C Soprano?

[zuke123456]

I bought this off ebay and was wondering if it was a C or a B flat.
This is my first soprano so I'm not sure how to tell. I usually play alto sax.
It needs alot of work but for some reason I had to have it. Sometimes things just call to you. Thanks for your help.

http://cgi.ebay.com/BUESCHER-STRAIGHT-SOPRANO-SAX-rare-1920s-saxophone_W0QQitemZ150027924022QQihZ005QQcategoryZ 119030QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[Jorns Bergenson]

It's definately a Bb. Looks like a beauty hiding under all that tarnish, too.

[Dave dix]

Bb keyed to high F from 1926 and will be superb after a lot of cleaning etc
Dave

[zuke123456]

Thanks for your help. Does anyone have an opinion on if I should do a full
restoration or leave it old looking. I was going to just do pads springs and a cork. Not sure what replating it would do to the value or the sound. I know many people like the old look.

[Dave Dolson]

Zuke: I know about the correctness of leaving a horn's finish alone, but I must admit - the one you pictured is ROUGH. I have two TT sops like that, but both are real "lookers." And, they play as good as they look.

If that was MY horn, I'd go for a total re-finish and overhaul, then play the thing until I die. No worry about possible resale value that way.

One thing, though . . . if the finish is as bad as the picture shows, it may have some serious pitting that even a re-plate may not fix. At that point, you may want to consider a good cleaning/overhaul and just accept it. My TT alto looked fairly tarnished and dirty (but not like your pictured sop!!), yet it came out beautiful after being cleaned and overhauled. DAVE

[Jorns Bergenson]

I agree with Dave about the pitting. When I wrote "a beauty", I meant player, not looker.

Leaving it old looking may leave it old smelling, too. Tarnish that bad will sometimes come off onto your hands.

[bruce bailey]

I do a lot of clean ups on these and I think you may be surprised. The pits may only be on or in the plating and not down to the metal too much. I think once it is cleaned and polished, it will shine enough to offset the marks. Some of the keys may have bad plating but if it is just a few, you may get by just replating the bad ones which is not that expensive. I would wait until you get it, disassemble it (or have it done) and get out the polish and see what happens. From the looks of the keys, I think they will be OK. Use a toothbrush and some paste polish in a tube.

[Jorns Bergenson]

Great suggestions from Bruce. A nylon toothbrush can scratch the metal, so I'd suggest you only use it to get in the nooks and crannys.

Sometimes, heavy, black tarnish will not come off with silver polish, requiring a silver dip to be used. Haggerty's silver dip is great. Tarn-X is a cheap alternative that can be found at some grocery and drug stores. The horn has to be completely stripped including the springs. Tarn-X has come out with wipes that you could try on a section of the bell to see how it works, but you'd have to rinse away any trace of the stuff because it will continue to eat into the good silver.

You can search for "slilver dip" or "Tarn-X" to find more info.

[TenTenTooter]

Indeed, old heavaly tarnished silver like that will shine up nicely with some silver polish and elbow greese. If you look under the "our finest" section at worldwidesax.com there is a C soprano that looked similar to yours that polished up nicely.

[TenTenTooter]

For some reason my "edit" button isn't working...

http://worldwidesax.com/new_page_1.htm

There is the link, scroll down a little to see the soprano. It wasn't as tarnished as yours, but still shows how they can clean up.