old vintage sax

[vachefolle]

i recently found in my basement my old father's sax
The brand is SYRIST - Paris. i guess it's was a good sax, because my grandfather was a very good player
also, there's a signature on the horn and it's written it a "republican gard" sax (in france, the republican gard are the elite squad who protect the president. there's a musical "crew" in it, which plays for special visit of foreign presdents for example)
i guess it came from the 1920's because there some old selmer stuff with it

Could you tell me more about it? have you ever heard of this brand, because i didn't found anything about it.

(And sorry for the english :wink: )

[Andrew]

Are there any serial numbers? It could be a stencil of another big name company, but I've never heard of a stencil going by SYRIST before....do you have pictures of the horn?

[vachefolle]

the pics:
the sax:
http://membres.lycos.fr/adndead/sax1.jpg

[vachefolle]

the horn:
http://membres.lycos.fr/adndead/sax2.jpg

[vachefolle]

S/N:
http://membres.lycos.fr/adndead/sax3.jpg

[vachefolle]

detail of the "selmer mouth stuff"<== don't know the name. still a drummer, not a sax player :wink:

http://membres.lycos.fr/adndead/sax4.jpg

[rollen]

The mouthpiece is a Selmer.
The sax appears to me to be a Lyrist not Syrist.

[mostly alto guy]

Could this be a Buffet stencil? Looks a lot like an Apogee.

[vachefolle]

yeah, it appears to me now that it'a more a Lyrist than a Syrist 8)

[JEB]

Why not contact the Garde Republicaine and inquire about the instrument and even about who played it. The engraving under the name H Briard mentions that the owner was a soloist. There might be records of the musicians and what they played.

Bon succes avec votre enquete!


JEB

[markieg]

This is a Selmer Super Series AKA "Cigar Cutter" and the SN# dates to 1931. http://www.saxpics.com/selmer/super_series.htm
For a second, the gooseneck fooled me and made me think it was a pre-pre-Chu con. This sax was only made for 3 years, so it's very rare, not to mention a stencil of such a short-term instrument.

[vachefolle]

but why is the brand Lyrist and not selmer?
also, they do not look the same on this pics:

http://www.saxpics.com/the_gallery/selmer/super/cigar_cutter/alto/gold/14213/14213selmercigcut2.jpg

[vachefolle]

mine
http://membres.lycos.fr/adndead/sax5.jpg

[vachefolle]

also, on mine, it don't have the "cigar cutter mecanism"
but i have to agree they look very similar.
http://membres.lycos.fr/adndead/sax6.jpg

[Hornlip]

It could be what's known as a "Stencil" saxophone. Often instrument makers who didn't produce saxophones would contract with a sax maker like Selmer to make horns for them. In the U.S., C.G. Conn, Buescher, Martin and King all made "stencil" horns to some extent. In the 20's Conn entered into a contractual relationship with Selmer to make horns in the U.S. that had the "Selmer" name on them.

Selmer may have made your horn for a different company, even to the extent of engraving the other company's name on the sax. Often when sax makers "stenciled" a horn, they wouldn't make it exactly like whatever their current top-line model was at the time, which might explain why your horn doesn't have exactly the same kinds of details as the "cigar-cutter".

[AMASAX]

i don't think horn was made by Selmer/Paris, as the keywork is nowhere close to it...wouldn't wanna pawn it off as a Selmer/Paris clone, either.

[vachefolle]

ok people, thanks for all your replys!
i think i will soon take contact with selmer, since i live near Paris to ask them if it could be a stencil of the cigar cutter!
Thanks everybody :wink:

[singlereed]

The Garde Republicaine band has a long connection with Marcel Mule. You might find a lead by looking that up.

[BigDaddyJ]

I think this is an old Pierret.

http://www.saxpics.com/the_gallery/Pierret/early/alto/silver/

If it plays anything like my silver Super Artiste alto, this should be a good horn.

[markieg]

Sorry about that. It really looked like a Cigar Cutter to me. Notice how the 1st picture you posted looks a lot like the Cigar Cutter. I was going off of how the low C# came around the inside of the curve, and how the support holding the bell arched up between the bell and the rest of the horn. Also the C and Eb keys are rounded on the outside and completely flat on the inside, kind of making it look like a circle. Also the tonehole guards are T shaped, not like the Mercedes-Benz logo so commonly seen. Another thing that threw me off is the Selmer mouthpiece, with all these other similarities, and the apparent age of the sax matching where the SN# would date to. I would check into it at least, because remember that this is probably a stencil horn, and it may not be exact. Who would purchase a stencil if it was exactly the same as the standard?

[J.Reb]

The Lyrist was made by A. E. Sax company, in about 1925. Refer to
http://www.woodwind.org/clarinet/Equipment/HasAnyoneHeard.html
That information is for clarinets, but the "Lyrist" stencil no doubt carried over to other instruments like the sax.

[griff136]

i agree with rollen - it looks like lyrist - never heard of them though. It looks well made though. Good luck with your research! :)