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King Silversonic with full pearls... someone scored!!!!

16K views 62 replies 24 participants last post by  sax0naut 
#1 ·
#6 ·
Full pearls ended about 340,xxx or right around 1955. This one is probably from 1953/54. There where about 200 fully pearled Silversonics made, alto and tenors combined between 1950 and 1955. That's what a King technician told me back in the 90's. He also said about every 200th Super 20 made was a Silversonic with rare custom orders in between.

I bet we do see this one again. And if it's auctioned off, it will probably go well over $5k.
 
#15 ·
At least he waited until he had possession of it before listing it, unlike some sellers we have seen.
Good point, and Quinn always does that. He takes his own photos which are extensive. (In this case, not too flattering either.)

King Super 20s need to have the right pads, resonators and key heights. With the wrong action, they won't play in tune. Small, flat resonators are also required.
Are you talking about tenors? I've haven't heard this before about Super 20. On my King altos, Noyak resos work great and play in tune, and key heights don't seem to affect intonation any more than on Selmer, etc.
 
#12 ·
Just flipping the horn like that is pretty scummy. I understand that trading in horns is a business but so is playing saxophones. For a dealer to snatch away an instrument like this from a player, only to re-sell it straight away but priced for a "collector" is jive. I always thought that Quinn had reasonable prices in this era of gouging but this move has put me off a bit.

The right thing to to would to have the horn fixed up first. King Super 20s need to have the right pads, resonators and key heights. With the wrong action, they won't play in tune. Small, flat resonators are also required. The neck is an issue as well. Silver necks are soft and can get splayed when new neck-corks are installed. I have two Kings that need to have their necks re-bored. Not a big deal, maybe $150, but still, if Quinn is gonna ask $15,000 for the horn, the least he could do is put an $800 pad-job and some cosmetic work into the thing.

Quinn, please remove the auction from ebay, give the horn a finest overhaul it can have (Matt Stohrer perhaps could do the job. Or Shelly Tanabe) Then put it on ebay with a buy-it-now. Add value.
 
#17 ·
Just flipping the horn like that is pretty scummy. I understand that trading in horns is a business but so is playing saxophones. For a dealer to snatch away an instrument like this from a player, only to re-sell it straight away but priced for a "collector" is jive. I always thought that Quinn had reasonable prices in this era of gouging but this move has put me off a bit.

The right thing to to would to have the horn fixed up first. King Super 20s need to have the right pads, resonators and key heights. With the wrong action, they won't play in tune. Small, flat resonators are also required. The neck is an issue as well. Silver necks are soft and can get splayed when new neck-corks are installed. I have two Kings that need to have their necks re-bored. Not a big deal, maybe $150, but still, if Quinn is gonna ask $15,000 for the horn, the least he could do is put an $800 pad-job and some cosmetic work into the thing.

Quinn, please remove the auction from ebay, give the horn a finest overhaul it can have (Matt Stohrer perhaps could do the job. Or Shelly Tanabe) Then put it on ebay with a buy-it-now. Add value.
We are lacking the counter argument about how we live in a capitalist society and the Quinn is just trying to make a living and that this is all good.
 
#25 ·
I've had three Super 20's tenors...The Series 3 I had was mediocre, the Series 1A had amazing tone and response but the keywork and intonation were iffy. My 308... series 2 is a phenominal horn..the scale is great and the fat turbo charged King sound is tremendous all over the horn. The Series 1A was hard to control in the palm keys but my 2 is solid.They were both padded and set up at Sax Quest.
 
#16 ·
I have found that the key heights on King altos and tenors matter a great deal. Domed resonators are a bad idea with Kings as well. If the key heights are off, the octaves wont be in tune with each other. This is also true if the neck bore is wonky.
 
#19 ·
They are not so rare. A friend of mine sold one 315xxx in Germany in even better condition like this one. Full serviced, right pads, original case in good condition. Price was 6000 Euro. He offered it to me, but it had a lot of blowing resistance. I prefered a 285xxx also with full pearl but no silver sonic which had a much better sound and was absolutely free blowing... even mine has the old left pinky key work.

The "rare" silversonic:
Musical instrument Yellow Brass instrument Amber Wind instrument


Mine:
Musical instrument Automotive lighting Automotive tire Vehicle Automotive exhaust


Automotive lighting Motor vehicle Automotive exhaust Brass instrument Musical instrument


I went for it because of the sound
and so left the collecting item.

Have a nice sunday guys.
 
#28 ·
In Q the E's defense, he has been selling quite a few VI altos BELOW the going rate and is perhaps entitled to make a killing on a collector horn occasionally. Most likely he won't get that price and you'll see it come down in a series of re-listings by him.
 
#29 ·
I bet we'll see a sniper bid in the last seconds for $10K (it won't be me). I still think that would be a good price for this horn, even in it's current state. Furthermore, if I was going to get this horn, I would want to get it as is so I could get it set up just as I liked it by who I liked.

I would not consider this a gigging horn either. There are much better choices for working horns than taking a holy grail out in the rain. But then, pride comes before a fall.

To me, the full pearled King Silversonics are THE shining example of the American saxophone.
 
#32 ·
I play Selmer saxes for... 40 years now ;), my grand father was working for this company but for 20 years I was dreaming about a silversonic tenor... I got a 385xxx Cleveland this year and it's a beast !!!
Even if it's not my main horn (I own too much Selmer horns) it's really a premium horn with a huge core sound and eveytime I blow it it's a pure pleasure!!!
I don't care for "full pearl" ( 'cause that's not my stuff ) but I can say that Silversonic can compete with SBA or MkVI !!! just a matter of taste for final choice...
 
#36 ·
The reason I think that putting a full overhaul into a horn of this price range is this: When you buy a horn on the internet, you can't play it until you've paid for it and it's arrived. If you don't dig the horn, there's usually a return policy of 10 days or 2 weeks. If a horn needs an overhaul, and in the case of most Super 20s, a neck re-bore, you don't really know the potential of the horn unless it's already fixed up.

Yes, there are Silver Sonics that can be had for cheap. The pearl-side keys obviously have nothing to do with how the horn plays, but I have found the series I, Ia and series II Super 20s to be more to my liking than the later ones, although I have played a couple of Eastlakes that blew me away, I prefer the series I and II.
 
#37 ·
I picked up the horn described above after I got an itch for a King tenor after trying out an aftermarket silverplated Zephyr. After months of research, I knew I compromised with an Ebay gamble for the Eastlake. But having tried out a few other Super 20's from the Cleveland era since, I am more than happy with how it all worked out in the end. Though a fully blinged out Silversonic from the golden age would be cool to have, I consider myself very lucky. As an added benefit, I quit surfing Ebay for horns years ago, very happy with what I have.
 
#44 ·
TM overhauled my Silversonic with domed metal resos and Pisoni Pro pads. The key height seems fine for me. Like Grumps, my middle D is slightly sharp. I played with changing the key height on the low C and while the middle D came in tune it sounded slightly stuffy so I put it back to where it was. I just lip it down a little as it is not that far out.
 
#50 ·
Yeah, it didn't sell for $10,000 (see post #7) so he relisted it for more. He's just using eBay as a free advertising medium.
 
#52 ·
He didn't sell it for $15,000. "Someone" bid on it for that much, but that person was obviously a deadbeat (or imaginary as you pointed out) because it was quickly relisted for a lot less. My guess is that the existence of a $15,000 bid conditions serious potential buyers who are following this stuff closely to the idea that it's actually worth that much...and then most likely the deal (for $10,000-$12,000?) took place off ebay.
 
#55 ·
Maybe dealers should wait at least a month before flipping it back on Ebay. That should be proper etiquette. lol. One of my musician friends has all these weird misspellings of saxophone saved in the search engine of ebay so he can score a vintage sax that nobody can find in the listings because its mispelled. lol
 
#56 ·
I have an identical Silversonic around 318xxx, full silver, full pearls, gold leaf inlay and lacquer sprayed over the silver (the definition of an Anniversary Model?). Folklore suggests that King sprayed the silver because the bells were too bright and flashy in the sax lineup of big bands, so they toned it down.

I bought it in the 80s from Sol Betnun who had a music store in LA, who said it belonged to a recently deceased famous player, but he said the estate forbade him to tell me who! Rats! I tried to research death records of tenor players during that time period, but failed. Wouldn't it be amazing to have the correct provenance? Oooh, feel the capitalism creeping up!

About 2 or 3 years ago, I showed some pics of this horn, right here, and Turnaround was involved in the conversation. You could probably search it here on SOTW. Quinn had just sold another one for 12 grand, as I recall. So I emailed Quinn a bunch of pics and he offered me 6 grand. Still got it, but maybe I will try again. It's in about the same condition as the one that launched this thread.

My playing impression is that the horn is ALIVE. It seems to vibrate sympathetically and that somehow comes out in the fatness of the tone. Maybe it's just the good setup from Tim's Music of Sacramento, but the lowest subtones just throb. My skills are intermediate at best, and I know a pro could get a lot more out of it than I.
 
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