[pbob42]

Ever seen on of these? I am waiting for it to arrive from England.

more pics are here: http://usera.imagecave.com/pbob42/Luxor/

 

[Randall]

These are not early B&S, but are Romanian produced horns. I am interested to hear how it plays and how the intonation is!

 

[Randall]

I was actually looking at one of these same horns once and I was outbid! lol
Be sure and post a review....

 

[sax-ony]

Since I took these lovely photos (!) I thought I'd take the opportunity to say why I thought the Luxors might be B&S. It's speculative but here goes.... Soviet Bloc command economics favoured large, specialised industrial units. Thus all the Czech horn makers got subsumed into Amati and all the East German ones into VEB Blechblas-und-Signalinstrumente-Fabrik (B&S). Note that these derive from established, well-documented, pre-communist musical-instrument-making traditions. Was there anything similar in Romania? Surely the Czech and East German production facilities are likely to have supplied other Eastern Bloc states.

Now, the horns are engraved "Arta Guban Romania" but the cases are marked "Arta Guban Timisoara". Timisoara is a city in Romania, and the Guban company was founded there in the 1930s. From what I can gather it essentially produced chemicals, plastics and plastic products and possibly electrical items. I cannot think how or why it would have made saxophones. However, it did make "luxury" shoes, handbags, cases etc. from plastic. The Luxor horns come in very distinctive cases, as you can see from the photos, which are covered in a heavy black faux croc pvc. The detailing is as fancy as on the horns, and even includes a tiny cast metal saxophone emblem on the top.

I have seen at least four 1950s/1960s (not sure which) B&S horns for sale on Ebay in exactly the same cases. So, I reason that Guban made fancy cases for B&S and B&S made some equally fancy horns for Guban to put in them and market in Romania.

As I say, speculation - but I look forward to reading other people's theories - or better still, firm information!

 

[58tenor]

Never saw such ornate floral embossing as on the bell lip,joint and bow doubler on that sax. Very neat. More pics,please! Hope it's a good player,sure looks cool.

 

[sax-ony]

There are quite a lot of pics if you follow the link in the post at the start of this thread. Some of the luxors had even more decoration than this one - this has plain key guards, but I have seen them with engraving on there too!

 

[silver-sax]

I have two Luxor tenors proects. May be shall make this summer or autumn.

 

[58tenor]

Duh, yes,the LINK! Wow,that is a bizarre horn; plastic clothing guard, oddball tenon clamp, weird octave key. I don't like the bell key guards- they're mounted to the tone holes! Better not bump it. So how does it PLAY? it's different and cool.

 

[Rick Adams]

Never saw such ornate floral embossing as on the bell lip,joint and bow doubler on that sax. Very neat. More pics,please! Hope it's a good player,sure looks cool.

Agreed - nice engraving too.

 

[pbob42]

Got it back from a repad the other day. Has a nice sweet sound, but a little French for me. I will be posting it up for sale.

 

[Jaice Singer DuMars]

this German-made Romanian tenor is too French!

 

[58tenor]

Reconsider,perhaps. It takes awhile to really figure a horn out. You just got this thing working and you should give it a chance. Just musing.

 

[Bernards20040]

this German-made Romanian tenor is too French!

Of course why wouldn't it be :? :twisted:

 

[sax-ony]

Ebay caveat

I see this horn has appeared on Ebay: item number 140118715070.

The seller calls it an "Early B&S Silver Tenor" and has (without asking me) copied my speculation (above in this thread) into the listing. Please let me stress here that it is pure speculation, offered to explain why I believe the Luxor may be a B&S horn. It has no more authority than that.

I would not myself have used it to influence an Ebay sale, and I would rather other people didn't either.

 

[1csts]

Re- Luxor Sax

I was actually looking at one of these same horns once and I was outbid! lol
Be sure and post a review....

I have one almost identical apart from the crook fixing used. The crook tightening is as on a standard sax. If anyone is interested give me a bell.
Just out of interest. ashop in Germany is selling a luxor sax and say it is made by Keilwerth.

 

[rbur]

The "Luxor van Hall" Saxes were made by Keilwerth in the early 70s.
Same as Keilwerth Toneking.

 

[nybryant]

Is there any chance that you can repost your Luxor pictures? The links are no longer active. I have a Luxor soprano sax that was made in the German Democratic Republic. I have never seen another Luxor. Thanks.

 

[spiderjames]

These are some of the most beautiful saxes made IMO. I had an alto for awhile. the one I had unfortunately would not play in tune. If I got the lower notes somewhat in tune, the upper notes got progressively sharp. Not a little either, almost a semitone sharp by the time i reached high C. Tune the upper notes somewhat in tune and the lower notes were equally flat. Nothing I did helped. Looking back I think it may have been a High pitched horn possibly. A shame, becuase I absolutely loved the design details. I have wanted to get a tenor but everyone I see is too expensive to risk another disaster.

 

[silver-sax]

"Luxor" (and other trade marks, examples "Berg Larsen" from DDR) are all Weltklang stencils (not B&S).

 

[andreSol]

SAX_ONLY:
"It's speculative but here goes.... Soviet Bloc command economics favoured large, specialised industrial units"
______
You should mention "like any industrial economy". But taking this discussion further will lead us too far, I afraid...
Saxophones which are discussed here are certainly were maid in Romania, and they have nothing to do with B&S or Weltklang.
They have a very original look, and they do play quite differently. I would say dark and compact with some "classical " french flavor in sound,
Generally it shouldn't be a major problem in tuning. Original setup was with white/light grey non-resonator pads, what also takes away a buzz in sound.
They were largely exported to USSR and were targeted for amateurs. Very few were privately owned, mostly if were public cultural facilities, school/student bands etc.
Naturally it would be hard to find any in a good condition. They were not that favored by musicians and largest part of amateurish/intermediate part of market was
occupied by Amati and B&S. They were slightly cheaper as well. Tenor Amati was priced 600 Rubles in 80es (about 1000 USD in official cource), and Guban was about 100
cheaper, if not more...
What doesn't make them necessarily bad horns. Shall I say they do have some special character and
it's not in a mainstream taste.....