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late Super 20 alto with brass neck, sounds like ?

2K views 7 replies 7 participants last post by  Yellowhorn 
#1 ·
#2 ·
Keep in mind that the later Super 20's went to drawn tone holes from the silver braised soldered tone holes. They also added a high f# key too. (Those are some important differences.) The very late Super 20's just blow differently and the tone is a bit thinner. They still can be very good saxophones that can be used professionally and they can be purchased at a very good price.

I just looked at the link, that's an earlier Eastlake model, it's a very good saxophone. Those still have the braised tone holes, no F# key and the underslung neck. That's a fair price the seller is asking for.
 
#3 ·
They all sound very similar IMO. I have an early Super 20 and then I have a King 2416 (it's a late Super 20 without engraving). They both have similar tones and key work and feel very close.

Another way to put it, they sound and feel much closer to each other than say a Selmer would sound and feel compared to them.

You get that broad American vintage horn sound from them. I think that is a fair price. Around $1500 would be a good price IMO.
 
#4 ·
That is a very nice alto. You might even like the mouthpiece! If not, it would knock a couple hundred off the price if you sell it. That's a legitimate 'closet horn' if I ever saw one. Figure on at least some shop work even if the old pads are still okay.
 
#5 ·
I cannot attest to the Altos, but the Tenors of that era (eariy-mid Eastlake) have the exact same body dimensions as the Cleveland S20's. The neck taper on the Eastlakes differs from that of the Cleves, thus the sound is just a tad brighter, while the Cleve-made ones are a tad darker.

Again, this regarding the Tenors. I do not know if they changed the neck spec on the Altos in a similar manner.
 
#7 ·
I have found the same thing as Jaye. The necks are all over the map as far as tone quality. It seems after the 1950s king forgot how to make necks consistently or just changed specs at will. On the other hand, the S20 bodies and keywork were consistently high quality.
 
#8 ·
I have had a few of these late Eastlake altos, and they sound similar to one another just as folks have said here. But one problem I noticed is that they tend to be stuffy and lack a lyrical, singing quality to them. This can be said of late Eastlake silversonic altos too. Now the tenors are different: I have played and owned quite a few S20 tenors and have not played one that is bad--including super late Super 20's with the high F# and the overslung, Selmer-styled octave mechanism.
 
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