DOLNET Paris F1084

[cvwitz]

Hallo

My name is Carsten ,i found this Saxophon it looks good and i want to know
the age of this sax.

The number f1084 but i didn´t understand where i can find it all ower the www.

is there anyone who know something about the sax?

Thanks
cvwitz

[Saxland]

Check out saxpics.com the Dolnet section. Click on the models and they will link with photos to different Dolnet models.

http://www.saxpics.com/?v=man&manID=5

[saxofpride]

Are you German by any chance? my suggestion is you try google search.

[JayeSF]

Carsten...PM or e-mail Forum member Uwe Steinmetz here...he is quite the knowledgeable fellow in identifying Dolnets.

[milandro]

unfortunately nobody knows anything FOR SURE about the Dolnet serial numbers, the relationship with the occasional presence of different letters (or not) found, at times, in the serial numbers is also a mystery. The Dolnet factory got dismantled leaving no records whatsoever behind (as far as anyone has been able to tell up until now). Some people are trying to compile a serial numbers chart by associating the numbers with the actual purchase data that some buyers have available (when some people bought horns new in the shop) but besides this being very imprecise, to say the least, this endeavour is complicated also by the habit that Dolnet had, to number all wind and brass instruments which they made with the same serial number structure.
Having said that, the most difficult intrumets to date are the Bel Air ones (also those which are Bel Air model but do not say so on the bell!) because they have been in production for a very ling time.

Before you start fixing a Dolnet, please, please, please, make sure that you are dealing with a positively LOW PITCH saxophone since there are HIGH PITCH ones out there!

[cvwitz]

Hallo
i get some images with the serial
hope for help
cvwitz
http://witzleben.de/foto/1.jpg
http://witzleben.de/foto/2.jpg

[milandro]

oh, a curved soprano? this is an unusual Dolnet. I would say '60 '70 purely based on the lacquer wear

[Mal 2]

I notice the complete lack of any Art Deco elements on this horn. No diamond bell brace, no clipped rectangles for key touches. That makes me think it's later than the mid 60's and more into the start of the M70 era. Going by the pictures alone, it seems to be in excellent condition.

[milandro]

the lack of those elements is not inconsistent with all the soprano's that they ever made

[cvwitz]

Thank You all, what is the price for this sax?

[milandro]

Thank You all, what is the price for this sax?

it is very difficult to say because it is not that the market of the dolnet curved soprano is so large that one can say that historically they fetch a certain amount of money, besides, it depends where you sell it (in the olden days America and Japan would have been the best market for this but they are somehow depressed nowadays). If I would sell this in this day and age I would place it at 1500$ (more if there is a quick F , and I think there is) I am assuming that it is as good as it looks and it plays well and it is not an high pitch horn.

[spiderjames]

That is an odd sax. It is marked Dolnet but everything else about it, the shape of the key guards, the thumbhook, F bridge, RH pinky cluster, elbow brace, looks Italian.

[JayeSF]

A pic of the opposite side of the horn, and the pinky table too...would help. That table and the bell brace look suspiciously Malerne...although the spat keys do not...

Unfortunately, saxpics.com's image files of a Dolnet curved soprano seem to have been spammed or sumthin'....no sax pics there, just gibberish.

[electricfigue]

That is an odd sax. It is marked Dolnet but everything else about it, the shape of the key guards, the thumbhook, F bridge, RH pinky cluster, elbow brace, looks Italian.

No, this one is 100% Dolnet. I have seen an straight nickelplated soprano from near the 80´s with the serial number at the same place,the same spatulas, the octave key like a cigar cutter and the number is F51XX.

[milandro]

but it is true that the LH table is very Orsi-Like

[electricfigue]

Maybe they are not French Dolnet at all, because the engraving on this curved and on the other one with F serial number says only "Dolnet Paris". Not "Dolnet Paris Made in France" like usually you can see on the Bel Airs, Royal Jazz or M70 Dolnet. What do you think?

[milandro]

I really think that this Dolnet looks so much like a Orsi

this one is a sopranino but ook at it!
http://www.shwoodwind.co.uk/Reviews/Saxes/Sop/Orsi_sopranino.htm
there are so many similarities

[JayeSF]

Maybe they are not French Dolnet at all, because the engraving on this curved and on the other one with F serial number says only "Dolnet Paris". Not "Dolnet Paris Made in France" like usually you can see on the Bel Airs, Royal Jazz or M70 Dolnet. What do you think?

Interesting observation...hmmmm.....did Dolnet perhaps subcontract some of their horns to Italy, the way Malerne might have done ?

[milandro]

....Interesting observation...hmmmm.....did Dolnet perhaps subcontract some of their horns to Italy, the way Malerne might have done ?


we will never know since there are no remaining records of the Dolnet factory. Mind you if this were mainly a French speaking forum there would be the off chance to have some of the last people who worked at Dolnet among us but we have not, until now, had such luck.

[electricfigue]

I really think that this Dolnet looks so much like a Orsi

this one is a sopranino but ook at it!
http://www.shwoodwind.co.uk/Reviews/Saxes/Sop/Orsi_sopranino.htm
there are so many similarities

Yes, the Orsi has the same right hand spatulas, and the same octave system (side neck), like the Dolnet with F serial number, and the persons who owned it, told me it was from the 80's.
And the engraving also has similarities, because the 70´s Dolnets have triangular motif engraving (like my soprano), and those two have a different design. Maybe thats the reason to put "Dolnet Paris" only, and not "Made in France".