sax stores in southern california

[Mad Duran]

help!! I need to find a MKVI alto that sings, I can spend more more than a song, but it's got to be a really, great horn. In others words, it better blow my skirt up. I don't live in LA but I'm thinking I got to go there to find enough to compare. Any suggestions??

I know ebay is an option but it's too hard buying a really good horn without playing it, don't you think?

[T-MAN]

Try the Horn Connection, 1507 N. Gardner St, Los Angeles, CA 90046. Phone # 323-876-9662. Lots of good vintage horns.

[Mad Duran]

Tman,
thanks!

[Bflat]

I agree with T-man - the Horn Connection is a veritable candystore of vintage horns. The asking prices are very high (don't know what happens when it comes time to deal), but you aren't likely to find any beaters there either. It's a real hands-on shop, and if Manny's son Mark is minding the store, you'll be able to noodle at your leisure with every horn on the wall. Have a look at the Kings as well as the Mk VIs - I cried when I had to hand back a most delectable Silversonic.

Also try Baxter-Northrup Music at 14534 Ventura Blvd. - last time I was there they had four or five Mk VIs, including a very sweet silver-plated number that played soooo nice! Their prices are more reasonable as well, but the horns vary in condition.

Happy hunting!

Bflat

[Bflat]

Mad - also have a look at "Went Tenor Shopping This Weekend" posted by Shaun SS under the "Tenor Saxophone" string.

Bflat

[Mad Duran]

thanks guys!
any more???

[mr00420]

Oleg's
12448 Vebtura Blvd.
Studio City, CA
(818) 788-7510

He seems to slao have alot of horns, but Oleg's sounds alot like Baxter-Northup: the horns are in various states of repair. When I called Baxter-Northup they had a Conn 6M, MKVIs, but no Kings. Oleg seems to specialize in Selmers.

Actually I bought a pretty nice Zephyer 323XXX from the Horn Connection. I was in the same situation as you, except I only had a day look around LA for horns before returning to Japan. I tried to get Manny to give me a discount, but no deal... he lowered the cost of the pad savers and gave me a plastic two reed reed-gaurd for free. He said he fully overhauled it himself and that's why he need to ask probably the max. he could get for it. I didn't have time to go to other shops, and this was a real nice horn that sounded and looked the way I wanted, and was just recently overhauled and re-padded.

Other shops weren't going to be selling ready-to-play horns...they were going to need fixing. Well this was a real nice horn so I bought it... but I complained about the stickiness of the pads before purchasing it, and now the G# key tends to stick sometimes when doing chromatic runs or the notes between F and G#... so I'm not COMPLETELY satisfied w/ the deal seeing as I can't bring the horn in to be looked at until another year when I may return for X-mas.

He has one Conn 6M, and mint Silversonic (I think,) a later S20 (no good in my opinion,) and a real nice 6M (needs work, not much lacquer.)

[garyinla]

I have known Manny at Horn Connection for a long time. He is very reputable and sells high quality vintage horns. If he has repadded the horns they play very well. He does very good work.

He treats the pads to extend their life with a particular substance (I dont know exactly what it is, but I have an idea.) If a sax is unused for awhile, it is possible that the pads could stick slightly as the result of this treatment. This happened to me. I had a sax he repadded then it sat in my closet for about 8 years. (I accept blame for this.) Then the pads stuck slightly. I brought it back and in a few minutes he fixed this. It is a very minor issue. The pads remained new-ish for all this time sitting in a closet.

If you get a sax from him that he repadded and then the pads stick a little, if you bring it back he will fix it by doing something with the pads, (I dont know what, I didnt see) in a few minutes. If you are not local, you can give him a call and I am sure he will advise you on how to alleviate the problem yourself or tell your local repair guy what to do. Again I am sure it is a very trivial thing, not a chronic problem. It just means the sax was unplayed for awhile I think. Or maybe it was exposed to heat when it was in transit back to Japan, or both.

[mr00420]

Actually, when I wrote this I didn't intend to take this page on a tangent. This thread hasn't been posted on for quite some time anyway, so I guess it's O.K. if I respond to comments about what I've written.

You seem to be a bit defensive about this, so I'll clear up a couple of things. I'm (obviously) not a local, so as I said, If I want to get it repaired by the original shop, I can't (at least not till next X-Mas.) I told the owner I had problems w/ how the pads stuck prior to purchase. He didn't do anything about it. It had been sitting on the shop wall for quite sometime, but he suggested the pads were sticky from someone playing it.

The pads are immaculate, and along w/ my local tech. we figured that it's just the newness of the pads that makes the leather, or it's treatment, stick to the pads. As they get older and harden a bit they should stop sticking.

The sax was carry-on on the plane. It was not exposed to any extremes in heat or cold in during the trip. While Japan is a more humid climate than CA, it's not that different. It's like Virginia or N.Carolina, and it's winter so it's not humid at all now.

The problem happened pre- and post-trip, I just didn't play enough chromatic runs through the G# area to notice what a nuisance it was. It IS a chronic problem, which is only temporarily relieved by using a Pad Life-like treatment on the problem pads. Otherwise, when playing tricky passages sometimes the G# key won't raise at all, or raises slow. The horn plays great, and the pads seal great, it's just a few of the problem keys.

I keep the horn in good shape and clean the problem pads w/ Selmer pad paper after I play (and often before.) No, I don't eat candy or drink Coke right before I play, nor do I brush my teeth right before I play... I have good habits about what I do before I blow through the horn. The stickiness hasn't gotten worse, and w/ occasional treatments, the problem pads are usually alright. I've only had the horn for about a month, so I'm hoping the problem will eventually go away completely.

When I mentioned the problem w/ the pads, the owner didn't do anything about it, and wouldn't lower the price. W/ the price I paid I was expecting to get a horn that was ready to go w/ no extra work to be done on it. I did have to pay for extra materials to fix the problem, so I think those costs should have been discounted, or I could have been hooked up w/ those articles at the shop for a discount. I'm not going to call him b/c of the cost of the call as well as difficulties w/ time differences. He gave me his card when I left, and I did contact him by email about the problem before talking to my tech. That was at least three weeks ago. I'm still waiting for a response to my questions about what to do about the stickiness.

[Homer Simpson]

Hey Everyone,

I'm getting my tax refund pretty soon. I'm thinking about going out to buy a new (or vintage) tenor. Any other places that have a good reputation for selling saxes. I'm not attached to a particular brand. So everyone, go on ahead and speak your minds.

[mr00420]

Well, I only know of those three places in L.A. mentioned above... and I think they are the best shops in L.A., which in turn means they're probably the best shops in S. CA. seeing as how there doesn't seem to be jack anywhere else in that area. All the numbers are posted above for Oleg's, and the Horn Connection. The number for Baxter-Northup isn't there though so here it goes: (818) 876-9662. All these shops have a lot of vintage horns, as well as new ones... but if you want a new Yamaha or Yani or something, a chain music shop might be cheaper.

[bari_sax_diva]

If you're looking for a new horn, another shop you might want to try is Zep's in Burbank. Here's the info:

Zep's Music Ctr
3318 W Magnolia Blvd, Burbank, CA 91505
Phone: (818) 845-5181

Seems he has decent prices on a somewhat limited range of horns.

There's also Sam Ash stores all over the place (North Hollywood is closest to Los Angeles), but you need to know exactly what you're looking for because the staff won't have a clue. And if you shop Sam Ash, SHOP them, because their prices--especially on vintage horns--aren't necessarily the best you can find. There's a little joint in Glendora (about 40 minutes east of downtown LA) called Gard's Music that will go head to head with Sam Ash on any new sax price. Might be worth giving them a call and telling them you heard they'll deal.

By the way--Oleg can be a bit cantankerous. Take him with a grain of salt if you stop in.

-Leanne

[Jazzed]

Steins' on Vine has a bunch of horns, however I did not try out any there. They mainly focus on string instruments. Not too far from the Horn Connection, across the street from the Musician's Union.

[griggsy]

I just wanted to make mention of Saddleback Horn Improvement in Mission Viejo (not sure how close you guys are to Southern OC). The guys who run the joint are really friendly too and have gone out of their way to help customers. Now, they didn't seem to have a wide selection of horns for sale, but they did move into bigger space recently, so that may change. It would probably be worth your while to check it out if you are ever in the area. Oh...and if you need repairs done, they are really great about getting them done- and reasonable price. And no...I don't work there! Good luck in your quest!

[averageschmoe]

i'll second the love for horn improvement! Jeff does fantastic work, carries accessories that nobody else has on the west coast, and is a ridiculously nice guy (as are the rest of the staff). as far as horns go, they still don't have much. but as far as techs in southern california go, the shop is second only to rhuben allen.

[mr00420]

Does horn improvement carry a lot of MPCs: metal, or JJazz or Runyons? Do they have any mpc resurfacers there? Do you know their contact info.? When you say Southern OC, do you mean Oceanside? I'm not sure how far Mission Viejo is from North County.

Where is Rhuben Allen located?

[averageschmoe]

they carry a good selection of modern mouthpieces, runyon included (if i remember correctly), maybe not quite as impressive a selection as some of the guys out here, but he keeps some things in stock nobody else out here does. they don't do mouthpiece work, but they know just about everybody who does.

contact info:
Saddleback Horn Improvement
(949)-455-4163
25762 Taladro Cir. #E
Mission Viejo, CA

Rheuben Allen is up around valley village (north of la). from what i've heard he's retired from mouthpiece work but still takes a few repair clients (he can be pricey).

Rheuben Allen
(818)-985-9846
5503 Hermitage Ave., Suite B
Valley Village, CA

[griggsy]

mr00420-
I don't think they have a large selection of mp's, but they DO have a fair amount. AND...they have Morgans there which I understand are tough to find. I bought my SR Tech and Otto Link mouthpieces there. I guess I will be selling my SR Tech on Ebay soon, just doesn't seem to fit me. Anyway, the selection they DO have seems adequate. Probably best you try these guys first.

Also, Mission Viejo is just north of San Juan Capistrano, which is just north of San Clemente, which is just north of Oceanside...
I guess I consider North County SD anything south of Christianitos Road exit off the 5. I'm so damn familiar with the 5 after commuting to Coronado every week.

[mr00420]

Thanks Griggsy... I'll be about 5min South of Oceanside on the I-5. I drove up to the Horn Connection on Sunset Blvd. last winter, and I want to avoid that hassle at all costs (even though I suppose I'm promised a free "check-up.") Driving up the I-5 is bad enough, but once in L.A. (especially Hollywood) it's HELL!

[hornimprovement]

In Feb 2002 Hornimprovement moved to a larger facility in the same building. The mouthpiece selection has grown immensely(ie: Morgan, Barone, Jody Jazz, Beechler, SR Tech, Vandoren, Meyer, Link, Yani,etc...). We stock new saxes by Selmer, Keilwerth, Yanagisawa, and Unison.The vintage professional saxophone selection has grown considerably (ie:BA's,VI's, VII's,SA80II,Guardala, Zephyrs,10M,12M, Couf,etc...) We carry a variety of ligs, necks, straps, Aebersolds,and other goodies. Check or website for directions (we're about halfway between LA and SanDiego),
feel free to drop by and say hi. -Jeff

[garyinla]

Oleg's is no longer on Ventura Blvd in Studio City, they moved to a different location which is production-oriented with a showroom with office hours by apt. in the Valley. There was a thread on this on SOTW.

[saxboy]

Rhuben Allen is great but pretty far for me living down south. Horn Improvement is my local shop of choice. Jeff has tons of great mouthpieces, new and old horns, necks, a great repair staff and everything else I need. I heard Oleg was not doing repair anymore and was just making all these sax pieces and importing cheap saxes, selling them for crazy money.

I send everyone to Jeff and they always seem very happy. I have a dozen mouthpieces from Horn Improvement, numerous repairs and overhauls thru the years, all reeds and ligs there and just got all the new SAXRAX stands from him.

Good Stuff and fair prices,

SAXBOY

[riFph]

Best Place in SD is The Windsmith in northpark. They did an awesome job over hauling my Buffet Dynaction tenor. I also had to take a bari the had been bent in 3 places and it plays as good as new. Their work has always been great and Mark and Katie are very nice and helpfull. Also, they sell a lot of vintage horns for low prices. I was looking at picking up a near mint YTS 62 for $1100. If you're in the area you should definatly check em out.