Student model Borgani?
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One cannot really use the 'student', 'intermediate', 'pro' labels when one talks of vintage horns.
Back in the day, companies had their top-shelfers then their second shelfers. "Student' these days does not necessarily translate into the past very well.
But I can say this, Borgani did not go boutique pro models until around a generation ago, most of their horns were good workaday horns before that.
The horn you picture...OK so it's got the modern pinky table, those Borgs were pretty good horns. It will sound really nice. It's likely its intonation will allow for a bit of flex. Some players like that, others do not.
Also, Italian horns tended to have keywork/touches scaled in a way that big hands are not a particularly good match for them.
Silverplate looks nice....if she is in guaranteed good playing condition, on the US market worth perhaps $800 or so.
Hope this helps some.
Back in the day, companies had their top-shelfers then their second shelfers. "Student' these days does not necessarily translate into the past very well.
But I can say this, Borgani did not go boutique pro models until around a generation ago, most of their horns were good workaday horns before that.
The horn you picture...OK so it's got the modern pinky table, those Borgs were pretty good horns. It will sound really nice. It's likely its intonation will allow for a bit of flex. Some players like that, others do not.
Also, Italian horns tended to have keywork/touches scaled in a way that big hands are not a particularly good match for them.
Silverplate looks nice....if she is in guaranteed good playing condition, on the US market worth perhaps $800 or so.
Hope this helps some.
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If it plays up and down it's a good price. Even if you need to put $150-200 or so of tech work into it...which would be 2-3 hours of tweaking mostly, as far as tech rates go...its still a pretty good price.
It might be nickelplate, but from the pic it appears to me the body is a more matte finish to the plating than the keys or engraved shield...which would lean it towards silver.
But regardless, whether silver or nickel, still not a bad price.
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that horn was made in 1972 - because, I suspect, of rumours about intonation issues, there has been a vintage tenor ($2000) for sale in Ballarat and a vintage alto ($875) in Tasmania for a couple of years with no takers. I'd pay the asking price myself if I could play-test it first.
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Seller supplied manufacture date. More than a few references of early - vintage Borgani's divergent intonation eg: get the top correct / sacrifice the bottom or vice versa. My sax teacher has experienced the same thing herself. So my suggestion is everyone chip in a few dollars and either the OP or myself will arrange acquisition and then we'll all know ;-)
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I tend to agree with this. Borgani and many Italian mfrs didn't use sequential serial, um...sequences. So their numbers do not represent a 'straight chronological line'.
The only reliable way to ascertain the date of an old Borgani is:
a) a seller who can confirm when it was purchased new
b) contacting Borgani and hoping that someone there will bother replying and give you an answer.
c) finding someone who can honestly say "I had the exact same (or really similar) model, and I bought in new in 19XX"
Having refurbished a good 15-20 old Borgs, at least 6 of 'em being Tenors and some with attributes such as this one, I can tell you.....yes, some can be 'flexy' intonationally....but not anywhere near nightmarishly so. The only time that has happened in my experience is when the player really has undeveloped or poorly developed embouchure, or when the mouthpiece match is just way off.
But nothing a player who is familiar with vintage horns , or one who is a pretty solid intermediate player on a modern horn, cannot deal with. And the payoff is the tonal quality.
(note: I am NOT saying reports of intonation issues are 'lies'...I am simply saying in my experience (and I have more firsthand than most people...although perhaps not quite as much as Milandro)....it's not quite so).
In this instance, seller asking $600....no significant damage, and seller confirming the horn does play up and down at least half-decently ?
Pretty good buy, IMHO.
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The latest - the seller claims manufacture date as 1972 as told to him by his step father whom we may assume is / was the owner. Seller has listed an incorrect phone number and when sending memo requesting this number and more images this attracted no response. I have contacted the music store which seller claims checked-out the horn. Music store tech advised me that it, the Borgani, is in need of an overhaul - and as interested as I was I bought a Kohlert 57 alto instead. Here in Australia, dependent upon whom and where - a tenor sax overhaul will cost between $1000 and $1450 AUD. I have more faith in the Kohlert - which will be my 3rd Kohlert but my first Kohlert alto. BTW - the Kohlert alto needs an overhaul but I adore my two tenors.
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