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SOLD Trafford Tenor Sax made by B&S

altissimo

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leicester
Trafford Tenor Sax made in East Germany by B&S - it's a Weltklang stencil folks...
From what I can find out, Trafford saxes were stencils imported by Barratts music shop on Oxford Road, Manchester in the 1970's. I'm told they were imported as sets of parts (presumably to reduce import duty) and assembled in Old Trafford, hence the name. Back in those days eastern Europe was the only place to source cheap stencil instruments, the Chinese were yet to come up with a decent alternative
This particular instrument was my first ever sax, as you can see by the photos, the previous owner(s) had a lot of use out of it, there's some scuffing and lacquer wear, a few minor dings in the bow, some posts and keyguard's have been resoldered and the pads are getting old and leaky, the neck cork needs replacing.. but it plays.. if you squeeze the lower keys down hard enough you can reach low Bb.
The action is typically heavy, this wouldn't win any speed contests, but its not been serviced in 20 years and 12 of those years have been spent sitting in the case since I moved over to alto.
It's solidly built, you got plenty of brass for your money back then, the nickel plated keywork is pretty simple compared with modern designs
tonally, it's a pretty raunchy sounding beast, I've compared it to a Keilwerth SXR90 - my mate brought his round to my house several years ago and after all the admiring noises had died down, I jokingly hauled this out to see the difference. To our surprise it sounded pretty similar, although the Keilwerth is of course a far better instrument.
Since I have to put a price on this thing, I'll say £95 - which is about half of what I paid for it, but you could get a Chinese tenor for £200 odd these days. 5% donation to Pete's Charity.
I'm not certain how much it'd cost to send it via courier - over £20, I'd guess, so local pick up here in Leicester might be preferable..
I'm open to offers or trades for any interesting or unusual items
here's some pictures -
P1020210.JPG P1020233.JPG P1020244.JPG

there's a lot more pics here - https://www.dropbox.com/sh/nrozhyfiye89c0q/wKkV3nBEJc
 
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Barratts of Manchester, brings back memories from when I was a kid in the 70's. I played in a brass band and my conductor worked for them. I bought my Flugel horn from there. Sorry to hijack your thread, but it was a nice step down memory lane.
 
Trafford Tenor Sax made in East Germany by B&S - it's a Weltklang stencil folks...
From what I can find out, Trafford saxes were stencils imported by Barratts music shop on Oxford Road, Manchester in the 1970's. I'm told they were imported as sets of parts (presumably to reduce import duty) and assembled in Old Trafford, hence the name. Back in those days eastern Europe was the only place to source cheap stencil instruments, the Chinese were yet to come up with a decent alternative
This particular instrument was my first ever sax, as you can see by the photos, the previous owner(s) had a lot of use out of it, there's some scuffing and lacquer wear, a few minor dings in the bow, some posts and keyguard's have been resoldered and the pads are getting old and leaky, the neck cork needs replacing.. but it plays.. if you squeeze the lower keys down hard enough you can reach low Bb.
The action is typically heavy, this wouldn't win any speed contests, but its not been serviced in 20 years and 12 of those years have been spent sitting in the case since I moved over to alto.
It's solidly built, you got plenty of brass for your money back then, the nickel plated keywork is pretty simple compared with modern designs
tonally, it's a pretty raunchy sounding beast, I've compared it to a Keilwerth SXR90 - my mate brought his round to my house several years ago and after all the admiring noises had died down, I jokingly hauled this out to see the difference. To our surprise it sounded pretty similar, although the Keilwerth is of course a far better instrument.
Since I have to put a price on this thing, I'll say £95 - which is about half of what I paid for it, but you could get a Chinese tenor for £200 odd these days. 5% donation to Pete's Charity.
I'm not certain how much it'd cost to send it via courier - over £20, I'd guess, so local pick up here in Leicester might be preferable..
I'm open to offers or trades for any interesting or unusual items
here's some pictures -
View attachment 2142 View attachment 2143 View attachment 2144

there's a lot more pics here - https://www.dropbox.com/sh/nrozhyfiye89c0q/wKkV3nBEJc

I could well be interested in that Trafford. After all if YOU learned on it..........!!!
The idea of some kind of swap is most appealing; only thing that springs immediately to mind as interesting and unusual is a good student trombone bought some years ago in Switzerland......? Or a small part of my vast record collection.
Do get back to me if you'd enjoy negotiating....'d'love it myself, as well as a wee trip up to Leicester perhaps.
 
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I remember that shop too. Came to Manc as a student in 1978, Bought the odd box of reeds there, ISTR.
 
hmmmm, records..... starts salivating....

this was the instrument that set me on the path to free jazz and obscurity, hope it doesn't have the same bad influence..

mind you, I remember playing a gig in Lancaster with my mate's avant rock band and afterwards a petite blonde woman came up to me, eye's glittering, "ooh, I love your sax playing" - swiftly followed by her 6 foot boyfriend putting his arm around her. I hastily retreated to the safety of the bar... so maybe it has some mojo after all..;)

just given it a blow, raucous tone, a bit leaky below low D, but I always have difficulty getting down past the U bend on a tenor
 
I remember that shop too. Came to Manc as a student in 1978, Bought the odd box of reeds there, ISTR.
I remember old Dennis (don't know his surname) in the woodwind dept of Barratts, with a long suffering lok on his face as teenagers tried out electric guitars. He went on to work in Johnny Roadhouse and was always good for a chat about Duke Ellington and telling his anecdote about meeting Johnny Hodges in the hot dog queue at an Ellington gig at Belle Vue in the early 60's. Sadly he passed away around the same time as Mr Roadhouse.
The current denizen of Roadhouse's woodwind dept, Damian Walker (who's also good for a chat), was the source of some of the info on Trafford saxes, I think he told me that Peter Mills was the guy who came up with the idea of calling them 'Trafford' - he's got a shop on Bury New Road in Prestwich, I got an old Berg Larsen from him for a tenner, my first alto mouthpiece..
 
I remember that shop too. Came to Manc as a student in 1978, Bought the odd box of reeds there, ISTR.
I used to go past it every day on my way to and from school. I lusted after the guitars, like most schoolboys who were into rock and underground.
 
Nahh, all rusted into oblivion thankfully !! .
 
Very clear photos too. What sort of set up did you use to take them? Lighting? Simple reflectors?
I'm trying to take some for Ebay and can't quite get the intense highlights out of the way.
 
just my digital camera and natural daylight - they were taken outside on a sunny day last summer - some of them came out blurred, those were just the best one's... I think I fiddled with the exposure settings on my camera a bit, but that was mainly the auto setting
I need a cheap tripod so I can get good photos of some of my friend's jewellery for Etsy - maybe we should start a separate photo thread and pool resources and tips
 
just my digital camera and natural daylight - they were taken outside on a sunny day last summer - some of them came out blurred, those were just the best one's... I think I fiddled with the exposure settings on my camera a bit, but that was mainly the auto setting
I need a cheap tripod so I can get good photos of some of my friend's jewellery for Etsy - maybe we should start a separate photo thread and pool resources and tips
Yes, I'd be interested in that. I noticed too that DavidUK has some very clear photos and would like to know his setup. I was very disappointed in the photos in the Haynes Sax manual and would very respectfully - as the verbal account is very clear and infinitely helpful- like to ask Stephen Howard what his setup is , too.
So there's enough there already to start a thread...
 
Yes, I'd be interested in that. I noticed too that DavidUK has some very clear photos and would like to know his setup. I was very disappointed in the photos in the Haynes Sax manual and would very respectfully - as the verbal account is very clear and infinitely helpful- like to ask Stephen Howard what his setup is , too.
So there's enough there already to start a thread...
the thread's already started over in the Breakfast Room.. DavidUK's not been on here much recently, hope he's not been flooded out over in Lutterworth. I suspect his camera setup is beyond the means of us mere mortals, but it's how you use it that counts.
The pics in the Stephen Howard manual are more to illustrate different aspects of sax repair than for aesthetic purposes, but they're better than I could manage. There's some info about his trials and tribulations with the manual here - http://www.shwoodwind.co.uk/Notes/inside_story.htm
 
this instrument would suit someone learning sax repair to practice their repair skills on, rather than risk a more valuable instrument
 
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