Found a 70's silver SDA tenor........

5036 Views 22 Replies 10 Participants Last post by BlueTrane2028, Aug 7, 2008

Grumpie

Discussion Starter · Nov 22, 2007

....and I sure hope I can get it alive again.
While looking for an older and not that expensive backup tenor I found this SDA. It's in silver, only engraving is the Buffet Crampon Paris on the bell and ofcourse Super Dynaction on the body, no other engraving just like this one at Saxpics.
This made me read through just about this entire subforum, so thanks to you Buffet lovers for all the info.

Cosmetics are ok, small ding on the bow and two small dings at the upper body and another small ding on the neck just above the tenon so this should be easy to reach.
It has been in a storage room for the last 8 years and the silver isn't looking all that bad and still rather shiny, but it can do with a nice polish.

Now for the mechanics. Palmkey pads are completely shot but almost all the other pads are still really soft (but there is much work to be done so my tech will probably advise me to repad everything aswell). Several rods have some play and wear, some even a lot so I expect some posts to be out of alignment. Palm Eb is one of them and the top-post almost hits the lever that pushes the body-octave key down.
Because all of this the keywork is really noisy now but every thing moves and works although the horn is not playable at the moment.

Original case is great condition, original BC mouthpiece with cap and lig were still in.

Seems to be enough work to be done. Hope to get the horn to my tech this weekend and see what he can do. After all the info here I think these oldies should be brought back to life again. Let's hope this works out.

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Grumpie

Discussion Starter · #4 · Nov 23, 2007

I'll try to get some pics later. Even with all the work needed I think I didn't do that bad on this horn. I paid $250 for this one.
After it has the full works been done I hope it will be something nice to play.

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Grumpie

Discussion Starter · #6 · Nov 23, 2007

Camera batteries were dead and I'm of to work in a few minutes so tis afternoon I can make some pics. The silver really needs a polish but I already did a quick rub on the neck and part of the bell and it comes out nice. But still the mechanical part is in need for lots of attention.
One thing for sure, it's not a relacq.

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Grumpie

Discussion Starter · #7 · Nov 23, 2007

Made some pics.

Bell-front
Right
Left

Should look fine after a good polish I think. But the real work is the mechanics. My tech has an overhauled SDA in the shop so when I take this over I can have a preview on looks and sound.

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Grumpie

Discussion Starter · #10 · Nov 23, 2007

Bill Mecca said:
very purty!!!
My SDA is a 4 digit from 1961, and not very pretty these days but it plays!

I wasn't exactly looking for a pretty horn Bill, just looking for a back-up tenor that would do the trick, looks not important. It is the way it plays that counts and in this case the way it's hopefully going to play.:shock:
There is also a little bent in the body starting between the straphook ring and the thumbrest I think, but the techforum here set my mind ok with that problem.

Saxland said:
Wow, thats quite the deal. Buffet tenors are sweet sweet!!! Espicially the Dynaction in my avator....

I've played the S1 and liked the Buffet thing, never owned a Buffet before so the waiting begins until this one is ready to go.

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Grumpie

Discussion Starter · #13 · Nov 24, 2007

tjontheroad said:
Looks nice. You did well. A rare find indeed. You'll be very surprised with it once it's back in top form. I'll be interested in your review.

I'll post a review TJ, but it will take some weeks. My tech is very busy at the moment, but it is scheduled to be back in good condition the first week of january.
My tech is a Buffet fan, he has 3 Buffets in the shop and was working on a S1 at the moment. It seems that in this part of our little country there are a lot of Buffet players, probably because we have a rich tradition in concertbands. Even the smallest village here has one (we have 8 in our little town) and lots of them switched to Selmers but there are still enough BC's floating around.
He said he liked working on Buffets so it's in the right hands now. Lots of work to be done on this SDA, bit more expensive then I hoped for but it should be worth it. And as for the new pads we decided on the black roopads. The waiting begins......

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Grumpie

Discussion Starter · #15 · Nov 24, 2007

tjontheroad said:
RooPads are something different for a SDA. Are you going to keep the flat metal resos with them or go with something else?

I've read about the screw-in flat metal resos, but it was now on Selmer style pads with the brown plastic ones. Roo's with flat metal are coming back on. I played a SDA he had with these pads and if mine is coming back like that one I'm happy.
I've got roopads on my Series 3 (but with the golden airtight resos) and really like these. But on the SDA it's gonna be flat metal.

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Grumpie

Discussion Starter · #19 · Aug 2, 2008

A longer wait then expected but she's back

Scheduled to be done a few months back, but because of the major work needed I agreed with my tech to take some more time and work on the horn "in between". Saved me some money and I must say the waiting for this SDA was worth it.
I got her back this afternoon, fitted with black roo's and metal reso's and I have been playing her for about a hour and a half. These Buffets really are awesome (first impression though after getting her back). Speaks so easy from top to bottom, full sound with a really fat low-end. Seems very mpc friendly, lebayle, STM NY, Morgan 3 and 6C, they all work nice.

Ergo's are a bit different ofcourse, being used to a Crat and a Serie III, keys feel a bit more spread, but this seems easy to get used to. Low Bb is a bit of a stretch but managable. The action is really a big surprise. The feel is somewhere between the snappy modern keywork and the smooth feel from the Buescher. One happy camper here and,......Buffets just classical horns......I think myth busted

. Now I'm back to playing.

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Grumpie

Discussion Starter · #21 · Aug 7, 2008

themacintrasher said:
Wanna trade it for one of my kindies?

After all these months I finally got her back and in the short time she's here I don't think I'm ready to let this one go. Still some ergo things to get used to but this is a really great horn to play. Looking forward having a long time relationship with this one.

Some quick snapshots (sorry, inside with flash, weather outside is :x)

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