That is perhaps the issue. I am trying to decide what price point to target. I've seen quite few Series III for somewhere $5000 after overhaul. Some quite a bit more. I've also see a lot of the single sockets but at such a variance in prices. Ultimately, I'd like something with the sound of a Super 20. I would prefer and underslung neck. Plausibly silver (but how it plays is most important). The silver bell is a pseudo afterthought. I am tending towards a brass bell just because I think that makes less difference by country mile than the neck. I really would prefer to find something that I don't have to get a full overhaul at this time but... if the price is right... unfortunately to go to people good close by, it is quite expensive.
If you find something and are in US, I can do the overhaul for you....I tend to come out far cheaper than techs who tend to be on the pricier side, even with shipping back-forth taken into account.
$5000 for a series III which is NOT a full pearl....that just isn't a realistic price point (although for sure a very reputed, high-end shop can pricetag one at that AND get a buyer). I recently sold a minty Full Pearl series III for $4200, talking 85% orig lacq...and it was listed for a few weeks, didn't get 'snatched up' by any means.
I agree, the silver bell is purely aesthetic. I would say that the silver neck, sort of the same. HOWEVER, I can also say THIS:
Having had a late Cleve, silver neck AND an early Eastlake brass neck here in my shop once, simultaneously:
They were 90% the SAME instrument. The body specs were IDENTICAL (this means body tube, bow, bellpiece dimensions, keyguards, posts, and weight were the SAME). Yes, this contradicts saxpics, but that site is no longer run by Pete and hasn't been updated in almost a decade...so there's info there which is dead wrong.
The differences between my 2 were:
1) pinky table touches slightly different shape
2) the brass necks on the Eastlakes, besides having a conventional Tenon as opposed to double-socket neck.... had a different tube design....they were a different taper and a bit longer, as I recall. THIS resulted in the brass-neck Eastlakes blowing a bit brighter than the late Cleves.
When I played the silver Cleveland neck on the Eastlake body, it sounded identical to the Cleve horn with silver Cleve neck. When I played the brass Eastlake neck on the Cleve body, it brightened the tone a bit and sounded like the Eastlake. Intonation was still good regardless of neck swap.
With THAT said...BOTH horns with their factory necks..."sounded" like S20's. The signature tonality, harmonics, etc. was all still there. The Cleves just blew a tad darker. Which is NOT :| to say the Eastlake brew 'bright'...if you get my drift.
So, having refurbished around a dozen S20's of various eras...I would say to YOU: if you want the 'sound of an S20'...worry not, you can buy anything from a Series I all the way to a King 2416...and get "THAT sound". It will be there whether a '47 or a '80.
The 1, having the Zeph-type table, is also a horn which doesn't fetch as much as the others, because of that table (a fine vintage-style table, BTW).
So the question would next become: are you really wedded to an underslung neck ? If so, are you wedded to a Silver underslung ?
If you are set on silver, then be aware that that is gonna hit your wallet.
If there were the 'next question' beyond this, I suppose it'd be the feel of the tables. IMHO, while the touches changed shape a bit (the Eastlake touches are flat, most Cleve touches are shaped and rounded a bit more), I do not think one was more ergonomically preferable to the other (disregarding the Zeph type table of the I's, of course). But some folks might think so.
Those would then inform the range of horns you'd be looking at...
