Saxophones Value of a Maxtone Alto Saxophone?

[Jobylou]

Hi
I have a Maxtone alto saxophone, it looks like a Mauriat, with the antique finish, it doesn't have a model number on it, it says Vintage.
I had it checked over at Connolly MIR and they replaced a couple of felts, cured leaks on 3 pads, balanced the action and basically set it up, it plays really well, very similar to a Mauriat that I tried in a shop some time ago (taking onboard my limited experience!)
I am thinking about selling it, but have no idea what it would be worth, any ideas or should I hold on to it?
Thank you so much for your opinions.
Jo 🙂
PS Should I decide to sell it I will of course advertise it for sale in the Yard Sale but until I work out what it is worth I am unsure about what to do.

 

[rhysonsax]

I think that Maxtone is one of those stencil names used for saxophones from unnamed Taiwanese (or Chinese) factories. So the brand name on the horn doesn't really tell anyone about its quality or original source.

I have got a matching pair of alto and tenor Maxtones in gold and silver plate. They are lovely looking horns that play really well, with nice intonation and good actions. They seem to be well made and mine are holding up quite well. I paid around $1,000 (shipped) for each in February 2009.

I bought mine from a friendly guy in the USA, via the SOTW forum. He basically said that these were made in the same factory as the Mauriats and to the same design.

The trouble with valuing these sort of horns is that, like anything else, they are worth just what you can get someone to pay for them. With well-known brands there is a ready market and you can work out the current market price by looking on eBay for the same or similar horns. That won't work here. Even if you know it is a Mauriat clone of equivalent quality, and you find out the market price of a used Mauriat, that would only indicate a top range to the price you might want to ask.

I don't like those antique finishes, but some people really love them. Maybe a price of £600 - £800. The important thing is to get potential buyers to play them and to see just how good they are.

Good luck

Rhys

PS Pictures of your actual sax would help.

 

[Jobylou]

Thank you for your reply Rhys, I will get some photos later 🙂

 

[Ads]

Not trying to rain on parades here but I checked SOTW a while back (when a Sop was for sale in CashGen) and got the concesus they were just generic chinese like Windsor, Earlham etc , an alto of this kind would fetch between £100 and £150, the Sop was £130 so didn`t bother and paid more and got the Bronze Elkhart (now owned by Davey) instead .

 

[Jobylou]

Hmm... thanks Ads, it is worth much than that to me, feels really solid and plays well, perhaps I will just hold on to it then.

 

[Ads]

There`s no guarantee that the Altos are made in the same place as the Sops, or that early Maxtones were made in the same place as later ones . it maybe a gem (a Taiwanese Gem even) but I can only go by what I found when checking on SOTW, you may want to do likewise for Altos .

This was one thread I saw .. Someone stated that there are Taiwanese Maxtones as well as Chinese .

http://forum.saxontheweb.net/showth...eering-quot-soprano&highlight=Maxtone+soprano

 

[Pete Thomas]

Not trying to rain on parades here but I checked SOTW a while back (when a Sop was for sale in CashGen) and got the concesus they were just generic chinese like Windsor, Earlham etc , an alto of this kind would fetch between £100 and £150, the Sop was £130 so didn`t bother and paid more and got the Bronze Elkhart (now owned by Davey) instead .

I think some are just "generic" Chinese, some are more high quality Taiwanese. I played one at the Musikmesse back in about 2009/10 and I almost bought it on the spot. It was better than any other Taiwan tenor I tried that year.

However as people don't really know whether it's a good maxtone or a lower quality maxtone I think the used price is likely to be low, so you are best off selling it to someone who can actually playtest to know how good it is.

Presumably it has no country of origin marked?

 

[Jobylou]

 

[Jobylou]

Images above, on the bell it says Maxtone 1970 by French engineer

 

[Pete Thomas]

This was one thread I saw .. Someone stated that there are Taiwanese Maxtones as well as Chinese .

http://forum.saxontheweb.net/showthread.php?164415-Maxtone-quot-French-Engineering-quot-soprano&highlight=Maxtone soprano

There are certainly Taiwanese Maxtones, I was under the impression it is a well extablished Taiwanese company, who now outsource to mainland China or have branches there.

And don't forget that on SOTW there are many people who will just knock anything purely because it's Chinese or Taiwanese as well as some more open minded people such as @milandro

It was seeing that Maxtone tenor there that made me first get interested in importing and branding a saxophone.

However, sadly, I think it's going to be very difficult to tell which is Chinese and which Taiwan just from looking at them.

 

[Pete Thomas]

Images above, on the bell it says Maxtone 1970 by French engineer

I would think 1970 is the date of incorporation of the Maxtone company, not the year of that horn.

 

[Jobylou]

I would think 1970 is the date of incorporation of the Maxtone company, not the year of that horn.

Haha! Yes, I realise that, I think the horn is only a couple of years old.
MIR seemed quite impressed with it anyway, so perhaps its a keeper if its not worth a lot 🙂

 

[rhysonsax]

The pictures show some differences to my Maxtones - the cheesegrater style low key guards, the more basic engraving, engraving on the key cups. Mine also have serial numbers near the thumbhook and "Taiwan" beneath that.

But there are some similarities as well - the keywork style and the use of abalone instead of pearls for the touches.

Not sure if our instruments are related.

Rhys

 

[c9off]

The brand Maxtone does indeed source both from China & Taiwan. Your alto looks very much like a Mauriat as you say, and it could well be in all but name.
.
Sadly there are many cheap Maxtones on Ebay, no doubt a different model which limits potential value.

You know how much it cost so that is a guide to what could be achieved, but as you already own it, it & consider it plays very well, then keep it!

 

[Pete Thomas]

The brand Maxtone does indeed source both from China & Taiwan. Your alto looks very much like a Mauriat as you say, and it could well be in all but name.

It could look very similar, but I don't think it's likely to be a Mauriat.

 

[altissimo]

hang onto it, you'd have difficulty getting a decent price for it at the moment - Ads is having trouble selling his Jupiter tenor for £425 and that's a better known brand. There are plenty of student Yamaha altos on Ebay for around £300 and people will buy those in preference to a less well known make like Maxtone. So unless you've got a desperate need to sell it, you'd be better off keeping it and enjoying it

 

[Jobylou]

The pictures show some differences to my Maxtones - the cheesegrater style low key guards, the more basic engraving, engraving on the key cups. Mine also have serial numbers near the thumbhook and "Taiwan" beneath that.View attachment 2311 View attachment 2312 View attachment 2313

But there are some similarities as well - the keywork style and the use of abalone instead of pearls for the touches.

Not sure if our instruments are related.

Rhys

Maybe distant cousins!

 

[jonf]

Yup. Hang on to it. I've bought and sold loads of saxes, and in my experience of doing so, I'd say any sax without a know brand reputation will struggle to top £150.

 

[Jobylou]

I guess it is like comparing my Sports Direct Baseball boots (cost £4.50) to my Converse ones (cost £40), there will always be a demand for the Converse ones because they have the star, but not so for the cheapo ones despite them being more or less the same!
I love my Sports Direct boots and I love my Converse!
I bought the Maxtone for £200 with a fantastic case (which was the reason for me buying the horn! The case would be over £100 on its own, I didn't expect to like the horn, but £20 spent at MIR and it plays like a dream, they also rated it and said it was well made.
I was only thinking about selling it because I have a new Conn Selmer Premier arriving tommorow and I bought Daveys unlaquered YAS23 a few months back, so I thought 3 altos was a bit greedy! Now I have a good excuse to keep it!
Thank you to everyone for their input 🙂

 

[Ads]

Well don`t sell the YAS23 (Unless there`s a 21 or 61 on the Horizon) as you`ll regret that for sure .. I`m sure you`ll like the Premier, it`s closely related to the Elkhart Deluxe & 300 series - it`d take a Yani to beat my Elkhart 300 Curvy Sop . 3 Altos isn`t greedy if at least two of them are`t mega expensive ones so you`re fine there 😀 .. I have to admit that if I ever was able to find and afford a silver 61 Alto , my 21 and Conn 14M would stay too .