Actually, a newly overhauled Conn straight is gonna run around $1200 at least...the Orsi here is half that price, so it isn't really close to 'getting in the price range where for just a little more"...
I have refurbed a few. I found their curvies were REALLY good, very impressive. The straight one I have done, it was pretty good, too. Sweet sound, indeed key action not as slick as a modern horn but by no means 'bad'.
The straight was a bit flexy intonationally....nothing 'bad' again...but if a player is used to straight-arrow intonation where becoming lazy in the embouchure will not create an obvious problem...then a vintage Italian Littlehorn may prove to be a bit challenging in that dept.
It is a VERY good price, if overhauled. The fact that it still is sitting there, available....is more due to people's ignorance of the maker than anything else...
These sorta sops fill a very big market gap...in between the $200-300 new cheapos, which honestly, um....s#ck...
and the reputed used modern or vintage ones like Yama, Yani, Conn, Buescher, etc which tick in at $1200-2000....
...the only other good make which might sit in a similar price place as older Italians or E. Germans would be a used Jupiter.
So....an Oris or old Borgani is a significantly better horn than a modern cheapie....and its tone may actually be preferable to many as opposed to a modern Japanese one.
