Radiotone

[kiz]

Hi,
has anyone heard of a SML named "Radiotone"? The serial is 34xx which indicates it is a COleman Hawkins-Reverend A or B. Are they good horns?

Thanks,
Kiz

[Pete]

I'm assuming you're the guy that sent me the e-mail ...

This horn is being sold on eBay Germany. The item number is 2373080242. Not a bad looking horn, but it's pretty old.

This is the second horn I've seen from SML actually labelled "Radiotone" -- the first was what I call a "Rev. B" horn, the primary feature being right hand bell keys. The Radiotone in this eBay ad has left hand bell keys: it's a "Rev. A" horn.

A brief explanation about the "Rev." designations: the overwhelming majority of SML horns do not have model names. To tell them apart, I seperated them into various "revisions" that have similar characteristics. My breakdown of each "revision", its feature set and serial number range can be found at
http://www.saxpics.com/sml/smlcompare.htm

The "Coleman Hawkins" was a specific model that SML produced. It was available in a couple of different configurations, but their most easily distinguishable feature are the words "Coleman Hawkins" engraved on the bell (there are also many other mods to the basic SML design which I ramble on about on my website (www.saxpics.com/sml)).

To answer "are they good horns?", you really need to look at the condition of the horn. If it's in great shape, it's a very good sounding horn from about 1940. However, the keywork's not that advanced. If you want to compare it to another French-made horn from the same era, check out a Pierret. This Radiotone is definitely not as advanced as the Selmers of the same era (Balanced Action) or even the Buffet.

[MJ]

Here's one for auction on EBay: 140211923307

It looks like a pretty nice sax.

[soybean]

Just a little bit of information: Radiotone was a stencil name used throughout Europe. I've seen it used on many guitars and other stringed instruments. It was possibly owned or connected to the Harmony company of Chicago.