Waiting for Beautiful Couesnon Alto

[juny]

Just bought this great looking Couesnon Alto (see link below) and am awaiting delivery, probably on Monday. :D

I read the other postings about this alto and hope it comes up to the quality that other owners mentioned.

My repair guy has a Couesnon Fluglehorn and he said it is a quality horn.

Look at the many pictures listed on the ebay site http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2553784099&category=16 232&rd=1.

I have told my repair guy that I will call him to give it a good checkout. The description mentioned at least one pad is questionable and the regulation and other pads would be best to look at also.

I will follow-up with an update after I get it and have it gone over.

Have a great day! I hope mine will be on the day it arrives. :!:

Juny

[morgan]

I was drooling pretty heavy over that one, but having just acquired a Couesnon alto last month I couldn't see any reason to grab this one.

Couesnon Warnings: Sound is strong, focussed, and consistent across registers. Intonation is razor perfect.

[juny]

Morgan

Sounds like great warnings!

The latest tracking indicated it was in Indiana as of this morning. It came from Illinois and is on its way to eastern Pennsylvania.

I anticipate a Monday or Tuesday delivery. Can't wait (of course then my repair guy gets to fix the pad and/hopefully not too many other things), Regards.

Juny

[David Spiegelthal]

I too am a fan of Couesnon "Monopole" alto saxes, I have two (one of which is for sale, as I "accidentally" bought a second one even though I now have three altos saxes despite being mainly a bari and tenor player nowadays.....). Terrific and under-valued horns.

[morgan]

"accidentally" bought a second one

:lol:

[juny]

Hi David,

Well. it got here early! :D It needs some work (one pad missing -some, but not all of them are hard - corks and felts need work, along with the "different" kind of neck - to make it a little more snug).

I tried it as soon as I opened it and only got part of the upper register to play, but WHAT TONE ON THOSE FEW NOTES - IT SINGS!!

I took it to my repair guy and he asked if I got the (Selmer) case with it. I told him that I did. He raised his eyebrows (I think he saw that I got a good deal).

He said there should be no problem with getting it back into shape and if the few notes that I got from it was a preview, well WOW.

It looks like some of the pads are OK yet, but he said that he would make sure and take care of whatever needed to be done to get it in tip-top condition. If you look at my first posting and click on the ebay link, you will see how great it looks (and now I know it will sound great too).

Well, can't wait until he calls for me to pick it up, hopefully by the end of next week :!:

Regards

Juny

[I. Fallon]

I did not get to peruse the provided link in time to see the pictures.

You were fortunate that the tone holes were intact (although even these can be repaired) as it is my experience that Couesnon Monopoles are played until something goes wrong with them, and the original owner does not want to spend repair money on an obscure horn.

Any case made for the Selmer instruments will work perfectly on the Couesnon.

A Couesnon monopole mouthpiece works well with them, although they are a little closed. A metal Link does not work well with the Alto.

Enjoy, they are wonderful horns. I think you did well with the purchase price.

[juny]

I. Fallon,

Thanks. Yes, I just checked the ebay link and they (the Pix) are gone! Too bad, they were great. :(

I am cleaning a mineral deposit out of the (original) mouthpiece as I am replying (by putting a vinegar soaked cotton ball inside of it). Someone said he soaked an older hard rubber piece in vinegar andit turned green, so the next time (after buffing the green off) he did what I am doing and it worked OK.

If what people (you included) are telling me about the piece, it should compliment the sax very well, after all it was a conservatory (classical) sax to begin with!

I will get back with an update and possibly some of my own Pix after I get it back from my repair guy (end of next week - I hope).

Thanks again

Juny

[juny]

Try this for three Pix of the Alto! :D (The seller sent them to me via email)

http://users.rcn.com/juny57/

Juny[/url]

[morgan]

I thought the Couesnon genuine mouthpiece was very overrated. Just use your favorite mpc.

[I. Fallon]

Wow. That is a stunner. And it looks like it has the cast brass thumb rest (my favorite).

I forgot to welcome you to the "club."

It is fortunate that eBay is available to send these horns to people that can appreciate them. I wish you the best with it.

[juny]

I. Fallon

Thanks.

I am currently having it partly overhauled. One pad was missing and corks and felts were needed at various places. :(

The neck is a little loose, but the repair guy said he can tighten it and get the horn into good playing condition for me. :) Many of the pads were still soft, so it only looks like some of them will have to be replaced.

The few notes I was able to get out of the upper register were of a very "singing quality" for want of a better word. Good volume and great tone. Can't wait until I get to bring it home! :D

Regards,

Juny

[juny]

I forgot, yes, it has the solid (brass) thumb hook.

Regards,

Juny

[I. Fallon]

Juny. Did the sax come back from the shop yet?

[juny]

I. Fallon, Hi

I thought that I would have heard something by now, but nothing yet. When I took it to him, I said to him that maybe he should give it a complete repadding and overhaul. He commented that some of the pads seemed to look OK, but maybe upon further examination, he decided to do it. :D

I understand some repair people prefer to do this to eliminate the possibility of a follow-up visit dealing with one that was not changed.

The neck was a little loose and he told me that someone started to make a cut perpendicular to the insertion part, as one would do to be able to tighten it more (the tightening screw is in the neck and not on the top of the sax body as is usual in most saxes). He indicated that completion of this cut should solve that problem.

I know this repairman since before he was a repairman, when we both played in the same high school band, so I trust what ever he needs to do to get it back in shape again. Also, he does repair work for various students and does subcontract instrument repair for at least one local music store. He may be rather busy right now since school has just begun and some of that may have slowed his work on my alto.

I hope that within another week I will hear something from him. I guess no news is good news.

I will post my report on how it plays as soon as I get it back and give it a try. Look for my comments, hopefully within the next couple of weeks - maybe before :!:

Thanks for asking.
Regards
Juny

[juny]

I almost forgot. When the repair tech gave me a receipt for the sax, he couldn't find a serial number to list on it, just "Made in Paris" stamped near the bottom.

Since then, I read on some website that most of these (Cousenon) saxophones did not have a serial number on them.

I thought that was interesting and wonder why that was (not) done?

You ever hear of this?

Juny

[morgan]

They do have serial numbers. They're hard to find -- usually near the F or E tonehole.

[juny]

Hi Morgan,

Guess we didn't know where to look. I will have to look (and show my repairman friend) where it is - if we can find it where you indicated when I pick it up.

Thanks again,

Regards,

juny

[I. Fallon]

There is an existing slot on the outer portion of the double socket neck. He can take a little bit out of the slot and the threaded nut area. By the way, the Couesnon's neck is similar to the King Super 20. I believe that Conn also made a double socket neck at one time.

Trust me, there is a serial number. Many are located below the F tonehole (only my tenor is currently available to me, I will look at my altos later). Your's is likely to be in the 7,000 range or below.

The Couesnon has a locking feature on the key cluster for the left pinkey. Have the tech set this lock the way you want it.

The lacpuer does not take heat well and you may want to caution the tech when replacing pads. There is only so much caution available, as the horn is useless without pads.

The finger spacing between the alto and tenor is identical, which is nice if you alternate between the horns frequently. The bari is close but has a wacky placement of the octave key.

To get the most fun out of the horn, you may want to look under the Reed topic area for reed drilling. Drilled reeds are a real hoot.

[juny]

Wow, what you learn on this forum, thanks to both of you for the info.

I am not familiar with reed drilling.

Maybe I need to look where you suggested, I. Fallon.

I always want to learn more about my instruments and their components.

Also, extra information, such as your suggestion.

In a few sentences, can you brief me on this "reed drilling" topic? What does it entail and can I do it or are the reeds bought this way?

Please enlighten me, thanks

juny

[I. Fallon]

I would be stealing Bootman's thunder and get in trouble for going off topic with too much of an exposition here. Trust me. Go to the Reed section and look for Reed Drilling. It will take you to a couple of links with photos and everything.

Most of the reed players laughed at me when I talked about drilled reeds at my Community Band. After a few months of playing them I needed a reed and didn't have any drilled ones with me. The difference was so great the band thought that my Couesnon Tenor got dropped!

[juny]

I. Fallon,

Went to "Reeds" Section and bookmarked for reference. I will try to do some, see if it helps ME. I am willing to try new things, especially in regard to reeds.

I got a reed "balancing " kit from Tom Ridenour,
http://www.ridenourclarinetproducts.com/

He claims that any reed can be "adjusted" to play, following his method. I have done his procedure on a few reeds and it seems to help somewhat.

He says that any single reed can use his system.

I guess most of my reeds lately have been better than average. Most have played well out of the box.

One clarinet reed seemed stuffy and I tried his method and it is still stuffy. Guess I will drill it!

See what happens.

I better stop now or I will find this reply added to the "Reeds" section.

I will do some and see what my results are, thanks again

juny

[juny]

Well, I finally got my Cousenon Alto sax back from my repair man and........ initially I was happy, then disappointed, and finally happy :!:

My repair bill was less than $50! :D It only needed one new pad (the one that was missing - if I didn't mention it before). also eight new corks and a couple of felt bumpers. Some of the keys also needed straightening. This is when I felt happy!

My disappointment arose after I started playing it. It sounded very good except that my lower register G and F came out sort of mushy sounding and sometimes would go into (almost) a squeak - of all things. I squeak on clarinet, since I am a new player on it, but on a sax....Well not for a long time - until now?

No matter what reed or choice of four mouthpieces, I still had the same problem. I tried to figure out what was happening and decided that maybe my repair guy missed something - but he said he played it and it was OK (told me when I picked it up).

Well, to make a long story short, I noticed that even though it looks good, there was some dust and dirt around each of the pads, so I decided to get some cotton swabs and give it the once-over. After doing a few outer-edge areas, I noticed that one of the pads seemed dirty, so I got my pad cleaning strips and pad drops out and cleaned out all of the pads - you guessed it! I got quite a bit of dirt out of the pads and by cleaning them, I must have gotten better pad sealing than I had initially because, all of a sudden, my F and G were much better!

Since I just acquired the alto, I should have figured that some cleaning would be necessary to get it into good playing order, and it was necessary.

By the way, we (My repair guy) found the serial number between the E and F keys - it is S/N 8857.

Also my Selmer case is the type that holds a clarinet and flute, although the clarinet case is missing - looks like I will need to do a search on eBay or post a "WTB" post under the classified section of the forum. I will also have to get a flute (HA HA). I used to have one but never mastered it - only took lessons for a few months. As I remember it, it took quite a bit of wind to play it.

Well the final result of my waiting is that I am satisfied, and yes - happy with the Cousenon Alto. The only thing that seems strange is that long ago - when I initially started playing sax - I had a CONN Alto (with the micro-tiner neck) and it seemed to me that the gauge of the metal on my old CONN was much heavier than is on this newer alto. It seems so small and light to me! Well I also Have a Martin "The Martin Tenor", which is quite heavy and I am probably using that as a comparison.

As a final comment - question - does anyone know if any of the clarinet cases for Selmer Alto sax case are still available? I would think if someone has one, it would not be by itself, that is, it is probably in an alto case and the owner would not likely sell it without the alto case.

By the way, the case is tan leather with lockable (no key with case) left and right spring-open latches and a center non-locking latch. It has tan leather-covered, stitched handles on the (carrying) side and on the end - and has tan stitched-on leather edging around the sides and bottom outer-edge and a plate with the name (Selmer) on the side near the top, just below the regular carrying handle.

Oh, I almost forgot, when I cleaned the pads I noticed that the tone holes look like they are thr rolled type! I didn't know that these saxes came with rolled toneholes! Oh well, I learned quite a bit that I didn't know before about the "Cousenon Monopole" alto sax since I acquired it :!:

Regards,

juny

[juny]

PS: I found out, after playing the sax a few more times, that I was slightly touching the octave key while in the lower register and as a result was getting some squeaking - must try to stay away from it when playing lower register notes.

Regards

juny

[morgan]

Great! Check your spelling of "Couesnon" though.

[I. Fallon]

I am glad you like it (I knew you would).

The Couesnon (pronounced Quen non) Monopole alto, tenor, and bari have rolled tone holes. The soprano (from every example I have seen) did not.

[juny]

Hi to both of you, Morgan and I Fallon,

To you, Morgan, I say "pardon my French"....or at least my spelling of a French name! Just kidding :!:

I Fallon, I didn't know about the rolled tone holes until I started cleaning the pads. The rolled edges are quite fine (tiny), at least smaller than I imagined - guess because it's an alto! At any rate, the horn looks good, although it has some minor blemishes which were not evident on the pictures on ebay. Nevertheless, I think it looks great for its age - I suppose mid to later '50s.

Well, someone had a good looking Bari... nevermind, I have spent enough lately on new (at least to me) instruments. A '40s Martin Tenor, a slightly used recent Yamaha clarinet and now this nice Couesnon alto.

I want to get some Christmas music, with piano accompanyment, and possibly play one of the saxes for a local gathering near the holiday season. It has been awhile since I did that and most of the time it was in a group, even though I may have had a small solo during the performance.

I tried the original mouthpiece and it was OK, but did not project very well - probably OK for playing in a small group. I got better results with a Meyer with a more open tip and a German mouthpiece, ESM, with a 7 tip opening. Both of these more recent pieces worked better than the original.

Well thanks for the replies and hope to hear from both of you sometime in the future.

Regards

juny

[morgan]

The Couesnon (pronounced Quen non)

or "Kway no"

[juny]

Morgan or I Fallon (or anyone else who can help) :!: ,

I wonder if you can help me with a problem I have been having?

A couple of times lately, after playing for a while, I have been having problems hitting notes in the low register on my Couesnon alto (usually around F or G).

It usually doesn't happen right away, but only after playing it for awhile.

I am sure that my repair guy would have noticed something if it happened right at the start, but he only tried to play it for a short while after he did the repair work, so he wouldn't have noticed it.

It almost seems like I have a leak, but it doesn't show up until after 20 or 30 minutes of playing.

Could a spring be marginal and eventually doesn't close one of the pads?

You may not know the answer, but maybe you can point me in the right direction to get an answer.

I probably should mention it to my repair guy also. Maybe he has run into similar circumstances before.

Any thoughts on this?

Thanks.

Regards

juny

[I. Fallon]

Your reed might be getting too "juiced up." If you have not been playing for a while, your lip muscles may also be tiring (although I have more of a problem with this on a tenor than an alto).

[juny]

I Fallon,

You may be right. I have been trying different reed strengths to see which works best, so either of these possibilities may be true.

It seems strange to me that these lower mid-range notes seem affected most!

I don't have as much of a problem with my tenor or my clarinet. That is why I think a spring may be shifting - Is this possible?

Don't forget, I am not that familiar with this sax yet, so maybe something was missed by my tech.

I can try another tech, but there aren't many in my area.

Well thanks, you may have narrowed it down.

Regards,

juny

[juny]

Hi Guys,

Well - I took my Couesnon Alto to a fellow who sells saxes through local classifieds and found out that not only does he sell them, he does some repair work for a few people and (just happened to have the alto along) he also owns a Couesnon alto ( mine is in better shape, though).

Well, I asked if he would be kind enough to look at mine ( I explained my recent problem) and as soon as he looked at it, he asked who did the initial repairs because he spotted at least two other pads that had cuts in them and definately needed replacing. He agreed to go over the entire sax and correct the shortcomings that my (previous) repair guy missed.

PS: I will be missing the previous repair tech permanently.

He (Tech #2) said he could work on it this coming week and call when it is finished. I told him I would look forward to it and said that my tenor could be looked at, (Asked, begged?) if he had the time, when I pick up the alto.

His philosophy about saxes match mine exactly. Looks like I finally found a good tech..Halleluia!

I will let you the conclusion of Couesnon, Part Two - probably within a week or ten days.

Keep your eyes on this spot!

Regards,

juny

I went home with a gently used Winston Model 2000 straight soprano and a big smile on my face. I was practicing the rest of the night until it was time to hit the shower!

Oh well, you only go around once, enjoy life while you can ( BTW, I found this guy only because I went to look at some of his sopranos)

[juny]

I almost forgot,

Gordon, from New Zeland, (I listed the problem on the problem discussion area on SOTW) answered my request and he mentioned that a cut pad could swell after absorbing moisture and then start to leak - Boing, he hit the nail on the head.

I must let him know (but I will wait until I actually get it home and play it).

Regards,

juny

[I. Fallon]

You can take anything Gordon tells you "to the bank."