Martin saxes, why so underrated?

[JPrince]

I'm curious, but why are Martin's so under rated? I remember asking my band director (who granted was pushing for me to get a Selmer) what he thought about Martin's, and he promptly replied Martin's suck. Now, 7 months later I am the proud owner of two The Martin's, a Tenor and a Bari (within in 3,000 serials of each other! ) I haven't tried them in concert work yet, and I'll admit their intonation is kind of sketchy (compared with modern Yamaha and Cannonball saxes), but the sound is unbelievable. I love them. Working a little harder to get good intonation is a wonderful trade off for an awsome jazz sound. I just don't get why Martin is a big name when you can get an awsome horn at a very reasonable price ($550 for my Tenor, $1300 for my bari). It is cheaper than those Monique saxes and 10 times as good. I just don't get it.

[Bootman]

The usual reason for a horn being under-rated is that not enough players in the local area have bothered to check them out, they know nothing much about them and or if they have played them, then it was one in abused condition. Martin's are great horns, but shhh.....don't tell anyone.

[MMM]

Intonation is one reason, as you say can be sketchy, but also I heard horror stories about the soldered tone holes: if they need fixing, it ain't cheap!
Still I have 3 Martin altos and 3 Tenors, and I love them all!

Have a good one,
mmm

[cmelodysax]

'Name snobbery' has a lot to do with it, and the action - especially the tenor LH palm keys - can be a bit of a handful if you've small fingers. But they bark, roar and cry. I've played a 'Magna' alto and 'The Martin' tenor for a long time, ringing the tonal changes with mpcs like HR Links, HR/metal Larsens and Lawton. An edgy mpc on a dark horn is fearsome... Who needs a focussed sound ?
And I'm currently refurbing a promising bare-brass Martin C-Mel which will hopefully displace my Conn C-Mel. (must keep 'em 'in the family'!).
I have to admit tho' that some older Buescher's can give Martins a run for their money, each has its advocates - rightly so.
But, as Bootman says, ssshhhhhh..... Crazy exchange rate isn't it ?
one vintage MkVI = a shed-full of Martins (mmmmmmm..)

My only regret was not buying a handcraft soprano - when I was too young to know better - I can still see that (very reasonably priced) horn still smiling at me......

[Stencilman]

An edgy mpc on a dark horn is fearsome... Who needs a focussed sound ?
How true! For some 20 years I played on Dukoffs on Selmer MkVI's (had the whole set SATB). Long story, but now I have late 1920's Martins and Bueschers. Once I worked out tuning problems, the combination of the Dukoff on an old horn produces a unique sound I could never get on those expensive Selmers.

As to tuning problems, I think that most of these can be corrected with a mouthpiece with proper chamber volume. There are all sorts of tricks you can try to get an old horn in tune. Take a look here if you're interested: http://saxontheweb.myforums.net/viewtopic.php?t=3615

While I love my Martins, vintage Bueschers and Conns have many of the same qualities and get be obtained fairly cheap. Getting a vintage horn that is in good playing condition can be tough, though. You never know exactly what your getting from Ebay. I recently picked up a Martin alto and found that it had some nasty little dents around the tone holes and the bell brace. My repair guy says it is about $150 just to fix the dents.

Your band director may have encountered one or more Martins that were duds. I've come across a couple of bad ones (a Martin Lyric alto I looked at was a stinker as well as a Medalist - both student models). Also, there are cheap horns that bare the Martin name that were made after the Martin factories were shut down.

If your band director played an early Martin with a very large chamber mouthpiece, the tuning would have been totally out of wack. Years ago when I first tried a Buescher True-Tone alto for the first time, I came away saying that the horn was unplayable. Now I know better.

[JPrince]

I can agree with that. On the tuning, a good MPC does tend to solve it. When I first got my Bari, all I had to use was the stock Yamaha 5C that came with the school's Yamaha. The tone was so-so (the MPC was crap) and the notes were way sharp on the high end. Then I went and bought an Otto Link, and she sounds great. On the Tenor, I was lucky. It came with a Brilhart Tonalin, and even when I just play tested it for about 20 minutes or so it had no problems. On my band director, I think he was referring to the school's Martin, which was like a 216,xxx serial I think, and had been through a lot. I played it was admittedly put off, both by bad key placement (I think due to a bow in the horn) and bad tone. Then I got my current Martin (202,XXX) and she sounds great, and the keys took some getting use too coming off a Yamaha, but now it 'feels right'.

[Sigmund451]

If someone famous showed up next week playing a martin on tour the pricee would without a doubt double. I agree with goodson at saxgourmet...he states that they are the most overlooked and undervalued horns on the market today.

Im happy to have a beautiful original lacquer (in great condition) 1958 The Martin. Ive found I can play out of tune on the best of horns (I dont attribute the value issue to intonation) ...I think Martins lack Hype....and I for one dont like paying for hype...when you buy a Martin you buy a horn, not some dream that you will play like Getz or Rollins. I know I dont play like either (probably never will) but I know I have a heck of a horn.

[Bootman]

The Martin tenors and Baris have been favourites of RnB players for years, it is the Jazz popularity that they haven't engended.

JPrince, nice vintage for a Martin tenor, mine is also 202K serial and it is a ripper and has toured with bigname acts too.

[Sigmund451]

Bootman....why have Martins not infused their way into jazz so much as in other types of music...is it something specific to the horn or just that the Selmers have dominated so much attenion?

[Bootman]

All you have to do is look back into the big band era and you will see plenty of Martins being used. Martins are used and have been used for years, it is just that many people have never noticed.