Sax on the Web Forum banner

Reasonable Price - Bass Sax

10K views 32 replies 15 participants last post by  milandro 
#1 Ā·
Hi everyone,

Starting to look for a bass sax. I am considering the following:

Old Conn, or stencil - probably keyed only to Eb
Old Buescher, or stencil - probably keyed only to Eb
French (for example, Noblet) - but not Selmer ($$$$)
No recent Chinese
No recent pro models (like Selmer, Keilwerth, Tubax)

In condition ready to play, although not necessarily new pads.

What do you all think is a reasonable selling (not asking) price for these, from a shop, or from an individual? Just give me your opinions, if you only have an opinion on one or two, that's OK, just trying to get as many data points as possible. It seems like shops are asking around $7500 for Conns and Bueschers, somewhat less for French. What does that mean for actual selling price?

Thanks!
 
#2 Ā·
Why aren't you considering a vintage Keilwerth? They are very good basses, much better than the Noblet.

Anyway, starting from ā‚¬5000 you can find Basses in Europe and I guess in the States things are as you say, starting around $7000.

This shop in Amsterdam has a Keilwerth bass, just overhauled for ā‚¬5000

http://www.berkelmuziek.nl/contents/nl/d16_saxofoons.html
 
#4 Ā·
The Jinbao Selmer copy is a good horn - I have had one for 18 months (Wessex Brass stencil), and have gigged it probably 60 times.

The modern Selmer style basses have a much easier action but don't sound as good IMO as the 1920s style basses.
 
#18 Ā·
The Jinbao Selmer copy is a good horn - I have had one for 18 months (Wessex Brass stencil), and have gigged it probably 60 times.
OMG. What kind of music are you playing that you have gigged a bass sax 60 times in 18 months? 3-4 gigs a month on bass sax?! I've visited in New Zealand. Now I'm thinking of moving there.
 
#11 Ā·
well, silver is a lifestyle choice!

Some brands are way more sensitive than others on their need to be polished, old Keilwerth silver holds better than new for example.


Polishing silver too often will bring your horns to show, sooner or later, some interesting hues , but that has its charms too.
 
#17 Ā·
That's the most basic bass I've ever seen!

Tell a lie - it's not as basic as an antique Mahillon bass I've seen that had simple action 8ve keys, non-articulated G# key, no long Bb, no Bis Bb, no chromatic F# key and only keyed from low B to high Eb. I think this Mahillon may still be for sale in the UK - fine if you like vintage saxes without any of the gadgets that make things easy.
 
#13 Ā·
Thanks, but I don't think a trip from the US to Italy to try out a saxophone fits into my budget. Neither does buying an expensive horn sight unseen on Ebay, paying to have it shipped, and taking the risk that it will be NG and having to dispose of it somehow.

I guess no one had any comments on actual selling prices of bass saxophones.
 
#16 Ā·
I guess no one had any comments on actual selling prices of bass saxophones.
There just aren't very many bass saxes sold to be able to give you concrete comparable prices like you can track with other, more common models. $5-10k is the general range, but that's a big range, as condition and other factors will make a big difference. A Conn keyed to high F would be well above that range, but those almost never come up for sale. For a Conn or Buescher, keyed to high Eb, in good to great mechanical and cosmetic condition, with a good case, $7500 is not unreasonable at all.

Ask Helen Kahlke at Bassic Sax. She'll point you in the right direction, I'm sure.

http://bassic-sax.info/version5/
Did you find anything out from Helen? She'd have a great idea of the current going rates.
 
#14 Ā·
Apparently not in your immediate neighborhood, no. But keep looking someone will show sooner or later with a bass in your backyard although they donā€™t exactly grow on trees.

By the way there was time when L.A. Sax was importi Orsi contrbasses and perhaps basses too.
 
#15 Ā·
It seems to me that the bass saxophone has returned to Europe, where it was born. There was a North American era, that went perhaps through the end of the 20th century in very reduced form, but now when I hear of someone doing something with bass sax, seems to be in Europe most of the time.
 
#19 Ā·
I see a few basses around these parts generally played in a traditional jazz context. But every time that a bass comes up for sale it is sold fairly quickly and for the money that I've mentioned above ( between ā‚¬5000 to ā‚¬8000 ).

Yes that Orsi bass is a very basic one but it must be a very old one and at the same time being one of the " ministeriali" instruments .

Yes Chris, this bass must have belonged to this particular strain of instruments with simplified keywork made by all the Italian companies and mostly to the many marching bands which once populated the country. Often these bands, due to the simple repertoire, needed cheaper instruments to be able to perform basically.

However an Italian contrabass was found by Scott Robinson in Rome at an antique shop, he bought it rebuild it and plays it

 
#23 Ā·
Yeah, that's my story. I don't know, actually when I picked up the tuba I had only been playing contrabass clarinet. if I had gotten to the bass sax first, might have stuck with the woodwinds, but tuba is a really useful instrument. I didn't get off to a very good start and kind of wasted a couple decades where I could have been playing better.
 
#27 Ā·
I am sure that there are few makers that can rival with Benedict Eppelsheim.

He makes a Bass, Contrabass and Tubax(es) ( which is in a class of its own).

Despite this, he is not the only Bass maker, next to various Chinese makers and resellers ( which simply re sell Chinese instruments), there are the somewhat special Brazilian Makers, J'elle Stainer en Lopez musical instruments.

The second of the two specializes in low reach Basses and contrabasses, the first one makes various types of contrabass, octobass and so on . The Bass reaching G for example is very common in Brazil, they seem to have orchestras of those!



 
#28 Ā·
Sure, but candidates for the most prestigious make? I have no idea. I'd love to think so, as I'm slightly acquainted with the country, but it seems to me they're essentially propped up by the eccentric music program of a kind of local religious cult. Do we know of anyone elsewhere in the world who owns a Lopez bass sax? Stainers there might be a few of, don't recall hearing much about it though.

It could be said of Eppelsheim I suppose, that his bass saxophone is just something people see on their way to look at his more unique designs like the tubax, but he does have an impeccable reputation for quality, and for large saxophones.
 
#30 Ā·
the most prestigious make is certainly Eppelsheim, and that includes the bass an no only the tubaxes.

The Stainer saxophones are distributed in the rest of the world from the Italian importer Gilberto Lopes.

The Lopes Saxophones ( confusing that they have the same names) are not, distributed outside of Brazil.

Both these two makers produce unique instruments.

 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top