[ptung]

Anybody know what the story is here, as far as the neckmaker and more details?

I know who the player named is. Sort of. If the person who made the mods justifies the price, I'm all ears. If not, it sounds like a pitchforks and torches kind of topic. I'm hoping for the former, open to the latter.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/GP-tenor-s...719609?hash=item48e26203b9:g:KGcAAOSwv9ldWlW9

I haven't looked in this area for years. Will try to look around later.

 

[milandro]

looks like the usual mix of incomplete information.

Did this neck belong ( net to be modified as) to Hidehiko Matsumoto? ( a famous player in Japan)

If it is cut and the pip made smaller “ The pitch of the high pitch is difficult to shift (hard to rise).

Remodeled part: Cut the overall height of the neck / make the ton hole smaller “

why does it then say


“
Modified Item: No

Custom Bundle: No

Skill Level: Intermediate

"

 

[whaler]

I have a re-lacquered Mark VI neck for sale for $650. Not modified in perfect condition.
Some things should just be left original as possible.

 

[ving]

I have a mark vi neck that is my main neck I bought from Peter Ponzol directly; it too is relacquered and has been altered at the cork end,the diameter looks to have been opened up and rifled in the first couple of mm from the end. It plays great, very freeblowing and I think kind of a model for the design of Peter’s aftermarket necks. It opened the sound up considerably from the stock neck. (FWIW, I got lucky with this as a good match for my horn, but I’m not convinced all modifications you can do to a neck end up a success ).

 

[milandro]

the one from the auction is described as shortened and reduced the opening of the pip, not anywhere near “ normal” and then it may have been used by a “ famous” player

 

[jman1977]

Most vintage/collectible sax and sax accessories are overpriced in Japan compared to the prices we are used to seeing elsewhere. Check out the 1970's Mark VI altos that is listed for almost $9,000 linked below (there are many other examples of "overpriced" items). The market there is simply willing and able to pay more, and they value these things more. Even without the provenance the neck would probably still be listed for at least twice what the normal asking price would be.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/H-SELMER-M...rentrq:0099b33f1730ad397f182648ffe5553a|iid:1

EDIT: Here are a few more examples:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/A-Selmer-P...=1435509139680c79a71593c14404b102ea3a652b824d

https://www.ebay.com/itm/USED-Alto-...366600?hash=item263609c2c8:g:K4QAAOSwgEVeZKNL

 

[AddictedToSax]

GP tenor saxophone neck for SELMER MARK VI neck, modified to Mr. Hidehiko Matsumoto specification
GP Tenor Neck for SELMER MARK VI
The pitch of the high pitch is difficult to shift (hard to rise).

Remodeled part: Cut the overall height of the neck / make the ton hole smaller

If I'm interpreting it correctly and I'm probably not, it sounds like the neck was shortened to make a low pitch sax play at high pitch. Maybe. Another interpretation could be that it was modified to make the higher range of the sax more responsive.

"high pitch is difficult to shift" "cut overall height [length?] of the neck" ie. shortened the neck to shift the pitch higher. The seller is probably using something like Google Translate to translate Japanese to English and the meaning is getting butchered in the process.

 

[turf3]

Well, class, can anyone remember what it is, that one is born every minute?

Class?

Class?

CLAAASSSSS!!!!

 

[ptung]

LOL

I appreciate the humor. A few details as as far as my question:

- the player is clearly real, somewhat underappreciated? I have not listened to him play yet. It seems, from looking at picture, like he really appreciates Sonny Rollins (I am not making fun -- Japanese are F'ing serious about their respect for others, especially Japanese music lovers with their heroes/inspirational-figures). I don't know a good way to say what I'm trying to say. Without listening, I suspect the player is a badass, ruled by love, pursuing (in part) a hero-inspired goal, for decades.

- I do not doubt the player may have had idiosyncratic (and not in a crazyperson way) taste, wants, and preferences

- EBay listings physically/visually/literally confuse me now. They seem to have changed, and I can't tell if I can't find the seller's names (if I'm now an eBay "luddite") or if the info just isn't there.

I'm asking if anybody knows whom the seller is, and if there's something I'm missing, e.g. that the seller is a bad**sed neck guy.

I am not doubting he is. I want to know more about him if he is.

That said, this is the first time I've ever heard anything about people *shrinking* the octave pip of Mark VI or VII necks in an effort to make someone -- especially a great player -- happier. I'm fascinated to hear about that if anybody has the guts to step out on that gang plank.

 

[Reet McVouty]

That said, this is the first time I've ever heard anything about people *shrinking* the octave pip of Mark VI or VII necks in an effort to make someone -- especially a great player -- happier. I'm fascinated to hear about that if anybody has the guts to step out on that gang plank.

Apparently those neck modifications didn't make him happy. He sold the neck ...

 

[soybean]

Most vintage/collectible sax and sax accessories are overpriced in Japan compared to the prices we are used to seeing elsewhere.… The market there is simply willing and able to pay more, and they value these things more.…

Yes. I've noticed that too. Many items from Japan seem to be grossly overpriced on eBay and don't seem to sell. Even brand new items like Yamaha necks.

I wonder if it is some sort of tax write-off where these sellers can get a credit from the Japanese government. In other words, the sellers don't really expect to sell the items. I know of similar tax dodges Guitar Center ran here in the USA.

 

[Guto]

Ebay is full of nonsense. Like this other neck https://www.ebay.com/itm/264781131723

 

[soybean]

Yes that is an outrageous price.

 

[John B]

Yes that is an outrageous price.

will have to try to sell My Mark 6 in Japan. See Pic.s In profile,

 

[Tenor Mattness]

Ebay is full of nonsense. Like this other neck https://www.ebay.com/itm/264781131723

That same neck sold on Reverb for under $500 recently. I think everyone's already seen his $150k SBA, so he's trying to attract new attention with other ridiculously over-priced gear.

 

[ptung]

Huh...15+ years ago there was a circle when eBay first emerged that would shill bid each other's VI, SBA and BA auctions to try and drive prices up (and they did so successfully). 1 or more would bid up the item, it'd close at (for then, not for now) an inflated eBay price, and then someone else would list a similar one and it would often sell for a higher price than it likely would have without that recent "shilled" auction in the "completed auctions" listings.

At least this guy is braving it alone, it would seem. I get a bigger kick out of the latter. I think?

Something I didn't consider: maybe he's just doing that to advertise. I run eBay listings sometimes, as a form of advertising, with no intention of selling at a higher price than direct, but the ads usually divulge that in the listing in a way that any one with a not-subnormal brain would be able to parse out.

So...maybe I'm missing something after all. At least if so I'm not alone.

 

[datsaxman]

Huh...15+ years ago there was a circle when eBay first emerged that would shill bid each other's VI, SBA and BA auctions to try and drive prices up (and they did so successfully). 1 or more would bid up the item, it'd close at (for then, not for now) an inflated eBay price, and then someone else would list a similar one and it would often sell for a higher price than it likely would have without that recent "shilled" auction in the "completed auctions" listings.

There were more than a few. Actually, there **are** more than a few of these schemes going on eBay.

 

[ptung]

There were more than a few. Actually, there **are** more than a few of these schemes going on eBay.

I don't doubt it. If the company's not turning the profit it used to (incentive to allow more unethical stuff to go on, because that increases volume), and national/corporate-social ethical standards have deteriorated (they have), and legal accountability has decreased (it has), corrupt behavior could not but increase. It would be very strange and nonsensical if it didn't.

 

[datsaxman]

Yes, eBay rarely acts unless it is in their best intere$$$t.

Sad, but true.

 

[JimD]

I would have thought that something that has been modified to provide an unknown outcome, actually I would see it as having been tampered with, should sell for less. The fact that it was made for a well known musician who no longer wants it also raises questions. I can’t imagine this will ever sell.

I have a friend who worked in Japan who found a shop that specialised in buying Selmers, preferably MkVIs, restoring and rebuilding them and selling them for huge prices, they did very good business. Maybe it’s the same people, as has been suggested the prices people will pay in Japan are so much higher that the seller maybe doesn’t see any problem. My friend bought a MkVII and had three coats of matt silver applied, looked beautiful and he wouldn’t tell me what he paid, it was still a MkVII though and I’m sure he’ll never get back what he laid out for it except maybe in Japan.

Update: I see Hidehiko Matsumoto died in 2000.