Description
After Conn and Buescher had given up making pro saxophones, only Martin and King had the staying power to sell a top quality American saxophone into the 50’s and 60’s. The Martin Music Man is an example of the flowering of the Martin company’s saxophone manufacturing. It has extensive and elaborate hand engraving, extra features like the bumper for the octave key on the neck, and the “OFFICIAL MUSIC MAN MODEL” marking on the bell, commemorating the musical of the same name.
These Music Man models are the most desirable of the Martins, and the most rare. I prefer the Music Man’s engraving style and brass keywork to the Magna’s nickel. This is a beautiful example. It has almost all of its original lacquer intact, and the only past damage is a moderate neck pull down that has been repaired by Matt Stohrer.
A big selling point of this particular tenor is that it has a fresh full mechanical restoration done by Matt Stohrer. Matt is one of the best saxophone techs in the world, and he has a long wait list of people wanting him to overhaul their horns. If you want Matt’s work, this horn lets you skip that line and get something awesome at the same time. The advantage of Matt’s full mechanical restoration is that you can be sure that this saxophone plays as well as it possibly could. This is Matt’s “go crazy” kind of job, where he takes more than forty hours of labor to completely restore the keywork to better than factory tolerances, so that everything is completely right, and ready to go for the next fifty years or so with just regular maintenance. Matt’s detail-oriented setup also makes the horn’s keywork feel light and snappy under the fingers. The left hand pinky keys particularly stand out on this horn. On most Martins they tend to feel rather stiff, but on this one they are fluid and easy. Low Bb is super responsive and easy to play in a saturated pianissimo. Many people have never played a saxophone that was actually right. This is a chance to do just that. The overhaul represents about $2k of added value on this horn, but you get that built into the price. Even an old pads Music Man often sells for not much less than the asking price of this overhauled one.
Sonically, this horn is a powerhouse. It has a fat, medium dark tone that remains lush up in to the palm keys without thinning out the way most modern horns do. The low register is similarly full and saturated. It plays easily in tune. Multiphonics and altissimo are no problem. It works great with a range of mouthpieces. From a fat traditional jazz tone to section work to screaming R&B and commercial music, these horns were so popular because they can do it all.
This includes the original case also in great shape. Get it now and get playing!
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