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Saxello!!

22K views 61 replies 27 participants last post by  kingperkoff 
#1 ·
I've had my Saxello over 17 years.It is one of the most unique saxes I ever played :)
Not only is it made well, after all these years but I don't think
anything sounds like it. It has a voice.A personality if you will :idea:
I got my nod from hearing guys like Benny Maupin,Elton Dean,Kirk or even Philly's Bill Leslie on his record on ARGO called " Diggin' The Chicks".
Anyone else here playing a Saxello or using it on gigs/recordings?
It is one unique voice.
 
#29 ·
Hey Tryptykon,
Yeah I know they're basically a soprano, I just thought maybe Saxellos have a big bore.
Maybe it's just an unusual alto piece or...maybe it's for a stritch. Next time i take a horn into Jack, I'm going to take a coupla pics of the thing and post a "whatzit"?
 
#30 ·
King saxello

Hello all

Just found this forum- very interesting.

I play both a straight silver King soprano (1929), my main horn for 35 years, and a silver King saxello, which I just picked up this year.

They are VERY different indeed. I think the bore on the saxello is smaller, for one thing.

And the tone holes for the low notes are much smaller than on my straight King.

And the sound, goes without saying, is completely different. But amazing, too.

About the straight King- I've never found another soprano that has a sound like it. Steve Lacy loved my horn, too.

Yes, Rahsaan definitely played saxello- check out "A Nightingale Sang in Berkley Square" on Roland Kirk Quartet Meets The Benny Golson Orchestra (mercury)!

Joe
 
#35 ·
Yeah man, may John Gilmore rest in peace. Or is it, travel in peace? Hmmm...

Would you be able to post a photo of your custom stand here? I think I've read something about that custom order being possible.

Yeah, good score on the 24 disc set. Is that the Detroit residency?
It's great stuff. The Detroit residency has been circulating for a little while now, but someone decided to "package" it and sell it online just recently. Speculation is that the source material is from the very discs that have been shared by traders and Sun Ra enthusiasts this whole time. I certainly hope that the band is receiving some financial piece of that particular pie. Although, I believe any legit royalties from anything still go to the Ra estate. Anything on the radar, that is.

Mark
 
#37 ·
SAXELLO....

I'd be lost without it. I have my back thumb hooks customized by Roberto.
A round metal on the left and a larger metal on the right.This way the saxello just holds firm, without a strap & is comfy.

THE SOUND....fooooggggeeeetaaabout it. THE BEST.


ps- BEN CHAMPION is a fantastic player.
 
#40 ·
Tryptykon said:
I'm sure he did .

He was an Ohio native(Columbus) and said he found the manzello and stritch
in the basment of a music store.

Kings being made in Cleveland probably littered the countryside at that time,
being the house brand of sorts.

I think the original bell was removed and an Eb alto(peck)horn bell was soldered
in it's place; although I don't know if this was done before Rahsaan aquired his
or after.

I have a King Alto horn and the bell is detachable by a thumbscrew.
At it's narrowest, where it joins the body of the instrument, it looks like it
would easily be the correct diameter to be soldered to the saxellos bell
section.

----
Edit- that's not the best photo, as I've seen others with a larger bell,
so I think he did have a larger bell attached,OR may have had more than
one manzello..not too much of a stritch,,,er I mean stretch of the imagination
08-13-2006 04:36 AM
He later changed the bells both on his manzello and stritch...im not sure what bell was on the manzaello but the stritch had a french horn bell on it.
 
#43 ·
Little Sax said:
For those of you who have *actual* King Saxellos, what do you use for a stand?
I actually made a stand from a cheap old alto sax stand. I can post photos, but few people would want to go to the trouble. The original "wishbone" shaped stand that came with some 1920s King Saxellos is very valuable because it's harder to find than the horn itself. If you have one, keep it even if you don't use it.

The problem is, the original small (fits in the case) wishbone stand isn't very stable. The horn falls over.
Old Saxello ads sometimes showed a later stand that's better and reasonably easy to make, even 80 years later. Here's how:

On the back of 1920s King Saxellos, there is a diamond-shaped flange soldered to the body of the horn near the bottom. The flange holds what looks like a lyre holder, but it is slightly different. Usually, on a lyre holder, there is thumbscrew that holds the lyre tightly, and when the lyre is not used, the thumbscrew can be left in the lyre holder.

On a 1920s King Saxello, the thumb screw goes through an unthreaded hole in the "lyre holder" on the lower back of the Saxello, and it screws into a THREADED hole in the wishbone shaped stand. When not in use, you leave the thumbscrew in the stand, not the horn. It's easy to lose the screw - not so good.

The later (original) King Saxello stands looked like a cheap (wire) music stand tripod with a square rod sticking out of the top instead of a music stand. They work much better. You can make one using lots of things for a base such as a mike stand, a music stand, etc. Just figure out a way to insert a square brass rod into the top of it. Some different ways to do that:

If your base has a round tube near the top, find a wooden dowel (or drumstick, or broomstick) that can be jammed or glued into the tube in the base, then drill a hole in the top of the dowel and hammer the square rod into the hole (if you made the hole too big, use epoxy).

Now, about that square rod. Where to get one? Most repairmen have stuff like this on hand. Or you can make one out of an old lyre that has a square stem. You need at least 3 inches of fairly straight square rod, and you need the right size rod. The Saxello uses one of the 2 most common sizes, so your chances are good that you can find a junk lyre that will provide the right piece of square brass rod. Some of you may want to bend the rod slightly to hold the horn at an angle, or maybe not. Don't bend it much. You don't need to reproduce the thumbscrew and hole. The stand is pretty secure without a thumbscrew.

My MYSPACE page:

http://www.myspace.com/saxpsychosis
 
#45 ·
Sounds cool Michael, post some pics when you get it. I'm sure we would all like to see that.

Yeah, I saw that Transparency also has the Horseshoe Tavern coming out. From '78! I need to pick that one up for sure.

Mark
 
#46 ·
I have one of Phil Barone's saxellos, which is a fantastic.

Check out the Saxrax saxello pegs if you are in need for a stand, they are great and can be combined with all other Saxrax stands.

 
#49 ·
Unfortunately what everyone seems to be calling a "Saxello" these days are really more like the tipped-bell sopranos that Buescher made. A "real" (i.e. King) Saxello has a 90 degree angle on the bell.
 
#52 ·
King Saxello w/ articulated G#

Has anyone modified their King Saxello to an articulated G#? Is that possible?
That's my only gripe. I love the keywork otherwise, and I'm getting the intonation pretty solid across the range now. The trick for me is using a much smaller tip than I would have ever used. I'm finally able to make that small tip sound big. I'm a firm believer that, given a little time, you will sound like you no matter what mouthpiece you've got. The sound is so great, and really is different from soprano. I don't think I'm going back.
 
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