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Which baritone to buy: Martin 12M or Keilwerth The New King?

3K views 10 replies 7 participants last post by  donnc 
#1 ·
So here I am in search for a resonable priced baritone saxophone and seeking some advice.
I have two possibilities buying local in Denmark right now:
A low Bb 1955 Conn 12M Naked Lady (laquered) with it's original case = $3269 (newly overhauled)
A low Bb 1958 Keilwerth New King (laquered) with a Protec case = $2600 (overhauled 4 years ago and regularly serviced)

What I learned from my research is that the Conn is mouthpiece picky and the Keilwerth is not. So in case I bought the Conn I would probably have to by a new mouthpiece as well. (I have an Absolute Slim Resin baritone MP right now).

Which one do you think would be the best buy?

Bertil
 
#4 ·
Both are excellent horns.
The 12M may be mildy mouthpiece picky, but as long as you use a medium to large chambered piece without too much baffle, you should be fine.
The Keilwerth New King baritones are also excellent horns, but are not always free of tuning issues either.
The difference you will likely notice is that the Keilwerth keywork is of a more modern design and may suit you better if you have smallish hand and fingers.
Price wise they both seem pretty high to me, but these may well be good prices for your location.
I know that to buy either of these horns locally in Australia, they would be around the same if not more than Denmark.
In the U.S. considerably less but shipping a baritone is not cheap either.
You can't go too far wrong with either of these horns in my opinion.
 
#6 ·
Thank you very much for good advice!
Sometimes things suddenly evolve in a complete different direction.
While considering which one of the two buy and resarching on baritones in general , I came across Pete Thomas recommending the Grassi saxophones, and therefore did some additional research on other recommendations of Grassi.
Yesterday I ended up doing my first auction instrument purchase (on the italian Bay - thank God for Google Translate :)).
I bought a silver Grassi Professional 2000 low Bb baritone for £1350 including shipping from Italy.
The instrument was stated as being in playable condition.
Anyway - it looks really good according to the pictures
So here I am now just waiting for the courier to arrive and hopefully it lives up to my expectations and just need a minor adjustment at the tech, and in that case I expect it to be a better buy than the other two
Here's a picture
Musical instrument Reed instrument Brass instrument Saxophonist Wind instrument


Bertil
 

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#9 ·
So - the Grassi bari arrived yesterday by courrier from Italy.
It looks good. No dents and so on, but unfortunately it was not at all in the playable condition that the seller had stated.
Some of the low end pad cups are twisted and off centre resulting in serious leaks, and it is considerable out of tune on some notes.
But never the less it sings really nice in it's current condition.

I don't know if this happened during tranportation because the bari was very poorly packed considering that it came with a very soft gig bag.
I will have to let my tech go through it and make it playable.

Anyway - I contacted the seller and decribed the problem and confronted him with the fact that it was not the playing condition that he had stated.
He was very sorry and offered me to return it or a $123 refund on the price.
Since $123 won't get me anyway near what I expect my tech cost will be, I negotiated with him and ended up with a $246 refund.
I hope that I won't regret it since I was asking for twice as much in return.

I'm really looking forward to play it after my tech has layed his hands on it and at the same time I'm a bit anxious concerning the costs.
Just hope that it's still a good deal!

Here are some pics:
Musical instrument Reed instrument Brass instrument Saxophonist Wind instrument

Musical instrument Reed instrument Saxophone Brass instrument Human body

Musical instrument Brass instrument Yellow Wind instrument Saxophone

Musical instrument Reed instrument Brass instrument Wind instrument Music

Musical instrument Product Brass instrument Wind instrument Woodwind instrument
 
#11 ·
From your account, it sounds like the repairs won't be difficult, and that could be the best looking bari sax I've ever seen. I'm glad I don't like to play an instrument that looks better than me, or I'd be really envious. Sounds like you should give the seller a break, you got a really good deal there.
 
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