[marvintee]

hi, i was just wandering wether any of you guys can help me, i was given a sax and clarinet a few years ago by an old man who was a musician in the 50's.. i know nothing about the instruments and have tried to find info about them but not really to any avail! they came in a case which holds both instruments and i am looking to sell them together. They are in need of restoration as they have been in the box for atleast 10-15 years.

the sax is a Buescher Aristocrat alto sax with the word dallas engraved the serial number is 288664. really cant find out anything about the relevance of the dallas part! the clarinet is a boosey and hawkes imperial but i cant seem to find serial for it!

any help would be greatly appreciated!! i havent a clue what sort of prices i should be looking at if and when i sell it and dont want to be completetly ripped off! i will post some pics later if this would help?! many thanks!

 

[qwerty]

Hi:

Pictures would help!
The clarinet is probably not worth an awful lot. There are lots of Buescher afficiandos here who I am sure can help you. Again, pics will help.

Goo luck!

Steve

 

[saintsday]

The serial number makes the sax a series 1 and potentially a very good sax. I just heard several of these played wonderfully over the weekend.

I'd be curious to see pictures, too. Please be sure to include a pic of the Dallas part and the bell engraving. A picture of the pads would be useful as well. I've never seen Dallas engraving and must assume that it was some sort of identification added by a previous owner. There should only be the True Tone logo and a patent date by the serial and the bell should be a deco pattern. Unfortunately, unless this horn is silver plated, they are only bringing about 4-600 on eBay if they are in need of an overhaul.

I just bought a couple of these, but another probably wouldn't hurt

 

[DougR]

Be a neat idea to fill in the profile for location - country level.

If this could have been bought in London, England - then B&H were major clarinet makers and Dallas (J.E. Dallas, later Dallas-Arbiter) were importers and sellers or a large range of different instruments

 

[marvintee]

thanks guys, am just taking some pics at min so will get them up shortly, have updated the location DougR, i am indeed in the uk.

 

[Rackety Sax]

...I just bought a couple of these, but another probably wouldn't hurt

I think there might be a plot for a future James Bond movie here. Evil saxophone collector Devilsday corners the vintage alto and tenor saxophone market and threatens to have square-chambered mouthpieces welded onto all of them. Unless - all remaining Conn-o-saxes and straight Buescher altos are delivered to Devilsday's lair and Harry White's embouchure is surgically transplanted onto his face. James Bond and Candy Dulfer plot to infiltrate the lair and plant a Dukoff mouthpiece and plasticover reed on Devilsday's prized Couesnon in order to completely incapacitate the madman the next time he attempts to play. Devilsday uncovers the plot and captures Candy, but little does he realize that her Inderbinen alto doubles as a bazooka launcher.

 

[marvintee]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/ sorry the quality is not too great but hopefully you can get the idea!

 

[Fred]

Don't dismiss the B&H Imperial. It's probably a model 926 and a pro model clarinet. The market may be better for it in UK than in USA, but it's a good model to have if it is in fact a 926.

 

[Swingtone]

I think there might be a plot for a future James Bond movie here. Evil saxophone collector Devilsday corners the vintage alto and tenor saxophone market and threatens to have square-chambered mouthpieces welded onto all of them. Unless - all remaining Conn-o-saxes and straight Buescher altos are delivered to Devilsday's lair and Harry White's embouchure is surgically transplanted onto his face. James Bond and Candy Dulfer plot to infiltrate the lair and plant a Dukoff mouthpiece and plasticover reed on Devilsday's prized Couesnon in order to completely incapacitate the madman the next time he attempts to play. Devilsday uncovers the plot and captures Candy, but little does he realize that her Inderbinen alto doubles as a bazooka launcher.

I'll take whatever he's having....

 

[saintsday]

I think there might be a plot for a future James Bond movie here. Evil saxophone collector Devilsday corners the vintage alto and tenor saxophone market and threatens to have square-chambered mouthpieces welded onto all of them. Unless - all remaining Conn-o-saxes and straight Buescher altos are delivered to Devilsday's lair and Harry White's embouchure is surgically transplanted onto his face. James Bond and Candy Dulfer plot to infiltrate the lair and plant a Dukoff mouthpiece and plasticover reed on Devilsday's prized Couesnon in order to completely incapacitate the madman the next time he attempts to play. Devilsday uncovers the plot and captures Candy, but little does he realize that her Inderbinen alto doubles as a bazooka launcher.

:sign5: :sign5: Rats! Foiled again.

 

[saintsday]

If this could have been bought in London, England - then B&H were major clarinet makers and Dallas (J.E. Dallas, later Dallas-Arbiter) were importers and sellers or a large range of different instruments

Thanks for that info. With this instrument being in Britain, my guesstimate about value goes right out the window.

 

[DougR]

Thanks for that info. With this instrument being in Britain, my guesstimate about value goes right out the window.

Ahh - sadly it is almost impossible to put a meaningful estimate of value on this.

It is a prime quality vintage alto - amongst the very best in some peoples' opinion, but there are very few buyers and very few sellers in the UK - so pricing is wild - between 150 and 1500 GBP.

As for finding either spare parts or a tech with real experience of exactly this horn - ohhhhh myyy.

Tread very carefully.

 

[Rackety Sax]

Ahh - sadly it is almost impossible to put a meaningful estimate of value on this.

It is a prime quality vintage alto - amongst the very best in some peoples' opinion, but there are very few buyers and very few sellers in the UK - so pricing is wild - between 150 and 1500 GBP.

As for finding either spare parts or a tech with real experience of exactly this horn - ohhhhh myyy.

Tread very carefully.

But this doesn't have to be sold in England, right? There are players in the Rascher tradition in Germany who would be interested in a horn like this. Though I don't know whether the techs in Germany are familiar with them. Maybe most of the vintage horns there come directly from the U.S.

 

[DougR]

Old saxes have an odd and limited market on the UK
Howarth's List

Remembering that a complete overhaul is probably needed (£500-800 at retail prices) and that a 6M (Howarth currently showing £1200) is a much more sellable horn - how much for a rough looking Aristocrat???

The flip side of the equation is - If you had to have one, how much would you need to pay?