Saxophones Weltklang solist tenor

[C_Claudemonster]

Hi all, got a weltklang solist tenor from eBay the other day. Picked it up from my depot today and was really suprised to see that it looks as if it's never been played! There isn't a mark on it. It's a silver plated version and has quite a big, full and warm sound. I'm not sure the metal m/piece does any justice tho. I have a question about this sax though, and that is that I think it may have been manhandled in transit as the end plug was out and my octave key isn't very fluent in the movement and it will stay on the upper register when I play. Is there an easy way of sorting this out so that I don't have to trek to a tech for one minor issue!
Many thanks 🙂

 

[zootsaxenberger]

Hi all, got a weltklang solist tenor from eBay the other day. Picked it up from my depot today and was really suprised to see that it looks as if it's never been played! There isn't a mark on it. It's a silver plated version and has quite a big, full and warm sound. I'm not sure the metal m/piece does any justice tho. I have a question about this sax though, and that is that I think it may have been manhandled in transit as the end plug was out and my octave key isn't very fluent in the movement and it will stay on the upper register when I play. Is there an easy way of sorting this out so that I don't have to trek to a tech for one minor issue!
Many thanks 🙂

is the octave pin bent? it should be dead straight and sitting just off of neck key ring
make sure the pin isn't opening the octave key even when you are playing in the lower register

 

[AlistairD]

Sounds like a good excuse to buy Stephen Howard's Haynes Saxophone Manual....

 

[zootsaxenberger]

Sounds like a good excuse to buy Stephen Howard's Haynes Saxophone Manual....

you know what? that was gonna be my next suggestion

 

[C_Claudemonster]

lol, thanks! Yes the octave pin is bent! I guess that must be the problem. I've seen the Haynes manual and it looks like a great present idea for my birthday! 🙂
the sax is a nice player so I'm really pleased with it for £141!

 

[kevgermany]

Weltklangs have a good reputation in Germany, and the solist models with the extra pearls are very popular. Slightly tanklike, but great sound. I'm just starting a rebuild on an Akustik, same factory, wire keyguards, this one's probably late 40s/early 50s. Can't wait to have a blow. I can't see it taking over from my other tenor, though.

With the octave pin, bend it carefully until there's a small gap between it and the neck ring when no keysare pressed, (say 1-2mm) but look at the linkage all the way through - The G spring and the spring on the neck have to be in balance for the octave key to work properly. This can be tricky to get right. Chances are you won't need to touch the springs.

 

[jonf]

Bent octave pins - I reckon they are the most common cause of transit damage. I don't think it's right to blame the shippers for mishandling, though. The seller really should have packaged the sax so the bung could not fall out. I've had exactly the same experience. I bought two altos from some prat on SOTW who advertised both as playing well through the range. He shipped them from the US to England with no end bungs at all. Surprise surprise, both octave pins were bent in.

Still, good to hear you have a nice sax - 141 quid for a silver tenor, even one needing a bit of a tweak is pretty good going.

 

[C_Claudemonster]

took my sax into East coast wind on sat (which is sort of near me I suppose, 45-50 min drive up the a12) and had all of the issues ironed out in about an hour for £20 and I did a bit of retail therapy by buying some accessories! The sax now plays great from top to bottom and it has a full, modern sound. I'm currently trying out a few of my m/pieces to see which gives it the best sound and so far the metal lawton isn't good! I have a couple of student standard ebonite m/p's and they seem to warm the sound of the sax a bit. Suprisingly my old Rico royal b3 is quite nice on it so I may stick with this for a while until I can afford another!
Thanks for the replies!
🙂

 

[zootsaxenberger]

Glad you got everything sorted, on the question of mouthpieces, its often the case that a mouthpiece that works on one horn underperforms or just wont play on another.
and some times you pay the earth for a pro mouthpiece only to find that a cheap student model mouthpiece that's been gathering dust in the back of a draw for several years, plays perfectly.

 

[C_Claudemonster]

lol, yeh! seems to be the case for me. My £20 rico royal plays the nicest 🙂