[BrianMitchellBrody]

I am considering a Dolnet Soprano as my vintage pick to delve into French soprano saxophones.

If anybody actually performs on one of these chime in and spill the beans....I really dig the key work.

 

[Hassles]

Can't help you Brian but I adore my Dolnet altos and am trying to ignore a Dolnet bari that is keeping me awake ;-)

 

[BrianMitchellBrody]

Can't help you Brian but I adore my Dolnet altos and am trying to ignore a Dolnet bari that is keeping me awake ;-)

This one is not keeping me awake but I know the feeling on that Kohlert Baritone

 

[Hassles]

yeah I am a Kohlert fan and that was tempting. I am pondering selling on this 57 alto as I have a 57 Regent fully playable en route from Germany

My experiences with Dolnet soprano saxophones is they are desirable and difficult to capture - ditto those from Cousenon - they've always alluded me.

 

[Bkenes]

I've never seen one IRL but I've heard only good things about the. Be aware though, many Dolnet sopranos are stencils. They didn't make a lot of "real" Dolnet sopranos.

 

[milandro]

I beg to differ.

In the NL I see a lot of real Dolnet sopranos, the only Dolnet sopranos that aren't Dolnet are the curved " Dolnet" sopranos made by Orsi ( but that's a diffent thing) because the brand didn't make any and Orsi did, I've actually seen and played on one. Saxpics has Curved Dolnet Soprano where under the typical 4 digits Orsi serial numb er by the thumbrest, dolnets didn't have it there, has the word ITALY ( still visible) scratched out!)

Index of /cpg143/albums/Dolnet/belair/soprano/lacquer/curved/4792

Anyway, the thing to be absolutely careful about is the fact that there are HP ( High Pitch) Sopranos made by Dolmet. They are not uncommon in the NL where I have personally veryfied the existence of soprano, alto, tenor and Low Bb baritone ( The low A should all be in Low Pitch).

I have a collector friend who owns a HP Dolnet soprano

Dolnet Sopranos are common over here in nickel and silver plate not quite so much in brass

If you like the keywork of the palm keys (by the way they are often bent to suit the players or whatever reason) I have never liked the in line palm keys of any saxophone and always preferred the arrangement which now is on all the saxophones.

 

[BrianMitchellBrody]

I've never seen one IRL but I've heard only good things about the. Be aware though, many Dolnet sopranos are stencils. They didn't make a lot of "real" Dolnet sopranos.

What?! Do some more research and you will find that is false.

 

[BrianMitchellBrody]

I beg to differ.

In the NL I see a lot of real Dolnet sopranos, the only Dolnet sopranos that aren't Dolnet are the curved " Dolnet" sopranos made by Orsi ( but that's a diffent thing) because the brand didn't make any and Orsi did, I've actually seen and played on one. Saxpics has Curved Dolnet Soprano where under the typical 4 digits Orsi serial numb er by the thumbrest, dolnets didn't have it there, has the word ITALY ( still visible) scratched out!)

Index of /cpg143/albums/Dolnet/belair/soprano/lacquer/curved/4792

Anyway, the thing to be absolutely careful about is the fact that there are HP ( High Pitch) Sopranos made by Dolmet. They are not uncommon in the NL where I have personally veryfied the existence of soprano, alto, tenor and Low Bb baritone ( The low A should all be in Low Pitch).

I have a collector friend who owns a HP Dolnet soprano

Dolnet Sopranos are common over here in nickel and silver plate not quite so much in brass

If you like the keywork of the palm keys (by the way they are often bent to suit the players or whatever reason) I have never liked the in line palm keys of any saxophone and always preferred the arrangement which now is on all the saxophones.

I have played in line keys on sopranos and thought them odd but with cork risers I can simulate the forked keys found on other makes.

Thank you for all your help.

 

[turf3]

Once upon a time I read an explanation that the inline key design actually worked better for soprano saxophone held in the proper position (horizontally). This was one person's opinion. I've never played one so I can't comment, but an awful lot of people played an awful lot of challenging repertoire on the Selmer sopranos (ever heard of this cat named Marcel Mule?) with that layout so I would not rule it out. There may be value in that layout that you don't see when first you try it.

 

[JayeLID]

I'd be MOST interested in knowing how a Dolnet soprano intones, first and foremost.

I have never found Dolnet keywork (A, T, B) to be particularly slick or responsive, myself. Not 'bad', but there are many more vintage brands displaying quicker keywork.

A good # of Dolnets are in fact stencil-branded...seems they stenciled under a lot of names. I have seen a few Dolnet stencil sops on eFlay over the years...so, no idea if this would be the preponderance of 'em or not, but I have seen both the mother name and stencil names somewhat often.

 

[BrianMitchellBrody]

I'd be MOST interested in knowing how a Dolnet soprano intones, first and foremost.

I have never found Dolnet keywork (A, T, B) to be particularly slick or responsive, myself. Not 'bad', but there are many more vintage brands displaying quicker keywork.

A good # of Dolnets are in fact stencil-branded...seems they stenciled under a lot of names. I have seen a few Dolnet stencil sops on eFlay over the years...so, no idea if this would be the preponderance of 'em or not, but I have seen both the mother name and stencil names somewhat often.

I made an offer that if accepted would allow me to resell and get my money back if I do not like it.

 

[Bkenes]

I was talking about the curvies... I've never seen a straight dolnet stencil.
I've repaired an orsi curvie, which, as Milandro said, is the stencil maker. The orsi was great. But I dont know if their Dolnet stencils are as well made since I havn't seen one IRL.

 

[milandro]

I have played the curved Dolnet and it was as well made as Orsi are, to me it was exactly the same.

Straight Dolnets are rather appreciated over here, they are not uncommon while the curved Dolnet-Orsi are
I have also seen 2 straight Dolnet HP, one is owned by a friend of mine who also owns a Low Pitch one.

 

[electricfigue]

here you have a lot of info about Dolnet sopranos: Review on Dolnet Belair 70?s soprano

 

[soybean]

... I have seen a few Dolnet stencil sops on eFlay over the years..

this is completely off-topic so please don't yell at me. I notice you always change the spelling of the famous auction site. Is that still necessary in the new version of the forum?

 

[milandro]

here you have a lot of info about Dolnet sopranos: Review on Dolnet Belair 70?s soprano

It is a very nice article with lots of good information