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Review on Dolnet Belair 70´s soprano
This is a little return to SOTW, and I hope it can be useful to anyone who is interested on a Dolnet soprano.
During more than a year, I was researching about a Dolnet soprano, wich I finally found and owned.
I want to share all the information I have collected about this beautiful instrument.
Dolnet manufactured three models of soprano saxophones during 1950 to 1980, the Belair, the Studium, and the Universal.
The Studium was the only one engraved with his name on it, which makes more difficult to recognize the others two, but there are some clues to do it right, with no doubt.
Most of them were straight, except the Universal wich were the only ones manufactured straight and curved.
The Belair was produced from 1950 to 1970 (with a tolerance of more/less 5 years), there is no serial numbers charts to rely on.
There is no curved Belair, all of them are straight.
There are at least three subdivision inside the Belair: the early ones (with a separated neck with a ring soldered and fixed, not removable) http://i1008.photobucket.com/albums/af204/lepoisondargent/Dolnet soprano/early.jpg probably around early 50´s, the 50/60´s Belair (most common to find) http://i1008.photobucket.com/albums/af204/lepoisondargent/Dolnet soprano/dolnet4.jpg and the last one around 70's http://i1008.photobucket.com/albums/af204/lepoisondargent/Dolnet soprano/P1130030.jpg.
They also made an extraordinary and uncommon model of Belair with high F#, showing 4 palms keys instead of three (I have seen only one, stenciled to Paul Beuscher - Paris- France) manufactured around 1960·
All Belair soprano share the same tube (I am not completely sure about this, but I believe the tube dimensions are the same for all of them) , the same palm keys (similar to MKVI but square-rounded instead of nail-oval shaped), also the same pinky cluster, but there is a difference at the right hand C/D# spatulas.
This little difference on the spatulas, is which one allows us to recognize the Belair from differents decades (50/60, or 70´s).
From the 50 to the final of 60´s this spatulas were hexagonal http://i1008.photobucket.com/albums/af204/lepoisondargent/Dolnet soprano/dolnet5-1.jpg , but then (at 70´s) they changed the design to rounded ones http://i1008.photobucket.com/albums/af204/lepoisondargent/Dolnet soprano/P1130017.jpg (the same design of spatulas that can be recognized on the M70 altos and tenors).
There is another evident and major difference on the design of 70´s Belair soprano, they changed from ribbed post mounted http://i1008.photobucket.com/albums/af204/lepoisondargent/Dolnet soprano/dolnetriibmount.jpg , to individual post mounted http://i1008.photobucket.com/albums/af204/lepoisondargent/Dolnet soprano/P1130007.jpg, (like Selmer did later on with the soprano SA80 II -ribbed post mounted - and then redesigned the SA80 III - to individual post-).
I believe this change results on a lighter instrument, when I received my Dolnet soprano I was expecting a heavier instrument (I have heard about the weight of Dolnets from others alto and tenors owners) , but I get surprised because this Belair was lighter than my previous modern soprano (I also believe the extra weight on altos and tenors comes from the heavy hexagonal key guards, typical of Dolnet, but completely absent on sopranos) .
The other clue to recognize the Belair from each decade is the engraving, the 70 Belair has some straight triangular designs on it http://i1008.photobucket.com/albums/af204/lepoisondargent/Dolnet soprano/P1130018.jpg but the others (50-60) are like curved triangular leaves and the words "Dolnet Paris Made in France" are inside of a square rounded design http://i1008.photobucket.com/albums/af204/lepoisondargent/Dolnet soprano/dolnet10.jpg or sometimes inside a paper roll like design.
Most of the Belair were nickelplated, some of them were gold lacquered with silver keys or completely gold lacquered, and a few ones silverplated with gold inside bell.
The Studium was an student instrument but can be easyly recognized because of this name engraved on the bell, has different palm keys (nail-oval shaped) and the neck is narrower near the cork and always were light gold lacquered with silver keys. The Studium was manufactured between 60 to 70, I believe.
The Universal were straight and curved, but I am almost 100 % sure they were stenciled to Dolnet by an italian manufacturer (I bet Orsi), that´s why the engraving says Dolnet Paris http://i1008.photobucket.com/albums/af204/lepoisondargent/Dolnet soprano/universaleng.jpg, instead of Dolnet Paris made in France as you can see in any other Dolnet Belair soprano.
They were produced during the early 80´s.The Universal has not his name engraved on it and has different palm keys http://i1008.photobucket.com/albums/af204/lepoisondargent/Dolnet soprano/universalpalm.jpg, different pinky cluster, and diferent octave key http://i1008.photobucket.com/albums/af204/lepoisondargent/Dolnet soprano/universaloctave.jpg .
Now, a little review about my Dolnet Belair from 1970.
1-Sound: Excellent, it has a huge sound, the tone is completely distinctive from other sopranos I had the chance to play, the closest sound that comes to my mind (but still different) is the King saxello (because of the unique sound, and the powerful voice -in spite of they are not similar on tone-)
2- Emission: Good, but at first you have to work on it, it is not an easy instrument to blow at first try, if you are coming for example from a modern Yamaha or Yanagisawa probably you will find the emission of the Dolnet soprano simply bad and almost impossible to play from top to bottom, but really deserves the effort, when you tame it, you have a good resistance, but with a wonderful rich tone, and the volume of the instrument is really HUGE, this is another characteristic very distinctive of the Dolnet.
3-Ergonomics: Very good for a vintage soprano, but regular for a modern one.
The pinky cluster is closer in design to a Conn 6m alto http://i1008.photobucket.com/albums/af204/lepoisondargent/Dolnet soprano/P1130008.jpg and the palms keys are very similar to a MKVI soprano (in line style) but not so near to the tube as on the MKVI and with a different shape (rectangular-rounded,not nail-oval shaped) http://i1008.photobucket.com/albums/af204/lepoisondargent/Dolnet soprano/P1130015.jpg .
The thumb hook is something unique and odd in design http://i1008.photobucket.com/albums/af204/lepoisondargent/Dolnet soprano/P1130014.jpg ,but if you play clarinet or bass clarinet you will love it, because it feels like it came from the same family.
4-Finishing: Very Good, this one has a heavily silverplated,with gold washed inside the bell http://i1008.photobucket.com/albums/af204/lepoisondargent/Dolnet soprano/P1130005.jpg, also a nice hand engraving where you can see the lines of the design of each letter and the lines traced by the engraver to work later on http://i1008.photobucket.com/albums/af204/lepoisondargent/Dolnet soprano/P1130004-1.jpg.
5-Assembly: with no doubt is regular just because in spite of everything is working perfectly, you can see a lot of bad finishing at the assembly department, like bad soldering post (bad finishing, but firm welded) http://i1008.photobucket.com/albums/af204/lepoisondargent/Dolnet soprano/P1130013.jpg , or bad centered screw/pass as you can see clearly on this photo http://i1008.photobucket.com/albums/af204/lepoisondargent/Dolnet soprano/P1130011.jpg.
I agree 100 % with Stephen Howard on his review about a Dolnet M70 tenor (this one is from the same era).
Note: this information is about the 70´s Dolnet soprano, probably the 50/60´s sopranos experienced better assembly procedures than later ones because of that change executed about the individual post mounted, and then it made more difficult to do the assembly between the tube and the post properly at the factory.
6-Action: excellent, smooth and fast, very easy under the fingers.
7-Case: Bad. I believe this is a problem for every vintage soprano , but this one has received a small dent after a plane trip to my hands, because the original case has a piece of wood (covered by velvet), that can impact (and yes,this one did it) below the thumb rest of the left hand, and that´s why I decided to contact a manufacturer of anvil cases http://i1008.photobucket.com/albums/af204/lepoisondargent/Dolnet soprano/P1130021.jpg and we worked and developed together to make my own, safe and indestructible case "airportemployee-proof" for my Dolnet soprano http://i1008.photobucket.com/albums/af204/lepoisondargent/Dolnet soprano/P1130002.jpg.
8- Intonation: Very Good to excellent, I had to work some notes like high E and F (a little bit flat at first) but I find the palm keys notes easier to blow than my previous modern soprano.
I use a Selmer Metal Classisc C** mouthpiece, a Rovner dark ligature, and Gonzalez reeds #2.
Thank you for your time reading this words and I would like to say to be fair that probably any modern player could not tolerate most of the things I have described before on a chinese or taiwanese modern soprano , but for the persons who loves ancient instruments in general and vintage saxophone in particular (like I do), I believe The Dolnet Belair Soprano from 70´s is a wonderful instrument with his own voice and a is real pleasure to play and work with.
electricfigue
This is a little return to SOTW, and I hope it can be useful to anyone who is interested on a Dolnet soprano.
During more than a year, I was researching about a Dolnet soprano, wich I finally found and owned.
I want to share all the information I have collected about this beautiful instrument.
Dolnet manufactured three models of soprano saxophones during 1950 to 1980, the Belair, the Studium, and the Universal.
The Studium was the only one engraved with his name on it, which makes more difficult to recognize the others two, but there are some clues to do it right, with no doubt.
Most of them were straight, except the Universal wich were the only ones manufactured straight and curved.
The Belair was produced from 1950 to 1970 (with a tolerance of more/less 5 years), there is no serial numbers charts to rely on.
There is no curved Belair, all of them are straight.
There are at least three subdivision inside the Belair: the early ones (with a separated neck with a ring soldered and fixed, not removable) http://i1008.photobucket.com/albums/af204/lepoisondargent/Dolnet soprano/early.jpg probably around early 50´s, the 50/60´s Belair (most common to find) http://i1008.photobucket.com/albums/af204/lepoisondargent/Dolnet soprano/dolnet4.jpg and the last one around 70's http://i1008.photobucket.com/albums/af204/lepoisondargent/Dolnet soprano/P1130030.jpg.
They also made an extraordinary and uncommon model of Belair with high F#, showing 4 palms keys instead of three (I have seen only one, stenciled to Paul Beuscher - Paris- France) manufactured around 1960·
All Belair soprano share the same tube (I am not completely sure about this, but I believe the tube dimensions are the same for all of them) , the same palm keys (similar to MKVI but square-rounded instead of nail-oval shaped), also the same pinky cluster, but there is a difference at the right hand C/D# spatulas.
This little difference on the spatulas, is which one allows us to recognize the Belair from differents decades (50/60, or 70´s).
From the 50 to the final of 60´s this spatulas were hexagonal http://i1008.photobucket.com/albums/af204/lepoisondargent/Dolnet soprano/dolnet5-1.jpg , but then (at 70´s) they changed the design to rounded ones http://i1008.photobucket.com/albums/af204/lepoisondargent/Dolnet soprano/P1130017.jpg (the same design of spatulas that can be recognized on the M70 altos and tenors).
There is another evident and major difference on the design of 70´s Belair soprano, they changed from ribbed post mounted http://i1008.photobucket.com/albums/af204/lepoisondargent/Dolnet soprano/dolnetriibmount.jpg , to individual post mounted http://i1008.photobucket.com/albums/af204/lepoisondargent/Dolnet soprano/P1130007.jpg, (like Selmer did later on with the soprano SA80 II -ribbed post mounted - and then redesigned the SA80 III - to individual post-).
I believe this change results on a lighter instrument, when I received my Dolnet soprano I was expecting a heavier instrument (I have heard about the weight of Dolnets from others alto and tenors owners) , but I get surprised because this Belair was lighter than my previous modern soprano (I also believe the extra weight on altos and tenors comes from the heavy hexagonal key guards, typical of Dolnet, but completely absent on sopranos) .
The other clue to recognize the Belair from each decade is the engraving, the 70 Belair has some straight triangular designs on it http://i1008.photobucket.com/albums/af204/lepoisondargent/Dolnet soprano/P1130018.jpg but the others (50-60) are like curved triangular leaves and the words "Dolnet Paris Made in France" are inside of a square rounded design http://i1008.photobucket.com/albums/af204/lepoisondargent/Dolnet soprano/dolnet10.jpg or sometimes inside a paper roll like design.
Most of the Belair were nickelplated, some of them were gold lacquered with silver keys or completely gold lacquered, and a few ones silverplated with gold inside bell.
The Studium was an student instrument but can be easyly recognized because of this name engraved on the bell, has different palm keys (nail-oval shaped) and the neck is narrower near the cork and always were light gold lacquered with silver keys. The Studium was manufactured between 60 to 70, I believe.
The Universal were straight and curved, but I am almost 100 % sure they were stenciled to Dolnet by an italian manufacturer (I bet Orsi), that´s why the engraving says Dolnet Paris http://i1008.photobucket.com/albums/af204/lepoisondargent/Dolnet soprano/universaleng.jpg, instead of Dolnet Paris made in France as you can see in any other Dolnet Belair soprano.
They were produced during the early 80´s.The Universal has not his name engraved on it and has different palm keys http://i1008.photobucket.com/albums/af204/lepoisondargent/Dolnet soprano/universalpalm.jpg, different pinky cluster, and diferent octave key http://i1008.photobucket.com/albums/af204/lepoisondargent/Dolnet soprano/universaloctave.jpg .
Now, a little review about my Dolnet Belair from 1970.
1-Sound: Excellent, it has a huge sound, the tone is completely distinctive from other sopranos I had the chance to play, the closest sound that comes to my mind (but still different) is the King saxello (because of the unique sound, and the powerful voice -in spite of they are not similar on tone-)
2- Emission: Good, but at first you have to work on it, it is not an easy instrument to blow at first try, if you are coming for example from a modern Yamaha or Yanagisawa probably you will find the emission of the Dolnet soprano simply bad and almost impossible to play from top to bottom, but really deserves the effort, when you tame it, you have a good resistance, but with a wonderful rich tone, and the volume of the instrument is really HUGE, this is another characteristic very distinctive of the Dolnet.
3-Ergonomics: Very good for a vintage soprano, but regular for a modern one.
The pinky cluster is closer in design to a Conn 6m alto http://i1008.photobucket.com/albums/af204/lepoisondargent/Dolnet soprano/P1130008.jpg and the palms keys are very similar to a MKVI soprano (in line style) but not so near to the tube as on the MKVI and with a different shape (rectangular-rounded,not nail-oval shaped) http://i1008.photobucket.com/albums/af204/lepoisondargent/Dolnet soprano/P1130015.jpg .
The thumb hook is something unique and odd in design http://i1008.photobucket.com/albums/af204/lepoisondargent/Dolnet soprano/P1130014.jpg ,but if you play clarinet or bass clarinet you will love it, because it feels like it came from the same family.
4-Finishing: Very Good, this one has a heavily silverplated,with gold washed inside the bell http://i1008.photobucket.com/albums/af204/lepoisondargent/Dolnet soprano/P1130005.jpg, also a nice hand engraving where you can see the lines of the design of each letter and the lines traced by the engraver to work later on http://i1008.photobucket.com/albums/af204/lepoisondargent/Dolnet soprano/P1130004-1.jpg.
5-Assembly: with no doubt is regular just because in spite of everything is working perfectly, you can see a lot of bad finishing at the assembly department, like bad soldering post (bad finishing, but firm welded) http://i1008.photobucket.com/albums/af204/lepoisondargent/Dolnet soprano/P1130013.jpg , or bad centered screw/pass as you can see clearly on this photo http://i1008.photobucket.com/albums/af204/lepoisondargent/Dolnet soprano/P1130011.jpg.
I agree 100 % with Stephen Howard on his review about a Dolnet M70 tenor (this one is from the same era).
Note: this information is about the 70´s Dolnet soprano, probably the 50/60´s sopranos experienced better assembly procedures than later ones because of that change executed about the individual post mounted, and then it made more difficult to do the assembly between the tube and the post properly at the factory.
6-Action: excellent, smooth and fast, very easy under the fingers.
7-Case: Bad. I believe this is a problem for every vintage soprano , but this one has received a small dent after a plane trip to my hands, because the original case has a piece of wood (covered by velvet), that can impact (and yes,this one did it) below the thumb rest of the left hand, and that´s why I decided to contact a manufacturer of anvil cases http://i1008.photobucket.com/albums/af204/lepoisondargent/Dolnet soprano/P1130021.jpg and we worked and developed together to make my own, safe and indestructible case "airportemployee-proof" for my Dolnet soprano http://i1008.photobucket.com/albums/af204/lepoisondargent/Dolnet soprano/P1130002.jpg.
8- Intonation: Very Good to excellent, I had to work some notes like high E and F (a little bit flat at first) but I find the palm keys notes easier to blow than my previous modern soprano.
I use a Selmer Metal Classisc C** mouthpiece, a Rovner dark ligature, and Gonzalez reeds #2.
Thank you for your time reading this words and I would like to say to be fair that probably any modern player could not tolerate most of the things I have described before on a chinese or taiwanese modern soprano , but for the persons who loves ancient instruments in general and vintage saxophone in particular (like I do), I believe The Dolnet Belair Soprano from 70´s is a wonderful instrument with his own voice and a is real pleasure to play and work with.
electricfigue
