Berg Larsen tenor sax help

[catboy]

i recently inherited a Berg larsen tenor sax...its seems quite old ( i'm a complete novice so couldnt begin to describe it apart from the fact its a bit tarnished)...i cant find any info on the companies sax's, mouth pieces i can find lots on but the sax's ..nothing...does anyone know anything about them as i'd love to be able to date it....it plays fine, (my friend is a great player and says its in good cond) any info would be greatly recieved..

thanks

[SoulMate]

Greetings Catboy,

I thought Berg Larsen only made mouthpieces, no saxes. Then again, I could be wrong....

Is there an engraving on the sax that says "Berg Larsen" ? Is there anywere a serial number on it? Or any other engraving?

SoulMate.

[catboy]

yes it says in lovely curly writing Berg Larsen on the front of the horn.....strange that no-one knows anything about this...

[Jolle]

Please please please add some pictures. I would love to see the curly handwriting and the construction of the sax.

Berg Larsen was a professional musician, who made reeds and later on mouthpieces. I see two possibilities :
1. You have a sax of a different brand that has "adopted" the name of this musician
2. You have the sax of Berg Larsen.

Either way, this is very interesting for everybody only barely interested in history of the saxophone.

[catboy]

as you say it might be a brand that has adopted the name of Berg larsen.....but why not put their (the manufactureres, ) name above it..??

I will take some pics tonight and post them..

[Sid]

I think these were Eastern European stencils produced in the 70's. There are a couple of other threads on the site dealing with BL saxes. I remember reading a review of these saxes by Dave Gelly and Barbara Thompson in an old issue of Jazz Journal.

[catboy]

what were the conclusions re quality of the sax from Jazz Journal??

[Sid]

If memory serves - nothing to write home about, but I do remember there was an alto, tenor, bari range and the alto impressed less than the tenor. Again if memory serves, the last time I walked up Charing Cross Road (a month or so ago), there was a BL Tenor in the window of the music shop thats on the opposite side of the road, but a bit lower down to Foyles! - sorry, I'm having a vague day today!

[catboy]

thanks for that Sid...would that be Macaris music shop just down fom foyles???

[Jolle]

found the other thread here at this forum :
http://www.saxontheweb.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=23727

keep us updated

[catboy]

yep i'd seen that thread after i posted...i followed the link to the other ththread from that one.... what are "Weltklang stencils" ( which they mention)when they're at home??

[Sid]

Catboy,
Thats the shop - but don't get too excited if they have a silly price ticket on one, I get the impression that any piece of rusty junk is hailed as a minty closet wonderhorn and priced accordingly. If you're interested I'll try and dig out the review when I get home tonight. Did your inheritance come with a mpc? A good Berg mpc of that vintage would probably generate more interest than the horn!

[stitch]

yep i'd seen that thread after i posted...i followed the link to the other ththread from that one.... what are "Weltklang stencils" ( which they mention)when they're at home??

Stencils are instruments made by a major manufacturer (in this case Weltklang) for a third party to put their own name on. As you will have discovered by now, Weltklangs are reasonable enough horns; not great, but solid and they do the job.

[catboy]

not sure aboout mouth pc...will be have a look tonight , your right about macaris....as long as its over 30 years old they add the naughts like italians add garlic...nice shop though

[Dave dix]

They are a GDR horn , i thought they could be amati made but later found out they were eastern european, not a great horn but would make a good tank
Dave

[Ian]

My first alto horn ever was a Berg Larsen. Curly writing and all. indescribably dreadful, I am afraid, and given away when my tech told me he would never be able to get it to play in tune! I've never seen another, before or since.