67 B&S tenor

[plant]

This is my first entry at Sax on the web and I'm hoping someone can give some advice.
I am looking at a 1967 B&S tenor tomorrow to replace my YTS 61. Its hard to find any informaton on older B&S horns but it is intriguing me, (mostly the prospect of finding a horn in Australia that will go close to a mark VI but is less than half the price). The bloke who is selling also has a mark VI for sale but it is out of my range. He reckons the B&S is kind of a copy of the selmer. Any advice would be much appreciated. :dontknow:

[The Martin]

My advice... (I never played either so this is not to dish the B&S...)

Play them side-by-side and see for yourself if it is a good MK VI copy.

There are a lot of axes out there that are claimed to be copies but in fact are inferior products.

[silver-sax]

Look
http://cybersax.com/4Sale/Saxophones/Tenors/Saxophones_Tenor.html

Keywork - modern and convenient. With high F#.
I have similar silver tenor serial number 84** (for sale).

[noelpaz]

You can't go wrong with those B&S. I have an alto and a sop -- wish I won the tenor before. I compared the alto to a series II and a yamaha and yanigawa 991 -- beats them all and I have a good Selemr BA and Buffet SDA tenor, so I know what good horns are.

[sax_appeal]

Hey! Welcome to another Aussie member. Where in aus are you from?

When you go to try the saxes make sure you try both of them, and bring your own along so you can 'warm up' on that. It also helps if you have your own sax to have something to compare the both of them to.

[barelytone]

Hi, what is the serial number on that '67 - and how do you know it is from '67? Anyone have a serial number/year chart for B&S??? Thanks! Nice horn, selling my port TH&C/pre-Selmer 360xxx tenor in favor of the B&S.

[silver-sax]

I think that 1967 tenor has serial number 1967!

[barelytone]

OK, I knew that . . .and that Yanagisawa 991 ... is that BC or AD?

[silver-sax]

I HAD SOPRANO B&S SERIAL NUMBER 2*** WITH THE PASSPORT
WHERE IT WAS SPECIFIED THAT THE SAXOPHONE IS MADE IN OCTOBER, 1984 (SOLD IN 2002 ON EBAY).

[barelytone]

Thanks!

[plant]

Sorry about the delay.
Thanx for the advice 'The Martin'. I did end up playing the Mark 6 and the B&S's (he is selling two) side by side. I wasn't going to play the selmer because I thought it would lead me to a much worse financial position but I couldn't resist. It played great but one of the B&S played great as well, it was in great nick. (not quite as good as the one in the picture from the link you left silver sax )

The room was covered in noise dampening as the guy is a teacher so I think this affected the sound and none of the horns blew me away, (and my playing certainly doesn't help). I would have taken your advice sax appeal and compared it to my horn, except that a post was being resoldered onto mine at the repair shop, (not sure how this happened but it did) and so no comparison. (By the way I'm from sunny Sydney).

The serial numbers are 24XX AD for the rough B&S and 90XX AD for the good B&S. The guy did not have a real good idea when they were actually made because he aquired them from a school which closed down in Moscow where he used to teach, but he thought they were both 60's horns?

I have arranged to play it again in a weeks time and I will take my YTS 61 which is playing noticeably better after it's visit to the technician as he fixed a few other small leaks. I am not playing very well after having a bit of a lay off so this also makes it difficult because I am not getting close to the best from any horn I play.

As I improve how will the B&S sound develop. I know this is an impossible question but its all I have to go on really. I'm looking for a brascher sound, could the B&S fit the bill?

[sax_appeal]

What are you doing after Christmas around new years? I'm planning a holiday in Sydney and we might be able to meet up for a coffee or something