york saxophones

[spiderjames]

In the process of repairing and repadding a york tenor. First time I ever got my hands on one. This one is from approx 1924-26. Anybody have info on these horns. I always assumed they were stencils but now I don't think so at all. The keywork and tone hole design is a bit different than most other saxes I am familliar with. The work looks like it was mostly by hand and seems a bit cruder than other saxes of the era. very charming but I wont know how it plays for a few days. Any notable players ever use these?

[Hurling Frootmig]

I've talked with a York expert and he was sure that they were mostly stencils but there are some newspaper articles from the 40's (I think) out of Grand Rapids that indicated that when York got bought by Fischer that Fischer was going to put more people into the Saxophone area. So it's hard to tell.

I've looked at a number of their horns online and I can't tell who made them.

[spiderjames]

I have seen some yorks that look like conn or buescher stencils and some that are martin like with bevelled tone holes etc.. This one has weird looking soldered tone holes on all the tone holes but the upper and lower stack. they kind of taper to a thin edge at the top but no bevel . The upper and lower stack tone holes are all made from a single separate peice that is soldered over the body.

[dingfelder]

I have a "york master" that I am also restoring.

The tech that got the dents out of the body for me also mentioned that he had seen a york with all the keys connected on 1 side as well, but the one I have does not look like that at all.

I will post some images of how it looks when dissassembled so you can see where the holes are

[dingfelder]

here are shots from the early deconstuction phase...

http://www.computingasyoulikeit.com/photos/photos/misc/saxophone/york_tenor/under_repair/index.html

since this time, I have removed the springs, de-dented it, delaquered it, polished it lightly, and lightly scuffed it with a 0000 grit pad fpr a satin finish. Im now in the process of making the engraved flowers etc polished, to add contrast from the rest of the satin finish.

I am now contemplating silver plating the portion inside the ingraved area and the inside of the bell... anyone know how to mask off a portion so that the silver plating doesnt run into the rest of the horn ?

More photos soon :P

[Mike Ruhl]

I came across a York tenor of similar vintage a few years ago, and it played quite nicely with my Florida Link STM. We discussed the history of York on the old forum, and someone seemed to know a lot of the history. About all I can recall from the discussion was that they were not stencils. York made their own horns until, as previously mentioned, they were bought out.

[knighttrain]

I have a York Tenor made in '49 that I do not believe is a stencil. It does not look like any other sax I've seen in person or in pictures.

[Mike Ruhl]

This is interesting. I did a google search for "york saxophones" and came up with this:

http://www.brookmays.com/prod_disp.asp?itemnum=YTS1

and this:

http://www.yorkbandinstruments.com/

This kind of bugs me...

[Mike Ruhl]

Here we go. Some real historical information:

http://www.calstatela.edu/faculty/jswain/brass/

[Darren Vasaturo]

i just bought a york alto of ebay that arrived with the wrong neck! :? the sax has one of those socket necks, and i presume it to have been made after WWII as the serial number is 27,xxx, but it is a deco type design with the front f key, etc. can anyone point to serial number source for later horns? also does anyone have any idea where i might find a neck for this thing? i could take some pictures of it... :shock: thanks.

[ryanstatia]

I have a York alto that I'm having a problem finding any information on. I believe it is from 1922, but can't say with 100% certainty. I've attached a picture for reference and can send a full length picture and serial number if anyone thinks they can help me find more info on this sax. It is not a great player, but it is not bad. A little stuffy and a few minor intonation problems. My Conn 6M is of course my preference when playing, but I love the look of my York.

[geauxsax]

Yorks are tough to research, even here on SOTW. If you do a search, you mainly get all sorts of stuff about New York model mouthpieces, saxes, and whatever. I just saw an old thread about non-stencil Yorks. They had soldered tone holes, but NOT like Martins, Holtons, etc. The tone holes actually had a flat base that was soldered onto the horn. I'll try to find more info...

[zxcvbnm]

Yours may be a Buescher.

[geauxsax]

Yorks are tough to research, even here on SOTW. If you do a search, you mainly get all sorts of stuff about New York model mouthpieces, saxes, and whatever. I just saw an old thread about non-stencil Yorks. They had soldered tone holes, but NOT like Martins, Holtons, etc. The tone holes actually had a flat base that was soldered onto the horn. I'll try to find more info...


Here's a link to the other York thread, from the C-Mel section. I thought it had pictures, but I guess not. I have seen pics of the Non-stencil York tonehole arrangement somewhere--I'll keep looking.:)

http://forum.saxontheweb.net/showthread.php?t=37923&highlight=york

[ryanstatia]

Thanks for responding. If I can post a more detailed photo of some area of the saxophone that would assist with the research, please just let me know and I'll get it/them posted.

[bruce bailey]

It would help to get a shot of the lower area around the low E-D keys and bow.

[geauxsax]

Thanks for responding. If I can post a more detailed photo of some area of the saxophone that would assist with the research, please just let me know and I'll get it/them posted.


Good full length pics from each side with neck on, a separate pic of the pinky cluster, and pic of bow would help. Also, any trademark date, and city it was built in (if labelled on the horn) would be good.

[ryanstatia]

Thank you all for replying. As soon as I get the pictures taken that you think would be helpful, I will post them. Probably will not be for a couple of days.

[ryanstatia]

Here are the pictures as requested. Sorry for the delay, I had to rebuild my computer from scratch which took some time.

[ryanstatia]

Sorry, forgot to mention Serial Number is 96591.

[geauxsax]

Left hand neck screw, teeter-totter F sharp trill, and in your first post, looks like extruded tone holes--maybe Buescher (?) anybody else???

[Jonathan C.]

Also for security reasons you may consider cutting the serial number

Example

5555XX

[zxcvbnm]

looks different than a buescher though.

[geauxsax]

looks different than a buescher though.

I agree with you, and whatever it is, here's another one just like it (aside from the finish):


http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-York-Saxophone-1936-1937_W0QQitemZ180215021547QQihZ008QQcategoryZ11903 0QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Looking at the RH pinky keys, they don't seem like Buescher to me. Also, in the ebay pic, larger tone holes (at least) look to be soldered on--can't really tell though.