Help ID'ing tenor bough on eBay

[kimslava]

I shot from the hip on this one...went for the 'Buy It Now' price. I guess I was afraid someone else would pull the trigger.
Here's the eBay Auction. (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320193088684&ru=http%3A%2F%2Fsearch.ebay.com%3A80%2Fsearch%2Fse arch.dll%3Ffrom%3DR40%26_trksid%3Dm37%26satitle%3D 320193088684%26category0%3D%26fvi%3D1)
He says it has "Ambassador" engraved on it, but not "Parisian".
He also says it does not have "F.E. Olds" on it.
Serial Number is 1465.
He's going to write me back as to whether it says "Made in France". I'll let you know when I hear back on that.
Right now I am assuming it is Pierret. Yes? No?
I know, I should just cool my jets until it shows up at my door, but ....
(Title should say 'bought' not 'bough')

[queperknuckle]

I shot from the hip on this one...went for the 'Buy It Now' price. I guess I was afraid someone else would pull the trigger.
Here's the eBay Auction. (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320193088684&ru=http%3A%2F%2Fsearch.ebay.com%3A80%2Fsearch%2Fse arch.dll%3Ffrom%3DR40%26_trksid%3Dm37%26satitle%3D 320193088684%26category0%3D%26fvi%3D1)
He says it has "Ambassador" engraved on it, but not "Parisian".
He also says it does not have "F.E. Olds" on it.
Serial Number is 1465.
He's going to write me back as to whether it says "Made in France". I'll let you know when I hear back on that.
Right now I am assuming it is Pierret. Yes? No?
I know, I should just cool my jets until it shows up at my door, but ....
(Title should say 'bought' not 'bough')

It's impossible to say whether pierret stenciled this horn from that one photo. You'd have to show more photos so I could see pierret keywork. Pierret definitely stenciled some of these horns though. Here is a review of a horn stenciled by Pierret for Olds. Gotta worn you however, it's not a very good review. But since it's clearly a different horn, I wouldn't put to much weight into it.

http://www.shwoodwind.co.uk/Reviews/Saxes/Tenor/Olds_Parisian_tenor.htm

[playitfunky]

175 bucks you cant go wrong. Well almost you cant unless the thing is an unplayable pos.

[kimslava]

Well....the seller says it has 'USA' engraved under "Ambassador'. Now I am clueless. I guess I was clueless before and now realize it.

[Sax Hut]

Judging from the body joint rings, the nickel-plated keywork, and the shape of the neck octave arm, I'd venture "R.O.C." -- an old Jupiter.

[whaler]

I have an Olds tenor from the 70's that I can't seem to find out much about. Everyone I've asked seems to think it could be a Yanagisawa, but I think it might be Selmer USA made. I wish I knew how to post pics to see if anyone might know its origin. It most resembles a MarkVII in the ergonomics or lack thereof, but it plays good, and somebody played it a lot before I got it.

[claxton]

That's a nice Martin case. What the deal with this guy's itty bitty pics? Why doesn't he just smear vaseline on his camera lens and get it over with?

[Sigmund451]

He is right...aside from funny. That case is worth over half your purchase if sold alone. Collectors are getting silly over cases.

[AhCheung]

Definitely not Pierret made, or the neck is not original. Octave pip doesn't resemble a Pierret's at all. BTW I think Steve Howard at shwoodwind reviewed a Parisian Ambassador, not a Parisian. I'll email him on this.

[kimslava]

Here are pictures of the "Ambassador USA"
http://doctorsax.biz/ambassador.htm

Any help?

[Sax Hut]

The SN stamping is rather "Italian" and the horn overall has shades of an Italian-made Evette, but that neck octave arm and the body joint rings are throwing me off....

The ebay pic looked Jupiter to me, but now I'd say at least the body is Italian, but I give up. Don't know jack, can't help at all.....

[Mark5047]

I am assuming you have the horn in your hands now? May be a silly question, but how does it sound? Is it in tune? Are the pads good enough to play on without needing an overhaul?

[kimslava]

Yes, the horn is in my hands.

The pads were shot and I repadded it.

It has next to no lacquer left, but the bare brass seems pretty stable in appearance and I like the way it looks.

The tonehole chimneys look a little short..I wouldn't be surprised if they had been filed at some point.

The intonation is good, not spot on, but good. The low D is stuffy, but that is because the low C key height opening isn't high enough. When I play the low D with the low C# open it speaks really well. The problem is the low C bumper felt is backed out as far as it can go without the low C hitting the keyguard...so I'll have to work on that.

I think I'll open up the key heights on both the upper and lower stacks more before it is all said and done.

The low B and Bb sound great real gutsy, con brio.

The upper end has tendency to be sharp, but that could be the mouthpiece or something, not sure yet...haven't had anybody in to testplay it and see what they think.