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Leblanc "Rationale" Saxophone

Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2011-11-06 13:06

In the late 1950s or early 60s, Leblanc put out a very complex (and short-lived) "Rationale" sax. Among other features, you could press a lever and it would play everything a half step lower. I have, buried somewhere in my boxes of stuff, an introductory pamphlet detailing its many features.

There's been a recent discussion of the Rationale sax on the Musical Instrument Tech board, with links to two interesting pages:

The pamphlet is at http://www.saxgourmet.com/leblanc.htm

Photos are at http://www.doctorsax.biz/leblanc_2xx.htm

Even the Mazzeo fantasy instruments http://orgs.usd.edu/nmm/Clarinets/Mazzeo/5833/Mazzeo5833.html don't approach the complexity of the Rationale. I suppose the double-tube transposing clarinet http://anticwindbooks.chez-alice.fr/clarinet/clar14/clar14.html comes close.

Has anyone seen or played a Rationale in the flesh?

Ken Shaw

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Re: Leblanc "Rationale" Saxophone

Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2011-11-06 13:46

I briefly worked on one years ago. It was one COMPLEX beast, very well made. Did a short play-test only, I recall it sounded nice but that's all I remember.

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Re: Leblanc "Rationale" Saxophone

Author: JEG ★2017
Date: 2011-11-11 19:19

I bought my Model 100 Leblanc Paris alto saxophone new in 1975. It's a marvelous horn that I don't do justice to because I hardly ever play saxophone these days. The mechanism is complicated, though it shouldn't be impossible for a top-notch tech to handle. I bought mine from Bill Street, who has done all the work on it. He owned a Model 100 that had a special mechanism for the low C# key where it stayed open most of the time and closed only when low C or below was played. This past summer was the first time I had him work on my horn in a few years, and while it played well he found a few things to fix including a pad which appeared to be moth-eaten. Yes, it takes time to adjust but it is in great condition considering its age and the amount of work done on it and still has most of its original pads.

I played it on many orchestra jobs and also used it to teach lessons. I used it in "Pictures at an Exhibition" this past March and the tone was beautiful. It plays very easily and well in tune.

I don't think it's necessarily true that pressing a lever makes everything a half-step lower. Pressing down any key on the right-hand stack enables you to play a third-space C (and the octave above) without using any other fingers. You can also play a fork G#, A# and D#. I've found these extra fingerings handy on occasion.

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