[Matt Curtis]

Has anyone on this forum played a weltkang low a bari? Do they have good intonation or do they requrire hard to find mouthpieces to get them to work? I think these horns were made in Germany? The one i saw had rolled tone holes which is a minus as they will be crooked.

 

[davidlh]

I overhauled one for our local high school,. It had taken a beating and took ages to get the body straight and the rolled tone holes level but it played OK when finished although I didn't play it for long. The low Eb guard was soldered to the tone hole chimney which is bizarre - as soon as it gets a knock it affects the tone hole. I moved the mounting.

 

[bvhoyweg]

I'm playing a 1959 Weltklang tenor, no bari. So take it for what it is worth...

I'm using a (several) graftonite mpc. But to play it in tune it was on the end of the neck, almost falling off. So I looked for a turner in the local ads and had him make a shank extender. Now it plays in tune, no problems.

Rumors are the older weltklangs (before 1970) are the better ones. They were made in East Germany (DDR). And the communist system is said to create quality problems from the end of the sixties onwards.
They seem to be on the heavy side, compared to other saxes.
Ergonomics are a bit different. Which can be an issue if you change often between horns.

I do get comments on the big sound of my tenor. Rumors are several of the older weltklangs have this big sound. If you have a serial number you can get an estimate on the age

You need to find a repair man who loves to work on older horns. They do not have all the adjustments like modern or pro horns; And I'm lucky, my repair man loves my horn. But it always takes a bit more work to adjust it. So it is a little bit more expensive in maintenance.

But again, my experience is with tenor.

I can only suggest you get your hands on one and play. I did fall in love...

 

[milandro]

There are many threads on Low A Weltklang (always preferable top continue an older thread you will get way more responses).

Here a few examples, there are many more ( search for Low A weltklang returns 1320 hits)

https://forum.saxontheweb.net/showthread.php?128831-Weltklang-bari-low-A-Solist
https://forum.saxontheweb.net/showthread.php?24211-Weltklang-bari-sax
https://forum.saxontheweb.net/showthread.php?1906-Weltklang-Bari

 

[JayeLID]

Oh boy...rolled toneholes are bad because they are crooked ? (Steady, now, Jaye, steady...) :bluewink: (Matt, you need to do more reading up and filtering of info you see online)...

OK...from a guy who has refurbed a couple of these low A's...they are very respectable horns.
Not intonationally wonky. I have never refurbed a Weltklang which required any sort of oddity to get it to play in tune.
Their sound is absolutely HUGE...big, dark, spread.
Not showing any particular maladies intrinsic to the horns which are of concern. (As stated by others the issues with used baritones is always how much abuse they have suffered. But folks need be astute enough to separate the condition they are in from the potential quality of the repaired/serviced horn itself.)

So...pretty good horns, all in all. The only thing I will say about Weltklangs is that their very last, late models suffered from some poor construction/assembly details...very light gauge body metal, and 'pedestal'-footed posts which did not have enough surface area to sit on the body and were prone to getting knocked out of plumb easily. But this would be on really only around 10% of all Weltklangs.

One more comment - the notion that a Weltklang or any vintage horn "needs more adjustments/maintenance" than 'other' horns....is poppycock. Sorry, but at this point I have refurbished over 1000 saxes and serviced an additional 200+....
I can just as easily make a statement that vintage horns, and the better Weltklangs, are built far more robustly than 97% of current asian-produced models (including Japanese ones)...and 70% of the modern horns actually require more servicing due to their softer keys and imprecise fabrication....and that argument would have a solid leg to stand on. But going down that hole gains this thread nothing....

Milandro's links provide add'l discussion with more feedback as well...

My 2 cents - they are pretty good horns. And Welt's Baritones and Sopranos tended to be the best of their production, more consistent and a bit more refined than the other voices (perhaps because they produced more T's and A's than B's and S's).

 

[bvhoyweg]

the notion that a Weltklang or any vintage horn "needs more adjustments/maintenance" than 'other' horns....is poppycock.

"needs more adjustments/maintenance" is not the same as "needs more work to adjust"

Both my tenors get a yearly maintenance, so the one does not need more maintenance than the other. However, each time there is a difference in price between my Weltklang and my YTS-275, the Weltklang taking more hours of work each time.

The first sax repair man I contacted refused to work on my WeltKlang. I (wrongfully?) asumed this to be more difficult than working on a modern horn.

I had to lookup the word poppycock:

https://www.urbandictionary.com
1. A carmalized popcorn treat
2. Utter ********
3. A ***** that makes popping noises.

Thanks for commenting on my ***** (?)

 

[CSZSG]

Hi!

I've been using a B&S Blue Label baritone saxophone for about 20 years.
Weltklang and B&S Blue Label baritones have a design flaw.
The inside diameter of the mouthpiece side of the neck is very small. The B&S has an internal diameter of 12.5 mm and the average size is about 13 - 13.3 mm
Therefore, the intonation of the upper register is terrible.
I was curious and bought a noname Chinese neck on ebay.
It has a mouthpiece face diameter of 13.1 mm. The neck side had to expand a few millimeters but the intonation in the upper register was very good.
The sound of the instrument has also become much more open, but I can only guess that the improvement is due to the cork being much thinner than the original neck.
Two of my acquaintances have bought such a neck for Weltklang baritone, in both cases the same improvement in intonation as mine.

Unfortunately I can't make a video of the difference because I rented the instrument.

 

[adamk]

I have a silver plated one that I bought from Silversax in the Ukraine 13+ years ago.
He packed it very well and only a minor setup needed.
I had a padded zip up cover made for the case since it is nicely fitted but not heavy duty.
Intonation is good up and down.
Not a shy tone, bottom thundering.
Ergos not as good as a Yamaha but can get used to.
Indeed the mpc side of the neck is small but works fine for me.
No brace on the upper coiled tubing so always careful when taking mpc on and off.
The stock mpc is terrible, i bought a SR Tech Pro gold plated metal which came with a Rovner.
I use a Rico Royal 3.
Don't play it that much but always enjoy.
Takes a little time to get back to bari and the extra low A key next to the octave key.

 

[JayeLID]

"needs more adjustments/maintenance" is not the same as "needs more work to adjust"

Fair enough.

I also disagree with that notion (respectfully).

My impression has been that Weltklangs are very straightforward horns. In my memory, having refurbed probably around 30 or so, I cannot remember them having taken more time to put into adjustment.
The mechanics are not unusual, the keys are not soft, the proportion of the rods to the key barrels not unusual, and they have no oddities such as Conn set screws or Buescher snap-ins, which make servicing them more time consuming, and they do not have a tendency to go out of regulation quickly.

Again, my experience with 'em....the only issues I found were in their very last ones....

(pssst - having never seen your *****, I would be remiss in casting aspersions upon it and offend anyone's tender sensibilities; so you can safely assume it wasn't the tertiary definition)

FWIW of the several Welt baritones I have serviced, I did not find them to have wonky intonation in the upper registers. I have had the pleasure of refurbing a pair of B&S Low A's, and they were IMHO Stellar horns.
I certainly did not notice anything dramatically off in the intonation; not with any of the usual range of tester mouthpieces I use.
Didn't particularly notice the neck taper....but I don't resell any horn I have worked on if I cannot get its intonation in the pocket.

But an interesting comment, nonetheless. I suppose if one were buying one and couldn't playtest it, they should clarify with seller the return policy (but that is the same advice I'd give for any second-hand sax transaction).