[jacobeid]

A lot of you know I picked up a '35 10m. Even needing repairs, the horn blew my mind. I took the horn to junkdude this morning to drop the horn off for repairs and to pick up some reeds and my morgan 6m for alto.

Well naturally, since I was surrounded by horns I started playing. I picked up a lacquer 6m. Holy crap! That thing was loud! I kept playing and was really digging it. Of course I didn't have the $1,150 (well more like $1,250 with tax) for the horn. Dave told me he'd take my martin and give me the conn 6m and the 6m mouthpiece. I went to breakfast and thought it over. I came back and compared the horns with my series III also.

I decided the conn had so much punch, bite, and projection it would be a perfect big band horn. The series III was kind of inbetween the punchiness of the conn and the mellowness of the martin. I couldn't push the martin as much as either of them. So I figured the I could mellow up the series III if I needed to.

I ended up walking out with the 6m. I've been playing for the past 3 hours and I have absolutely no regrets.

I also A-B'ed my series III with a few Mark VI's. I really, really dug that 90xxx one he had. To me it sounded very similar to my series III, but played a bit easier. My dad and Dave both agreed that the VI had a bit more complexity to the tone, but we both agreed that it would not be worth me selling the series III than spending another 3k for a mark VI, since the differences were very subtle at best.

If I had had more time, I would have played some of the other 10m's, SBA's, TH&C's, and other horns, but oh well. It's amazing how out of all the horns I have played there, none have been bad. It's really hard to make decisions there!

https://junkdude.com/ProductDetail.aspx?id_product=609-that's the 6m I came home with.

 

[abadcliche]

Hey! I repadded that horn about a 8 months ago! I remember that one- I almost kept it. Nice horn!

http://www.saxontheweb.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=55887&highlight=conn+abadcliche

(I later traded the 28M for a rose gold Conn Chu alto)

I traded it to Dave a little while ago for a '38 Keilwerth alto, which I am taking a break from overhauling by getting on SOTW for a few minutes. Funny how small the saxophonic world is.

 

[jacobeid]

Hey! I repadded that horn about a 8 months ago! I remember that one- I almost kept it. Nice horn!

http://www.saxontheweb.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=55887&highlight=conn+abadcliche

(I later traded the 28M for a rose gold Conn Chu alto)

I traded it to Dave a little while ago for a '38 Keilwerth alto, which I am taking a break from overhauling by getting on SOTW for a few minutes. Funny how small the saxophonic world is.

You did one hell of a job! I love the metal resos on it. This horn is the loudest I've ever played, and it sounds amazing!

 

[martysax]

Jacob, I was nervous when I saw the title of this thread.

Be carefull, if your family's like mine, you may get dis-owned!

 

[jacobeid]

Jacob, I was nervous when I saw the title of this thread.

Be carefull, if your family's like mine, you may get dis-owned!

lmao! It's all good here.

 

[Frequency]

Conns are where it's at man! Mine projects like crazy. Yet, I can play softly, making the tone a sweet, smoky, nonchalant mix of mellow goodness. Wise choice!

 

[freejazz]

Hello fellow Conn-oisseurs
Conn-gratulations jacobeid.

Yes, ever since I switched from my 62 to the Naked Lady, I haven't been as conn-tent.
Now to find a 10M!

I have just sent mine in for a complete overhaul and man am I depressed! :sad2:

I have a slight conn-flict regarding the pads. The tech recommends plastic resonators are the way to go and as for the Ferree resopads he reckons they are of inferior quality to the ones he uses. I trust him as he was my teacher for many years. Any suggestions/opinions?

(sorry for all the conn-isms, its just too conn-tagious.

 

[jacobeid]

You'd have to check with abadcliche what he put on this horn. I know there are flat metal resos, but I'm not sure about the pad type.

 

[Sergiosax]

Good choice... I have a 1926 New wonder II alto, with flat metal reso's (and rivet), and with a Berg Larsen 80 2 SMS it sounds as anything you want from smokey and sweet to almost violent and loud..
Congratulations!

 

[Saxland]

Yeah baby!!!!

Congrats on your new 6M. I have a 1935 bare brass Conn 6M. It replaced 1970 my Mark VI of 18 years. 18 months after buying the Conn I had to let the VI sadly go. It just was not being played. Are these not one of the 7 Wonders of the saxophone world? If you can get a hold of one, an open tiped Brilhart Streamline 80-90 tip gives a really complex tone with a Vandoren java reed. I have the ebolin streamline model. A Vandoren small chamber V16 gets it even louder :shock: The only thing that I have an issue with is the neck angle. I'm considereing a Gloger neck to correct that.

So dig in and enjoy the ride, I used to be a die hard Selmer player until I tried a 6M.

 

[Bar-Ron]

I too have been e-conn-o-mizing and I traded in that MK VI alto 90,xxx at Daves as I was in need of a soprano and tenor and have completely been Conn-vinced of their sound value and fit to my hands.

 

[jacobeid]

Bar-Ron...wow...that was an amazing horn. It blew the other selmers he had away. If I had the money I definitely would have traded him my series III and got that VI. It was great!

I also noticed the weird neck angle, but I played the horn for around 8 hours yesterday so I'm getting used to it. The only thing about the keywork is the low C# because I have big hands I have to bend my pinky in a bit to hit it. The 10m fits me like a glove though.

 

[abadcliche]

Jacob, thank you for the kind words! I am glad that horn found a good home.

I used Musicmedic Precision pads and the #116 flat seamless metal resonators that Kraus carries on Jacob's horn.

The pads I stock are all Musicmedic pads, and I have very good luck with them. They seem to stick less than a lot of other brands, and they arrive nice and flat and even- not to mention the good price and free shipping to the US. The Kraus resonators are my favorite- although if Musicmedic carried them I'd buy them there! They look really nice, and they seem to not add any brightness or anything to the horn, just enhance the sound- kind of like turning the volume up a bit. Nothing changes, you've just got more there. I have them on all of my personal saxes.

My personal barometer for how much I like a sax is what percentage of my energy seems to be translated into sound. I think we have all played some horns that feel more on the level of 40%- and I would say most decent to good saxes are somewhere around 70%. I have an alto right now (the one I spoke of earlier in this thread- just finished it!) that feels like it is at about 90%, and I am loving it. While I have no scientific evidence to back it up (sorry Gordon! ) I feel like the flat metal resos do the best job of not getting in the way of the horn, if that makes any sense.

I have used the Res-O-Pads from Musicmedic (and plan on putting them in a 10M and I am currently rebuilding for my website) and they work fine too. I think they may be a little extra work seating-wise, but nothing that is that big of a deal. However, if your horn has had tonehole damage or has been buffed and as a result has wavy toneholes, I would stay away from Res-O-Pads as the metal ring makes it impossible to make the pad follow the imperfections beyond a certain point.

The Res-O-Pads were also designed to be installed without any adhesive. I personally use adhesive. Although there is no "floating" like with regular pads, I can see no reason why to take the risk, when a dab of glue or shellac will ensure they don't ever fall out.

It is written elsewhere on this forum, but the main advantage IMHO of the Res-O-Pads is that they have a bit more area than regular pads because of their construction- they have a metal ring that stretches the pad leather actually a tiny bit beyond the inside of the pad cup. This is helpful for some keys on the Conn's because their toneholes can be larger in relation to their keycups that other saxes, so having more area to work with can be a good thing. They are not necessary, however, and in the end I think (IMHO again) that it is more a matter of taste than need or result.

For some info on Res-O-Pads, check this out: http://www.cybersax.com/QA/Q&A_Conn_Res-O-Pads.html

Bear seems to like them!

 

[Bar-Ron]

Bar-Ron...wow...that was an amazing horn. It blew the other selmers he had away. If I had the money I definitely would have traded him my series III and got that VI. It was great!

I also noticed the weird neck angle, but I played the horn for around 8 hours yesterday so I'm getting used to it. The only thing about the keywork is the low C# because I have big hands I have to bend my pinky in a bit to hit it. The 10m fits me like a glove though.

It was a great player. I suspect it's in part because of Les Arbuckle's rebuild 4 years ago. More horn than I needed for community band work though.

I hope some one gets to really get some use out of it.
I played side by side with my Hite mp and our conductor once a few years ago and he being certainly a better player and on a more modern MK VI and I sounded as good with that combo. In my ears I sounded cleaner and more centered but that could have been the mouthpiece differences.

It's kind of funny, I bought that on a whim to upgrade from a Bundy II plus the investment.
Not once did the director thank me or say anything complimentary about my inprovement or quality of sound in all those years. Of course my band mates noticed.
There seems to be a certain smuggness when a mere mortal buys what is considered the horn of the gods.

Les Arbuckle is Sax-oasis on the net and is near Boston I think.
He is known for his quality work so I think his efforts ring true on that particular sax.

 

[martysax]

Les Arbuckle is Sax-oasis on the net and is near Boston I think.
He is known for his quality work so I think his efforts ring true on that particular sax.

Les is a pretty good player as well. I think I once heard him in a group with Mike Stern.