Klarinet Archive - Posting 000457.txt from 2005/06

From: "Lelia Loban" <lelialoban@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] OT (sax) question
Date: Fri, 24 Jun 2005 09:55:07 -0400

Diane Karius wrote,
> Hello all - I have a question regarding a saxophone I
> was given to play tonight

Fred Jacobowitz wrote,
>The Martin Committee is a student line instrument.

As Bill Hausmann and others have written, the Martin Committee was the
company's top of the line professional sax at the time. By today's
standards, as well, it's a first-rate saxophone. See Paul Lindemeyer's
book, "Celebrating the Saxophone," for corroboration.

Aside from the fine sound, this sax looks great, too, with Martin's
patented, odd-looking but excellent Art Deco octave key, and Art Deco
engravings. I own a 1951 Martin Committee tenor (one of those engraved as
"The Martin"), silver-plated, with a U. S. Navy engraving and a "USN"
sticker on the case. The Navy provenance alone would mark this sax as a
professional model. The Navy didn't buy student instruments.

Diane, it's unfortunate that the Committee you were given to play had
problems. Maybe the mouthpiece was a disaster (my Committee only plays in
tune with its original Martin mouthpiece) or maybe the sax hadn't been
properly overhauled. I'd be very surprised to hear of a Committee that's
an outright lemon, and I hope someday you have a chance to play one of
these that's been restored to top condition.

Bill Hausmann wrote,
>The Yamahas are still OK, but avoid Selmer's
>Elkhart products.

I agree, but maybe it's worth noting that, for someone looking for an old
sax instead of a new one, some of Selmer's early New York and Elkhart
instruments are good instruments. I own a gold-plated Elkhart Selmer alto
sax, with the split bell design (keys on both sides of the bell). It has
keywork to high F, with no front F. There are no reliable serial number
lists for early Elkhart Selmers, but the split bell design probably dates
mine to the mid-1920s, and no later than about 1934.

That Selmer was the first sax I bought. Peter Ferrante at Presto Brass &
Woodwinds overhauled it for me. It's still one of my favorite altos. My
other two favorites are a 1928 Conn "big bore" and a Martin stencil, both
silver-plated. The stencil is engraved "Weymann," for a store in
Pennsylvania; but the unusual octave key design matches a Martin patent and
some other features are also unmistakably Martin's. The sax came with a
Martin mouthpiece, the only one that plays in tune on this sax. The serial
number, if it's a Martin number, would date my "Weymann" to 1928, a year
that agrees with the design. I bought this sax with the intention of
selling it, because it was too cheap to pass up even though a stencil is
worth so much less than a good brand name that a "Weymann" wouldn't bring
me much of a profit; but I like it so much that I've never been able to
persuade myself to pop it. I like the Selmer and Conn altos better than
the Weymann for music that uses more of the lowest range of the sax.
They're both "bottom-heavy" saxes, with an unusually booming, resonant tone
in the low range. I happen to like that sound a lot, but the Weyman-Martin
has a clearer, more beautiful tone for playing high-pitched passages--and
the same is true of that later Martin Committee tenor.

Fwiw, new saxes all feel weird to me--too lightweight and flimsy, compared
to my old sewer pipes. I'm an amateur and I don't care about not having a
high F# key. YMMV.

Lelia Loban

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