I just purchased and received from Germany a silver-plated Weltklang low-A bari. It wasn't cheap but I believe I got my money's worth and I'm very pleased with the purchase.
For those of you not familiar with this instrument, Weltklangs were made in then-East Germany, by folks with a long history of musical instrument manufacture. The company eventually became the present B&S concern after the reunification of Germany. Although Weltklang soprano, alto and tenor saxes have a mixed reputation, the baritones are sort of a different animal, as they are actually Keilwerth stencils (made by Keilwerth, that is, at least the body anyway, and branded with the Weltklang name and engraving). From what I've read, they all have rolled tone holes like mine and most (if not all) were silver-plated.
Mine was in playing condition as-received, though it wants and deserves and is getting a good overhaul as I write this. Before disassembling the instrument last night I gave it a quick test-play, and despite old and somewhat leaky pads (with pad heights mostly set too low) I could tell right away that the horn basically had a good sound, responded well in all registers and had excellent intonation. Taking it completely apart was trouble-free, and it was obvious that this is a well-constructed and well-designed instrument. I'm really looking forward to playing this beast once it's cleaned and polished and sporting new pads and corks --- I expect this is going to be the bari of my dreams. I'll report back after the overhaul is completed.
For those of you not familiar with this instrument, Weltklangs were made in then-East Germany, by folks with a long history of musical instrument manufacture. The company eventually became the present B&S concern after the reunification of Germany. Although Weltklang soprano, alto and tenor saxes have a mixed reputation, the baritones are sort of a different animal, as they are actually Keilwerth stencils (made by Keilwerth, that is, at least the body anyway, and branded with the Weltklang name and engraving). From what I've read, they all have rolled tone holes like mine and most (if not all) were silver-plated.
Mine was in playing condition as-received, though it wants and deserves and is getting a good overhaul as I write this. Before disassembling the instrument last night I gave it a quick test-play, and despite old and somewhat leaky pads (with pad heights mostly set too low) I could tell right away that the horn basically had a good sound, responded well in all registers and had excellent intonation. Taking it completely apart was trouble-free, and it was obvious that this is a well-constructed and well-designed instrument. I'm really looking forward to playing this beast once it's cleaned and polished and sporting new pads and corks --- I expect this is going to be the bari of my dreams. I'll report back after the overhaul is completed.