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Saxophones What is this mystery sax?

tmesis

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My mum bought a secondhand alto saxophone a few years ago and now she wants me to sell it. I know nothing about saxophones and can't even find the make and model written anywhere on the instrument or on the case.

This is the sax in its case:


The front has a floral engraving:


Close-ups of the pattern:



The serial number is 8182:



The neck, also engraved with serial no. 8182:


Can anyone help? I have no idea how much to ask for this instrument, I can't tell if it's worth £50 or £500! Any advice appreciated.
 
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More like £50 I'm afraid.

It's most likely a Chinese copy of a Selmer. If it's unbranded then people buying will assume the worst, that it's a one of the cheap, ones, some of which aren't very good, rather than one of the good quality ones which would be branded.
 
Thanks for the info. Couldn't tell you if it plays well - I can just about get a few notes of "Baker Street" out on it and it sounds okay to me, but then I am a flutist. Hopefully someone'll shell out for it, it's great fun!
 
Any markings on the rest of the sax? Even if they're symbols/logos.

Any markings/name on the mouthpiece. You may be lucky and find it's got a decent mouthpiece. Could be worth splitting them to sell. But if the mouthpiece is a no-namer, don't bother.
 
There's nothing on the mouthpiece unfortunately. Just the flower engraving on the bell and the serial number stamped on the underside of a few of the keys and the side of the neck. Even the serial number looks dodgy - on two of the keys the '1' is printed upside down!
 
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Pity. Sax looks as if it's in good condition, but that's about it. If you can get someone to test it properly with a decent mouthpiece, and it plays OK, then it may help a bit on the price (but don't buy a mouthpiece to sell with the sax, it's not worth it). The standard mouthpieces on these bottom end chinese saxes tend to be barely playable.
 
Looks awfully like this one: http://www.fortissimoinstruments.co...hones/atlanta-eb-alto-saxophone-by-fortissimo (look at the gallery for close ups) which is the one I own.

The case is identical to mine too (although I appreciate that there is probably not much difference between cases!)

A sax teacher examined it yesterday, and pronounced it fit for use, and producing quite a decent sound. As yours is older though, it might be different - from what I have heard, they have improved a lot over the last few years.
 
The engraving looks like a pretty typical generic pattern - not unlike the one you will find on Bauhaus, Gear4Music and John Packer instruments. Just because no-one has bothered to stamp a brand name on it, there's no reason why it shouldn't be a quite respectable instrument; just depends on the detailing and set-up and only a techy will be able to give an opinion on that.
 

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