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Highly regarded C horns?

4K views 20 replies 14 participants last post by  jhammons01 
#1 ·
I just was listening to Ted Hegvik playing Rudy Weidoft tunes on the C melody sax, and realized I know very little about that horn. Then I started thinking about how cool it would be to own one, which had me thinking about which horn to get if I were to go down that road.

Is there a particular horn that is considered to be the "holy grail" of C melody horns, much like the Mark VI? And what other horns are highly regarded?
 
#2 ·
I think the most popular are Buescher TT's and Conn straight-necks. As far as which one (Buescher, Conn, Martin, King and Selmer, etc.) is the holy grail, I'll leave that to others' OPINIONS.

I have a TT C-Mel. Not MY voice, but I did a recording once with the old Dixieland stalwart Rosy McHargue, Rosy on C-Mel, and he used a TT. Again, it probably depends on how well regulated a C-Mel is rather than the brand. DAVE
 
#3 ·
A literal handful of Selmer Cs, mostly Super-Sax and earlier models, are voraciously sought after. But for the purposes of even the best players today, the Conn seems to be more than adequate. Fewer use Bueschers and Martins, none Kings, and surprisingly, none use Frank Trumbauer's standby, the Holton. (Trumbauer's horn was highly customized, however, and has never surfaced, nor have details about its construction.)

There are also 2 postwar models, the Leblanc, made in a run of 200 or so in the 1960s (most have disappeared without a trace), and the Aquilasax, a Taiwanese product, made in both C tenor and soprano models for several years from 2005.
 
#16 ·
[...] There are also 2 postwar models, the Leblanc, made in a run of 200 or so in the 1960s (most have disappeared without a trace), and the Aquilasax, a Taiwanese product, made in both C tenor and soprano models for several years from 2005.
Don't forget about the International Woodwind Inc. C Soprano with modern key work.
 
#4 ·
Musical instrument Photograph Musician White Reed instrument
A Conn user back in the day was Jack Pettis, regarded as the greatest jazz C melodist after Trumbauer. Here he is in 1925 with Toots Bryan, his fellow sideman in the Ben Bernie band.
 
#11 ·
Pictures of Frankie Trumbauer's C melody look like Martins to me, but pics can be confusing. I've owned good Buescher, Conn (2 of them), Martin and Selmer C melody saxes. My favorite was the Martin, but I traded them all for the Selmer, just like Rudy Wiedoeft's Selmer, which sounds great despite some intonation problems. The best C melody recordings I have heard were by Leo Van Oostrom, who used a Buescher. Ted Hegvik is another great C melody player, and he used a Conn, as does Scott Robinson. I guess you will just have to make up your own mind.
 
#14 ·
I use an artist pro Holton all the time in gigs, it is in the direction of what Trumbauer would have used. Plays and sounds great with various tenor mpcs

Musical instrument Saxophone Dress Saxophonist Reed instrument
 
#17 ·
Forgot to mention my Conn C's also, I own and occasionally gig on a New Invention, Wonder (Stolen :( ), New Wonder, and New Wonder II and they all sound and play fantastic... affixed with straight or curvy necks (I have done a lot of neck swapping experiments on my Conns... biggest difference I notice between straight/curved is playing position with minor effects on intonation).

My recently re-padded King has a real big sound but I haven't performed on it yet, same goes for my Buescher TT. I am still re-padding my Martin and based off of descriptions by others am expecting it to sound and play excellent as well. Really any of the non-stencil name brand C-horns should be highly regarded, and I am sure that a great deal of the stencils are even pretty good because a lot of them are basically manufacturer name brand horns with a different engraving...

I must say with all my available choices it's pretty hard to not grab the Holton when heading to a gig though.
 
#19 ·
My two best Cs are a 1930 Buescher with rare improvements such as the front F and "baby spoon" F# trill, and a 1936 Conn Naked Lady which I play with a Conn-stencil curved neck.
 
#20 ·
I like The Buescher TT better than the others I tried.
The Conn sound closer to an alto, and I like the lower notes sound better on the Buescher.
The King had great sound, but intonation wasn't as good with the mouthpieces I was using.
The Martin sounded great, but playing position wasn't good for me.
The Holton sounded like a Conn.
 
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