20 has the brass neck but I knew the silver one was an option as well
 
This is quite wrong, the silversonics had a solid silver neck and bell as opposed to the regular Super 20 that came with a solid silver neck (but you could specify brass if you wanted) and a brass bell. HN White only produced around 200 Silversonics each year, apparently.
Fraser, is the following web page the best resource for Super 20 history info, do you know?: http://www.saxpics.com/king/s20.htm
 
Interesting what they said about the pinkie cluster being changed around 300000 as I had heard that this serial range and previous had terrible ergonomics, mines a 379 BTW, interesting also what they say about the Zephyr Special, now this must of been what I played a few weeks back, although it said Super 20 on the bell and had full pearls it was made in 1936 so couldn't have been an actual Super 20, (was an absolute pig to play as well!) I only played a few notes before handing it back.
Never seen that site before but looks very imformative...
 
The article says the solid silver neck came in at 340,000 which is 1955 on. Hmmm..... better get the S/N and check the neck is original....
 
The 1936 one I tried had a solid silver neck but not underslung octave, some have the matching serial numbers on both the neck and sax, likewise some don't.
 
there are many different types of Super 20. The ergonomics were improved a couple of times and personally I prefer the late Cleveland and if you want a cheap and great horn an early Eastlake like my tenor. I wouldn’t buy, again, a USA ’80 model.

There are VERY few silversonics with full pearls. Generally it was one or the other but some do exist. The Silversonic bell is solid silver although in some case might be lacquered with golden lacquer, same is for some necks.

Of course there were many great artist who used King Super 20 alto notably, Charlie Parker and Julian “ Cannonball "Adderley
 
there are many different types of Super 20. The ergonomics were improved a couple of times and personally I prefer the late Cleveland and if you want a cheap and great horn an early Eastlake like my tenor. I wouldn’t buy, again, a USA ’80 model.

There are VERY few silversonics with full pearls. Generally it was one or the other but some do exist. The Silversonic bell is solid silver although in some case might be lacquered with golden lacquer, same is for some necks.

Of course there were many great artist who used King Super 20 alto notably, Charlie Parker and Julian “ Cannonball "Adderley
Milandro, I also found a Grassi 2000 Professional Alto in great shape, from a guy in Italy. I just may have to have both!
 
If it's a late 1930s Cleveland then it won't be a Super 20! It may well be a Zephyr variant instead! These were the forerunners to the Super 20. I would check the serial numbers to get the exact year of manufacture.
 
Thinking about it, if you can post some photos on here I'm sure someone can positively identify what model you are considering.
 
Thinking about it, if you can post some photos on here I'm sure someone can positively identify what model you are considering.
Just waiting for some photos to come in from the seller.
He's been in no rush to sell so may take a while....
 
there are many different types of Super 20. The ergonomics were improved a couple of times and personally I prefer the late Cleveland and if you want a cheap and great horn an early Eastlake like my tenor. I wouldn’t buy, again, a USA ’80 model.

There are VERY few silversonics with full pearls. Generally it was one or the other but some do exist. The Silversonic bell is solid silver although in some case might be lacquered with golden lacquer, same is for some necks.

Of course there were many great artist who used King Super 20 alto notably, Charlie Parker and Julian “ Cannonball "Adderley
The early Eastlake's had an underslung octave key, like this mid-70's one I also found...

Super 20 Eastlake.jpg

Super 20 Eastlake2.jpg
Super 20 Eastlake3.jpg


This is a "wrong'un" by my thinking. At $1200 perhaps a waste of money?
 
That Eastlake model you in the photos would probably be a good buy even without a silver neck for $1200! Shipping charges and customs duty would make it less appealing though!

The Silver Sonic on eBay is a late model, these are not really quite so desirable as earlier Cleveland or Eastlake horns. Overpriced in my opinion for what it is!
 
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