[Jazz House]

I, as it says in my signature, play the soprano but I also have a borrowed school tenor that I do NOT like. I would love to have a tenor of my own. I was at my Jazz band the other Saturday and I discovered that the guys that own the place bought a Weltklang bari sax. What a sound!! A girl there has a Weltklang tenor. What a sound! So powerful and dark. So DEEP!!!!

I found out that at a school, probably the sort of school where kids are punished for damaging instruments, they are selling a Weltklang tenor. The guy that told me said that he wants to buy it. It is only fair to let him do it because he found the offer and it would upset him if I jumped in and took it before him. If he doesn't buy it, though, I want it because I really like Welklangs. He says that I could probably buy it for less than $100 because it has been used a lot. I have some $350 that I can spend on buying it and making any necessary repairs. I could re-pad it if I needed to because I would have at least $250 left.

What do you think? Sounds good to me.

 

[milandro]

a Weltklang tenor is in general a good and sturdy instrument, not the most modern mechanics around but a good sax nonetheless. There are many types, some more modern than other ones, the solist is their top of the range instrument. I had one and it was a good horn, even being rather difficult to play for those with small hands. I had a 1989 solist which was their last series before the company changed the name (and the design) in B&S. Now B&S has disappeared too from the saxophone market driven out of the market from the pressures on this from cheaper horns from the far east.

100$ is a very good price if you can work on this horn yourself. All the work and money that you will invest on this horn is , unfortunately, not likely to be kept as residual value because weltklangs don'really have a following among collectors (unless very old and special models). So it is probably a better horn than most but you can buy one second hand in very good state for about 250 dollars already.... .Baritons fetch higher prices than tenors.

 

[Colin B]

I too have a Weltklang Solist tenor which I bought from a lady I met on the beach. I paid £150 for it and spent another £100 getting it into playing order. It had lain in her cupboard unplayed for twenty years.As Milandro says, buy it only if it is cheap and you intend keeping it. I probably spent over the odds on mine, but I love it.They are under-appreciated, unsophisticated and quirky to play; but built to last and oozing character with a big earthy sound.

 

[Jazz House]

I have really big hands. I like holding on to things, like saxophones. I probably wouldn't sell it anyway because it probably would not fetch what I originally payed for it. I think that it's a really cool sax and it's worth getting. If the pads don't work, what sort of pads should I get?

 

[Colin B]

Unless you really know what you're doing, take it to a tech for new pads. The chances are that the tone holes will be all over the place (uneven), and a tech will know what sort of pads to install....probably thick ones. Good luck with it. Let us know how you get on.

 

[milandro]

if you are not an experienced technician (amateur or pro) don't try this at home. The pads need not to be thick (my technician did them with thin ones on a Weltklang) and there is no way to say whether the toneholes are or not levelled in a weltklang any more than any other sax but , yes that can be a problem if you don't know how to deal with it.

 

[Jazz House]

How much would it probably cost to get a pad job done?

 

[milandro]

How much would it probably cost to get a pad job done?

Wow saxophonus Bb! This is a question that only a repair man from Lima (I assume it is Peru) or thereabouts can answer for you ! Most of the cost of a repad is down to labour costs , materials are relatively cheap, so cost might vary hugely throughout the world. In my neighborhood we have prices varying from 250 euro up until 600 euro for a complete rehaul (which in general also includes some minor job to dents or rods or neck or all of this) but you will find that Dutch prices may mean nothing to you in Peru......

 

[Jazz House]

Thanks!! I think I have decided not to buy it as I'd rather not buy it out of just 1 option. I think it would be kind of silly. Not being able to compare to other weltklangs is a drawback.