who made this sax?

[David Plume]

:? I hope someone can shed some light on the manufacturer of my Eb Alto. I bought it Victoria BC Canada somewhere around 1962 - 1964. I can't find a brand name anywhere on it but here is what I did find. Serial number 11512 on the main body under the thumb rest and also on the neck. It says Made in Western Germany on the main body under the serial number. Engraved on the bell is the bold word JUBILEE with an ornate engraved border around JUBILEE. They body is gold colour (lacquer I think) and the keys are nickel colour. The key buttons and guards are inlaid with mother-of-pearl. I've never had any maintenance done except for my own oiling etc. It still plays well and looks great, but I think it's time for a complete repad/cleaning etc. I'd like to know whether or not it's of sufficient quality/value before spending a lot of money. I can't find any reference to JUBILEE and a serial number search indicates it could be a Buffet Crampon, but those are made in France. This is becoming frustrating as everywhere I turn, I hit a dead end. Thanks in advance to everyone for at least reading this post...and extra thanks to those who can offer assistance. Regards, Dave

[David Plume]

Go to this link to see photos of my sax. They aren't great quality, but hopefully helpful in identifying the manufacturer.

http://community.webshots.com/album/82245546xAIbtl

Regards, Dave

[Pete]

It's not a Buffet. That's France, not Germany.

The horn looks within percentage points of the horns made by Dorfler & Jurka (as always, supply your own umlauts). I've got an example of one of their Voss models HERE. (http://www.saxpics.com/the_gallery/Keilwerth/misc/voss_9199_sq/)

Is it worth restoring? Well, did it play extremely good before it needed an overhaul?

If you're going to spend upwards of $650 US ($1.732 billion Canadian) to have the horn overhauled and it didn't play all that great before, I'd say that you'd want to pass on this one.

D&J was a company eventually purchased by Keilwerth. Occasionally D&J did buy sax bodies from Keilwerth and affixed their own keywork, but the body could be made with lower quality materials and/or without rolled tone holes, hence my above statements.