Klarinet Archive - Posting 000022.txt from 2002/12

From: LeliaLoban@-----.com
Subj: [kl] bass saxophones (was: [kl] Fastest Flight of the Bumblebee I have heard)
Date: Mon, 2 Dec 2002 08:02:19 -0500

Gary Truesdail wrote,
>I have been told there are very few bass saxophones
>in the US. Does anyone have info on how many were
>actually made and where they are?

It's true that there aren't a lot, but I don't believe anybody knows how many
were made. The estimates I've seen usually agree with an article published
in _Saxophone Journal_ in the late 1980s, that said about 200 to 250 of the
first generation bass saxes are now in playable condition worldwide.
However, I think that number has simply been handed along, and I think it's
obsolete. I can't prove it, but the amount of contact between bass sax
players on the Internet leads me to guess that this estimate is probably too
low for today, and that at least double that number have lurched up from the
basements, now that more time has passed and interest in vintage saxophones
has increased. I think the Nuclear Whales also have done a lot to make reed
players aware that the bass saxophone is a good musical instrument, not a
mere curiosity.

For more information, see:

The Contrabass Maniacs page:
http://www.contrabass.com/

That terrific site, run by Grant Green, has an encyclopedia of various
"seismic instruments," with links to other sites. From there, you can get
to most of the information about bass saxophones that's on the web. There's
quite a lot about contrabass and contra-alto clarinets on the site, too, BTW,
including some excellent photos.

In addition to the bass saxes being made by the Italian company Orsi, both
under its own label and under the L. A. Sax label, Selmer will make a bass
sax on special order. The cost of a new bass was a minimum of about
US$17,500 last time I checked two years ago.

The old basses in restored (but not necessarily finely-adjusted) condition
often go for somewhere around US$5,000-$6,000, although there's a lot of slop
in that figure; and you can get one in bad (unplayable) condition for
considerably less. Buying an old bass is usually somewhat of a risk, because
there's almost no such thing as a vintage bass sax in mint condition. Most
need restoration work. I gambled (with a small windfall of money I'd never
expected, not with the grocery budget!) on a 1926 C. G. Conn that had been
dropped and severely damaged. After restoration, it turned out to be a
superb sax, but I got lucky.

Lelia

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