[olds1959special]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Professioa...765932?hash=item285467936c:g:R2kAAOSwk5FUyiQ3

 

[soybean]

No, but they include white gloves.

 

[musekatcher]

No, but they include white gloves.

Wow, they've gone up. They were $599 shipped a few years ago. I liked the idea, but decided they may not be any better than the $200 Lade cheapies also from China, with white gloves (for marching of course).

Thankfully, I took a chance on some 20's C Melodies, discovered how nice they were, selected one and had a professional rebuild. In proper condition, they make great horns by any standards.

 

[adamk]

Aquillasax paid for development and tooling then got ripped off.
A tough world.

 

[milandro]

I don't believe he got ripped off but I think that he had a temporary exclusivity agreement which expired after a few years.

If he had exclusive rights in perpetuity he would be able to sue at the very least Thomann and Sax.co.uk ( both subject to copyright law in western countries) for selling them under their own brands.

Frankly speaking given the high price of the Chinese horns , I'd rather buy them from Thomann or Sax.co.uk

https://www.thomann.de/nl/thomann_c...iLCJjdXJyZW5jeSI6IjIiLCJsYW5ndWFnZSI6Im5sIn0=

https://www.sax.co.uk/?searchStr=c+melody

Thomann offers theirs at less than €800

 

[Airflyte]

Wow, they've gone up. They were $599 shipped a few years ago. I liked the idea, but decided they may not be any better than the $200 Lade cheapies also from China, with white gloves (for marching of course).

Thankfully, I took a chance on some 20's C Melodies, discovered how nice they were, selected one and had a professional rebuild. In proper condition, they make great horns by any standards.

Looks like an upcharge for the metal mouthpiece.

Make an offer.

I bet one can still snag a Wurlitzer stencil for 150 bucks, rehab it for a few hundred and still have a better C-mel when all is said and done.

 

[zapatista]

...

 

[cvsimson]

I tried one of these a while ago. I found that I like the sound of my Buescher a lot more. It felt less solid too.
They are based on a Conn C melody, so they probably sound more like a Conn. In my experience (and it will be different for every player) I didn't get the sound I was going for with the Conn. It sounded closer to an Alto when I played it, and I got a fuller and warmer sound from Buescher, Martin or King saxes.

 

[vini88]

Hi guys, I have a '23 Buescher C melody that I've been dinking around, but it has some issues in the neck. The octave lever was frozen and my tech had to drill it out the get in to work, now its loose and doesn't operate quite right. I've been looking at these new chinese horns and I saw the 2 pack of straight/curved necks they are selling for $150. Does anyone knows if they'd work on a Buescher? The only thing it says is they have a 24mm diameter.

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[bruce bailey]

I can refer you to a tech who can fix the Buescher key.

 

[vini88]

Thanks, but it works, it just has some issues. I don't really want to put more money into it, it's mostly a toy for me. That's why I was wondering about these chinese necks on ebay.

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[Grumps]

Aquillasax paid for development and tooling then got ripped off.

Yeah, ripped off by imbeciles who thought people actually want these things. Just goes to show you though... you send your design to be manufactured in China, they're gonna steal it and undersell your product to compete with you. It's a complete con game preying on those wanting to produce a product for the bare minimum costs.

 

[JayeLID]

Thanks, but it works, it just has some issues. I don't really want to put more money into it, it's mostly a toy for me. That's why I was wondering about these chinese necks on ebay.

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You start messing with trying to match a contemporary neck to a vintage sax, you open a whole can of worms....far beyond whether the tenon size happens to fit.
I second Bruce's comment - get the octave key issue corrected on your original neck. If the tech made it loosey-goosey with his repair work, he should correct the problem for a discounted fee.

Even if not, it shouldn't cost you $150 to get your original key to work better, so the chinese neck idea is gonna be a more expensive option, I'd think.

 

[PigSquealer]

Thanks, but it works, it just has some issues. I don't really want to put more money into it, it's mostly a toy for me. That's why I was wondering about these chinese necks on ebay.

Post pictures of the bad neck. That's no big deal to fix if it's loose.

 

[adamk]

I bought on of those curved necks with the underslung octave key from Aquillasax for my 10919 Buescher C.
Had it fitted to the sax,
Intonation was worse than the original.

 

[JayeLID]

Yup, it's a crapshoot when one tries to match a contemporary neck to an old horn. Even more so with a C-Mel, because hardly any replacement necks are available so the choices are extremely limited.

 

[vini88]

Unfortunately it's currently in storage and can't get to it. Since I'm back in school, I figured it was the least important sax to have with me. Not really a priority to repair at the moment, just saw these Aquilla (?) necks on ebay and was curious.

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[cvsimson]

I bought on of those curved necks with the underslung octave key from Aquillasax for my 10919 Buescher C.
Had it fitted to the sax,
Intonation was worse than the original.

The Aquila sax was developed from a Conn, so I guess the neck won't work well on a Buescher.

 

[moxie]

Hmm...!8 replies, only one answered the OP's question. Yes, I have tried one of "these new C-melody saxes", and glad I bought it I only buy used horns, only if they look pretty darn new. I studied everything I could find about the Aquilasax, and patiently looked for a used one to present itself. I waited a long time. Then I studied everything about the company that built them, and found (I'm pretty sure I have this right) that it was Canex Musical that made the Aquilasax, and it is them (my studies seemed to show only they make a C-mel at this time) that sell them on Ebay etched with various names, mine is the much raved about "Flare" brand (that's a joke, son).

I didn't want a hundred year old instrument. I didn't want to hear about mellow, subdued, round, sound. I wanted something to play when we have reunions of our Soul and R&R band from the late sixties, I figured a modern mouthpiece would make it sound like a modern sax. Then a brand new-looking instrument showed up in what was advertised as silver plate, the owner quelling my qualms of owning a mainland China made sax, saying the Chinese CAN make good stuff when they want to, but if U.S. parents want to buy a $220 alto, they can and will make that, too.

I love playing on it, I love the tone, I often practice the music from the two bands I play in, its easier on me than the bari I really play. I wish several of my saxes played in tune as well. I do now wonder if the original C-mels had bespoke sets of keywork, or were they stolen from the alto bin, as I suspect these keys are. It seems that the tube length ends up with some oddities, especially the left-hand thumb rest being right on top of the side-C keycup, and the side Bb keytouch being short of where you're looking for it. And, most of all, the octave key mechanism was--recalcitrant. Well, just like getting used to a vintage LH pinky table when you're not, practice took care of the first two, and one of my tech's "new-horn checkout routine" (he works so reasonably that I feel guilty when I pick up my stuff) improved the octave key by 90%. I tried all alto and tenor pieces I have, with my tenor Berg 100/2 offset M denim table sounding great, but all constantly reminded me they just were never intended to mate with this horn, intonation just Suffered. The "case" mouthpiece isn't too bad, but I'm still hoping Santa is a sax player. I'm so glad I pulled the trigger, $540 shipped. A guy had a thread about: "You may be a C-mel player if....", and one answer offered was --'if you ever wanted to ask the lead guitar player "could we please play that blues tune in E??"

And, don't mock the GLOVES!! You stick the cork end of each of the two necks up the middle finger, using the palm area to protect the rest! I'll bet you don't have a "Flare"!!!!!!!! (Pics included are stock photos, but this is identical to mine save for the "brand" engraved.)

 

[soybean]

Thanks for the review moxie. Sounds like you bought a new C melody online. Was there something wrong with the neck it came with?