[DeanSilliman]

So a dealer I know said he had an original Super Balanced tenor coming in on consignment that he’d let go for $4200 and would have it repadded in the price. My first horn growing up was an SBA that I had for years so I was getting excited and nostalgic. Plus the price was great.

Well, today I got the call that it was in and I rushed over to look at it. I was handed the proper old tan case. Good. I opened the case and a nice, very worn looking SBA is there. Cool. Unwrapped the neck …. wait a minute, this is a VI neck (flat S octave mechanism instead of the proper coat hanger style). Well, for the price I can live with that. Wait, much of the engraving fades away at the edges. Some is almost gone altogether. Damn, my excitement turned out to be over a poorly relacqed SBA with mismatched neck. :x

It played very nicely but I wasn’t about to drop that much money into a project horn. If it had been really cheap perhaps it would have justified a silver rehab/rebuild.

Dean

 

[AG]

when it sounds to good to be true it generally is.......sorry it didn't work out.

 

[ppamhk]

So what is the market price for original SBA tenor nowadays?

 

[heath]

In good condition and not a relacquer will fetch about $6500 and up. I've seen them going for >$10K. SaxQuest has sold some for $12,000.

I've only test driven a couple and I'd like to have a minty SBA as a dream horn with elaborate engraving and gold plate.

Although Dean I thought you had a kid on the way? There's no way your wife is going to let you bring anymore horns home with all the other stuff you've got going on.

 

[DeanSilliman]

Although Dean I thought you had a kid on the way? There's no way your wife is going to let you bring anymore horns home with all the other stuff you've got going on.

I do have a kid on the way, #2 to arrive in August. In fact, our ultrasound to determine gender is tomorrow. Then we're off to Hawaii for a week.

As to your second comment ... how to say this delicately? I don't have a marriage where we "let" or "permit" or "allow" each other to do or buy things. She wouldn't dictate the contents of my horn collection any more than I would regulate her purchases. Don't get me started on some of the posts I see here about how guys have obtained "initial approval" to think about getting another horn, or rejoicing that the wife is going to "allow" a new horn, or the wife is forcing the sale of horns, etc. It's not that my wife doesn't shake her head sometimes when the UPS guy shows up again or when there are six or more saxes strewn around my music room (along with cellos, drumsets, etc.) - because she does. But she knows I enjoy testing and owning various horns, we're in a position where a handful of pro horns occasionally coming and going is not going to affect anything, and a house full of instruments is my thing. I know your post was meant in jest, and maybe this should have been a separate thread, but it's something that's been on my mind after reading many of the posts here.

As to my search for a new tenor, I have a SA80II with silver SA80III neck that plays very well but I miss the old, worn-in feel of a nice VI or SBA. All I'm finding by trying to shop locally, however, is other people's junk. I really need to trek the hour plus each way to some good dealers here in So. Calif. I also need to make the effort to liquidate many of my horns in light of the new child and upcoming move to the new house.

Heath, glad the SX90II is working well for you. I think it was a great horn and it sounds like you've tweaked it to make it even better. That's one I'll miss.

Dean

 

[spiderjames]

SaxQuest has sold some for $12,000.

That' insane.

 

[heath]

Dean that's cool if your wife is with you on playing the sax.

I'm not married so I think more than likely if I were I'd assume my horns would have to be sold off if I had a kid on the way. I've had girl friends that have seen me play with more than one tenor and have freaked out and they don't even know how much this stuff cost. I now have four tenors, an alto, two sopranos, a piano and a really nice digital keyboard and various guitar/bass amps and recording gear in my studio. Being single is the only way I could imagine being able to live like this.

 

[SAXISMYAXE]

As to your second comment ... how to say this delicately? I don't have a marriage where we "let" or "permit" or "allow" each other to do or buy things. She wouldn't dictate the contents of my horn collection any more than I would regulate her purchases. Don't get me started on some of the posts I see here about how guys have obtained "initial approval" to think about getting another horn, or rejoicing that the wife is going to "allow" a new horn, or the wife is forcing the sale of horns, etc.

I know your post was meant in jest, and maybe this should have been a separate thread, but it's something that's been on my mind after reading many of the posts here.

That's the way I feel about that predicament too, which may be the main reason why it has been just me and my saxophones for the last three years! :| :? )

 

[bruce bailey]

I will be 60 next month and never married. I have owned over 100 saxes and now have almost 30.
That SBA relac with the wrong neck still might be a great player if the price is right. One of the best tenors I have owned was a SBA from 1951. Paid $150 and sold it for about $225. Wow I really did good!!! Hindsight.

 

[heath]

Wow 60 and never married. I'm you in another 27 years.

 

[Thomas]

Wives are a dime a dozen.....a good horn...priceless.

I'm on my third wife but still have my MK VI tenor bought new in 1959. The current one has figured in the nearly 20 years we've been associated we've actually spent close to 14 of them together with my road time. She actually gets weepy(I hate that) when I sell a horn or mpc. Her hard earned $ is hers to do with as she chooses as in the Imelda Marcos of the east coast! My hard earned?(I'd do this for nothing)$$ is likewise. We are debt free-and quite excessive in how well we treat each other and ourselves.
I wouldn't keep a partner that poked her nose in my business...and I haven't.

I knew I liked you Dean. Thanks for bringing it up.

 

[Sam]

Instruments are a dime a dozen.

"People will forget what you say and they will forget what you do, but they will never forget how you made them feel." -- Maya Angelou

 

[bruce bailey]

I'll take three dozen.