[44663]

Hey gang -

While sorting through a mess of recently inherited tools and parts, we have stumbled upon something that has us scratching our heads - what appears to be a solid silver vintage (I'm guessing 1940's from the wear and patina) CONN 12M neck...
My first instinct was that maybe this was an older glogger jobber, but no - this is no doubt from the Conn factory (not a s20 neck for sure, btw).

Has anyone ever heard of CONN manufacturing solid silver necks? If not, I'm going to assume it's just crazy thick silver plate.

Thanks,
Jeremy

 

[Instrument Attic]

Is it marked 925 or Sterling? If it's solid silver then generally the brace, tenon, and anything else soldered to the tube will be gold-colored brass. Conn did lay the silver plating on thick back in the day.

 

[Dr G]

Pictures, please.

Have you removed the cork to see the finish underneath?

 

[bruce bailey]

I doubt it is solid silver. If it was an alto, possibly. As Dr.G said, scrape away under the cork area. I vote brass.

 

[paulwl]

Unlikely, but Conn would make anything on a cash upfront order...

 

[Instrument Attic]

It should be easier than removing the cork & scraping the silver to find out.
Notice every other sterling neck has gold (brass) braces, posts, tenons, etc. as I said above.
If there were any horns made differently I'd love to know about them.

Keilwerth

Selmer

Yanagisawa

Yamaha

Cannonball

King Super 20

Martin

Even the Chinese "Eastern Music" neck

 

[1saxman]

But do not scrape anywhere, not even under the cork (unless it is already scraped from improper cork removal, in which case you won't need to add to the damage). It it has lacquered brass hardware including the tip ferrule but it's silver inside, it is most likely Sterling. That's because the hardware would be soldered on, the neck polished, then lacquered. If it was silver plated, the plating would take place after the polishing and everything would be silver-colored.

Inst. Attic; Thanks so much for showing all those necks - several of them are very meaningful to me. The Martin Sterling neck is incredibly rare and only could be had on the Magna - that is the best picture of one I have seen. If I had found one of those when I had a Martin tenor I would still have it.
My first tenor was a Super 20 with a neck like the one you show. I've been using (off and on) a Series III silver neck like the one you show on my VI and USA tenors for 15 years - it is best on the USA, actually phenomenal.
Finally, I am currently using the Eastern Music Sterling alto neck like you show on my USA alto - the original neck always played flat. Of course I could overcome that but the mouthpiece would have the neck all the way to the throat, which for me played hob with intonation and playing some effects. I had been fighting that thing since I got the horn new in '83 - used a VI neck for a while but it wasn't until I tried the Eastern Music neck that the horn got right. Absolute, sheer luck. I don't think these necks are better than others but they copied a BA or Super Action and I think the neck is a little shorter than a VI or later Selmer plus it has a different taper. Whatever, it worked for me so I ain't looking a gift horse in the mouth.

 

[Instrument Attic]

But do not scrape anywhere, not even under the cork (unless it is already scraped from improper cork removal, in which case you won't need to add to the damage). It it has lacquered brass hardware including the tip ferrule but it's silver inside, it is most likely Sterling. That's because the hardware would be soldered on, the neck polished, then lacquered. If it was silver plated, the plating would take place after the polishing and everything would be silver-colored.

Inst. Attic; Thanks so much for showing all those necks - several of them are very meaningful to me. The Martin Sterling neck is incredibly rare and only could be had on the Magna - that is the best picture of one I have seen. If I had found one of those when I had a Martin tenor I would still have it.
My first tenor was a Super 20 with a neck like the one you show. I've been using (off and on) a Series III silver neck like the one you show on my VI and USA tenors for 15 years - it is best on the USA, actually phenomenal.
Finally, I am currently using the Eastern Music Sterling alto neck like you show on my USA alto - the original neck always played flat. Of course I could overcome that but the mouthpiece would have the neck all the way to the throat, which for me played hob with intonation and playing some effects. I had been fighting that thing since I got the horn new in '83 - used a VI neck for a while but it wasn't until I tried the Eastern Music neck that the horn got right. Absolute, sheer luck. I don't think these necks are better than others but they copied a BA or Super Action and I think the neck is a little shorter than a VI or later Selmer plus it has a different taper. Whatever, it worked for me so I ain't looking a gift horse in the mouth.

Great insights, thanks for sharing. Yes the Magna sterling neck is incredibly rare, I've never yet seen one in person. I'm a big Super 20 fan, especially Silversonics which have brass tone hole chimneys and brass flanges soldered to the sterling bells.

 

[1saxman]

During the '80s, gold and silver went sky high, and many King and Martin Sterling necks were sold and smelted.

 

[StuartSax]

I can't speak to the 12m neck but we have discovered at least 3 Conn straight sopranos made of solid silver - probably coin silver which was plentiful until the early 60s. I have one of the 3. It wasn't marked Sterling or .925 but does have an S in a circle marking under the SN.

Rather than scrape anything, suspend it on a string and tap it lightly. If it rings like an old quarter, bingo!

 

[Instrument Attic]

I can't speak to the 12m neck but we have discovered at least 3 Conn straight sopranos made of solid silver - probably coin silver which was plentiful until the early 60s. I have one of the 3. It wasn't marked Sterling or .925 but does have an S in a circle marking under the SN.

Rather than scrape anything, suspend it on a string and tap it lightly. If it rings like an old quarter, bingo!

Fascinating, can you share some photos?

 

[adamk]

Tap it and compare the sound to a brass neck.
The two materials will respond differently.

 

[StuartSax]

Fascinating, can you share some photos?

Sure, try this FB album. https://www.facebook.com/pg/StuartSaxophone/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1056768694420560

As a side note, I asked Paul Cohen if he know anything about it. While he had no new info, he did mention that he has a solid silver Buescher alto.

 

[44663]

A quick update - this bari neck was indeed just thick plating. Thanks for the help and advise, ya'll.