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Alto Neck

1K views 9 replies 4 participants last post by  milandro 
#1 ·
Hi here is a wonderful silver and gold engraived neck, for which make of alto? The end of the neck near the cork, after passing a file lightly over it shows silver. It fits a Martin 1934 Imperial but it is a lot longer. Serial number 72***. Any ideas. Musical instrument Handle Door handle Automotive exterior Household hardware
 
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#5 ·
I was referring to OP's neck which has no microtuner. The engraving looks very fresh and might very well be something which was done later.On the other hand the two tone gold-silver was a Conn classic.

When quoting a post with a picture you can edit the picture out.

 
#6 ·
Thanks for the comment Milandro. The engraving is spectacular, I was hoping someone would have the complete saxophone. How do I check for silver. The tenon is brass but is the neck silver? It appears to be gold plate over silver.
 
#9 ·
First of all, gold plating is applied over silver plating, so what you have there is a brass neck with (probably factory) gold plate over silver, i.e., one of the standard finishes offered by most/all manufacturers at the time.

The engraving might have been done post manufacture, but I believe some mfrs' highest finish option included extensive engraving including the neck.

From the picture it could be Conn, Martin, Buescher, King, or even Selmer model 22/26. As noted, most Conns had the microtuner; but the very early ones didn't, plus there were special orders and many many variants. Your best bet is to pore over photos, checking things like the lengths of the key arm on either side of the pivot, the shape of the arm Note that the OP's shows the arm tapering in its height, whereas the Conn arm seems more constant in height down its length), the design of the little guide slot, post design (note OP's neck has a single-flange double post whereas the Conn neck shown uses two individual posts each with its own base), shape of the rim above the tenon (note that the Conn pictured is rounded whereas I think the OP picture looks more like a straight sided cone) and so on. Or, get it together with a variety of old altos and see which it fits.

I have always understood "New York neck" to be strictly a variant of the 6M, with a special long arm. In the Conn world this just looks like an ordinary Wonder/New Wonder/New Wonder II alto neck, except without microtuner. But it might not be a Conn neck at all, in fact the more I look at the differences between it and the Conn neck shown the more likely it seems that it's not a Conn neck.
 
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