[milandro]

I found this I had to share (despite the state this thing is in the seller is still asking good money for it!)

 

[JayeLID]

Well, it could probably slice an opponent up like a Klingon Bat'leth.....so it has THAT going for it...but I actually would give it an E for "Effort".

A few minutes on a machinist's grinding wheel followed by some filing and it can probably take the sharp edges off and make it safer....wonder how much weight it adds top the horn, however.

Also the bell damage is no biggie...it could probably be improved around 75%. But I do believe I spy (with my little eye) a wee bellbrace impaction into the bell...which would be an expensive repair if one wished to eradicate that.

All of this, as we know, pointing to the possibility that this damage has caused issues at the body tube as well....hole chimney warpage, maybe a body bend, maybe the bell keycups no longer aligning with their holes.

$400 tops if it has a neck.

 

[adamk]

Maybe sax evolution should go more industrial?

 

[datsaxman]

I like it! On somebody else's horn maybe.

 

[milandro]

I think that bell shows the wrong impression that the idea of hand-hammered can give

 

[datsaxman]

Yeah. Hand hammered should not be so obvious.

 

[turf3]

Well, the bell's pretty dinged up, but I don't see what's so wrong with the guard. Looks to me like someone needed a replacement (for one of those insta-fail plastic doohickeys, perhaps, which were a bad idea before they were even conceived) and made one.

We've all gotten awful prissy what with information about the supposedly "right way" to have everything, but what would you have had the owner circa 1990 or before do when his plastic molded guard finally gave up the ghost and cracked in to a zillion UV-degraded pieces? I think cutting a replacement out of aluminum sheet is exactly the right solution.

 

[JayeLID]

It's not a bad solution...I have seen worse solutions (for example someone removing the original posts and slapping on some generic wire guards...which IMHO is far worse).

Slapping on decent-looking standard sheet metal guards might have been better, they are available out there. But then the original posts would have to be removed, replaced with keyguard feet... and there'd likely be post footrpints remaining and visible on the body.

If aluminum, it'd be quite lightweight.

I think the criticism would be it's a bit primitive particularly at the edges.

I would probably have used sheet brass, myself, but again....not an awful solution....

 

[turf3]

The AL matches the silver plated horn, brass would either not match or require plating, and it's heavier.

 

[whamptoncourt]

I have a Keilwerth New King (I thinks that's the model?) alto from the 1950s that had the plastic guards. They deteriorated and cracked, so I replaced them with beautiful and carved wood. Would show a picture, but it's out on loan to a friend. Sometimes you just do what you've got to do...but I must say my horn looks 1000% better!

 

[jthole]

Was this one on "Marktplaats"? Given the state the plastic wings can be in, a well finished aluminium construction would not be a bad idea indeed. But this looks a bit crude and too industrial.

Edit: found it. The whole description doesn't inspire confidence.