[colleen]

Hi everyone,

I just joined here today as I wanted to ask a question. Basically I collect vintage saxes and have stumbled across a Trafford straight sop sax on eBay that looks vintage ish 70's. what are these Trafford things like in terms of quality etc.

Many thanks, Colleen

 

[Dave Dolson]

Hi Colleen: Welcome to SOTW. I saw your other post in this same section . . . for contrabass saxophones and lower!! Like Canadian posted, you should post in the appropriate section.

As to the brand name you listed, I never heard of it. But if it truly is a '70's style soprano (I'm guessing a MKVI clone), it most likely was made in Taiwan and had the distributor's name stenciled on it.

That practice continues today with new saxophones made in Taiwan and China. The brand name may not be as important as the factory that made it. Unfortunately few of us know which factory puts which name on which horn.

A photo or two would help us better identify the horn. OR, a detailed description of the keywork (location of the bell pads, how they are suspended, palm-key design, etc.).

I have a MKVI-clone soprano labeled KUSTOM and from what I learned, it probably was made by Antigua in the 1970's or early '80's. But that's as close as I can come. It plays like a MKVI, too. DAVE

 

[Seasax]

I have seen it too, and theres a trafford tenor, they are just cheap seventies student horns.

 

[csax]

Colleen - Yes, having been around in the 70's the Trafford tenor on ebay, looks like the typical GDR (East German) offerings at the time - sturdy but not very sophisticated.

I couldn't find the Trafford soprano (always helps to paste in a link or at least give the ebay item number...), but if the soprano engraving looks anything like the tenor one, it'll be from the same stable. My initial 'gut reaction' was that it was the sort of name that companies like Boosey & Hawkes gave to their East German stencils from that era.

Sturdy student/semi-pro horns, usually good tuning, and will take a lot of punishment - however build quality could vary, but not by as much as the modern Chinese ones. The tenor listing says "made at the old B&S factory", but if I had a quid for every time I'd heard that one....

 

[Gaines (bari]

"vintage" sounds nice

just out of curiosity, what all horns have you collected?

 

[colleen]

hello, I have collected, a Conn 1917 alto as my first vintage sax, Frank Holton Elkhorn alto and a Rampone & Cazzani strange nickel plated 1954 alto. The old tenors I have had are a Martin Handcraft sp tenor and a 1925 Conn Chu Berry. I got my Martin from the US (Steve @ worldwide sax) and it cost me a fair whack but it was well worth it. I kept it for 2 years and yes I miss it! Now I just play my bog standard Jupiter tenor that I got as my 1st sax when I was 16 as I got married and bought a flat so money has been tight. There have been more saxes in between like the East German ones. I think in total I have had 14 different saxes over the last 3-4 years and spent over £5000 on them. Could have used that as a deposit on my flat!