Silver Plate
Showing all 18 results
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!Selmer Balanced Action Saxophone Fresh Overhaul Original Silver Plate Great Tone
$ 5,150This is an amazing, fully restored Selmer Balanced Action alto. It just got a wonderful high-end overhaul, complete with some spot plating on some keys and along the back of the body tube where the silver had begun to wear. This is one gorgeous alto, with the rare British market two-tone finish, and gold wash bell. The spring tension is on the lighter side, like with most Balanced Actions. If you want stiffer spring tension, we could discuss replacing the springs, but right now, it has a light flute-like feel like these originally had.
Tonally, If you want an alto that people are going to want to listen to, this is the one. It plays extremely well, with a warm, powerful voice that is effortlessly lyrical and makes you not want to put it down. It has high-end reusable domed brass resonators and sounds very good on them. Keywork is snappy, and ‘dry’ under the fingers, like it should be. This comes with a new BAM Softpack alto case, or you can swap that for a Cabine for +$100. These British market Balanced’s are my favorite finish on vintage Selmers, and they are few and far between.
There’s only one available!
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Conn 6M Transitional Alto Gorgeous Original Silver 246729 Original Pads
$ 2,350Super DUPER clean Conn art deco engraved ORIGINAL silver plated ‘transitional’ 6M alto saxophone from 1931 in near mint condition with original pads. This alto will get overhauled soon, and the price will be +$1100 to cover the cost of the overhaul (I don’t make any money on overhauls, but the horns like this deserve to have them done right. Otherwise, what’s the point of running this business at all?) I am a huge fan of Conn altos from 1930-1934. They’re my favorites of all time. This horn has a set of hybrid features found only on this particular year of 6M. The main ‘stack’ keywork where your fingers normally go are already anticipating the fast and comfortable style of keywork found on the fully 6M altos, AND both bell keys have moved around to the left, but the left hand pinky (spatula) keys are a modified version of the New Wonder II (Chu Berry) style, albeit a more comfortable version. With the bell keys both on the left, you have direct action closing of those keys, which makes them easier on your pinky. It’s a very comfortable layout, although it looks antequated.
The original finish on this horn is nearly 100% intact. If you want to see what these look like polished up, check out it’s twin brother here that just got overhauled. This engraving style is found only on this particular vintage of Conn, and looks fantastic. The swivel thumb hook also goes away a few years later. If you’re into geeking out on Conns like this, check Matt Stohrer’s article here.
Tonally, this is the essence of a warm but powerful lead alto sound. It easily sails over an entire big band when pushed. These Conns were built for ‘carrying power’ (as the vintage ads say), and they really do project with ease. But they also stay saturated and warm at very low volumes, and the whole instrument vibrates in your hands when you play. There’s nothing like a Conn for tone, power, and build quality. Repairmen love to work on them because they’re built so well. If you want one of the best, this would be worth your consideration for sure!
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Conn 6m Transitional Art Deco Alto Saxophone 249081 Overhauled!
$ 3,450The Conn 6M transitional takes many forms, and this particular original silver plated example is from 1932. It features art deco engraving (a style which only appears for a couple of years), left hand bell keys, 6M style keywork everywhere except the left hand pinky table, which is New Wonder II style. This is the last iteration before the transitional becomes nearly identical to the 6M, and to my ears these have a bit wider tone of the New Wonder II than the transitionals just after it- and in fact around this serial range is my favorite of the transitionals, playing-wise.
It has just gotten a complete overhaul, and it looks crazy stupid fine! Physically it is in extremely good condition, with no dents or dings or evidence of past repairs that I can see. The neck is undamaged and shows no signs of past pulldown, and the microtuner is free and functional. The silver plate is thick and unworn, and shined up unbelievably well with a gentle polish! It comes with its original case in good condition and its original warranty card. These are great altos, built by the finest American saxophone craftsmen in their heyday, and a super clean one like this is a great place to start if you are looking for a fantastic vintage horn that will last you a lifetime for less of an overall investment than most any new horn of even middling quality that you can buy today.
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Conn 6M VIII Original Silver Plate Pre-War Rare Version 285404 Excellent Condition
$ 2,650Incredible Pre-war Conn 6M VIII in silver plate. You rarely see silver plated instruments before WWII stopped conn production in mid 1942. This one from 1938-39 is in gorgeous condition with original silver plate nearly 100%. The pads are older. Plan on a repad. The neck is great condition also with no damage. No past repairs. Interestingly, this appears to have been special ordered with a second strap hook, which makes the horn balance like a modern alto. I have never seen this before on a Conn, but I’m certain that this is factory original, as the plating matches and there is no sign of aftermarket soldering at all. Pretty cool!
Only one availble!
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Conn New Wonder 1 Alto Saxophone Silver with Gold Keys
$ 1,100Bargain price for one of the most beautiful vintage Conn New Wonder 1 ‘Chu Berry’ alto saxophones around. This is satin silver body tube with real gold plate on the keys and in the engraving and other details. These horns look AMAZING when polished up and overhauled, and this one is sure to be no exception to that.
I have it priced very low, so that you can buy it, get it nicely overhauled, and still get a great horn for the money. This should be an easy, uncomplicated overhaul, as Conns are well made and this one is in nice shape. I do also take returns money back with 5 day trial period, so buy with confidence, take to your repair shop, and then make a decision! Marshall Royale and the whole Basie band played these and got that beautiful, wide, warm tone.
Only one available!
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Conn New Wonder 1 Tenor 1924 134421 Original Silver Plate Excellent!
$ 2,750 -
Conn New Wonder II Chu Berry Tenor Saxophone Silver Great Player! 172121
$ 2,850 -
Conn New Wonder II Transitional Alto Saxophone Original Silver 237954
$ 1,150 -
King Zephyr Tenor Saxophone Original Silver Plate Excellent Condition 202108
$ 1,950 -
Martin Handcraft Alto Saxophone Original Silver Plate Very Good Condition 75488
$ 500 -
Martin Handcraft Typewriter Alto Saxophone Original Silver Excellent Condition 98334
$ 900Beautiful original silver Martin Typewriter alto saxophone. Every single key is a has a round pearl button – it’s a wonderful instrument to see! I love how unified it is from a design perspective. The palm keys and pinky table are my favorite. A necessity for any serious saxophone collection. This is also a beautiful player when overhauled, and has a wide, warm, sweet tone that is hard to beat for a 20’s sound. This Typewriter alto is all original – nearly all the original silver plate is present, as is the gold wash. The neck is also in very good condition. If you wanted to overhaul this, it would be bright, gleaming satin silver and look nearly new. Or just keep it and treasure it, or leave it on display as a showpiece. The typewriter was a beneficiary of the 20’s Saxophone Craze – there was such a strong market for saxophones that all kinds of interesting designs blossomed onto the scene. These are rare and hard to find, and this is a great price for one!
Only one available!
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Powell Silver Eagle SE10 Alto One of 18 Made – all options solid silver +Matt Stohrer Overhau
$ 12,000For your viewing pleasure, this is one of the 18 Powell Silver Eagle saxophones made. Powell conceived of an ambitious project to bring back an American-made saxophone of the highest quality. Inspired by the Super 20 SilverSonic, the Silver Eagle reproduces the bore while adding solid silver soldered tone holes and modern keywork. Powell sadly ended their project after making only 18 saxophones, despite high demand, due to the high cost of production. This horn plays like a good super 20 but a little more evenly, and has been completely overhauled by Matt Stohrer. This is the ultimate collectible among modern saxophones, and it is also a burning player. Asking price is just what these cost new, plus a little extra since it got a $1500 overhaul on top of that! It’s not even inflated for the collectibility value, which is probably not smart of me, but there it is. If you want to discuss all the details of this project, I can put you in touch with the people who built it. These were most definitely a new saxophone bore and neck design, inspired by the best King Super 20 SilverSonic altos, both according to them and according to the folks who bought the tooling and mandrels when the project ended. The keywork is modified from tooling bought from B&S, which accounts for the pinky table that sticks out farther than it would on something like a Yamaha.
There is most certainly only one available. This one has all the possible factory options, which only a subset of Powell Silver Eagles had – including the solid silver tone holes and even cryo treatment. Of the 18 saxophones built, I know at least a couple of them were brass bell, and some others lacked other of these features. This is one of the ones with everything, which makes it even more collectible. Includes the original accessories, case, and paperwork.
Just for fun, here’s Matt Stohrer’s repairman’s overview from when he overhauled it.
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Selmer Modele 26 Alto Saxophone Original Silver Plate Great Deal! 7899
$ 950Old pads Selmer Modele 26 alto. Plays wider and wilder than a modern Selmer, kind of like a Selmer/Conn hybrid. Priced super low to sell quickly. Original finish – lyre holder is resoldered. Needs a full overhaul. Plan to completely redo it, and you’ll still have a vintage Selmer for less than the price of a student Yamaha 26 alto.
Only one available!
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Selmer New Largebore Alto Saxophone Silver 13405
$ 1,350Here’s a beautiful silver plated Selmer New Largebore alto saxophone. This alto needs a repad, and the silver has been replated. It’s nearly 100% present now. This will be an excellent alto if you want to adopt it and overhaul it. These New Largebore altos play like a half Selmer half Conn, with a wider, darker tone than other Selmers, but still definitely a Selmer, with a delicate, lyrical ‘French’ core to the sound. If you’ve been looking for a deal on a vintage Selmer, this one will be hard to beat for what you get!
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SML Rev D (=Gold Medal 1) Alto Saxophone Original Silver Plate Old Pads Beautiful 11584
$ 3,500Just back from overhaul 3/31/2020 New photos are coming soon. It looks great and plays better.
SML, short for Strasser-Marigaux-LeMaire, is probably the best known small French maker of saxophones. They produced high quality instruments with a unique blend of features that ended up in what I like to think of as a perfect blend of Selmer and Conn- a very French tone, but big like a Conn.
The SML “Revision D”, which was not an official name but rather one given by collectors to the model run with this particular set of features, is a professional handcrafted French saxophone whose features include rolled toneholes, a switchable automatic G#/C#, double sprung octave mechanism (which is an excellent feature preventing slow octave changes and should be standard on all saxophones), a 4 slot neck tenon receiver (again, an excellent feature that should be made standard, this time one that applies pressure more evenly around the neck tenon for a more secure fit less likely to develop leaks), and adjustment screws on the upper and lower stacks. In fact, the Revision D is very much like the model that came after called the Gold Medal, and shares the same bore. The only features that the Gold Medal has that this horn doesn’t are the rocking octave thumbrest (which isn’t actually so great and is often times disabled at the request of the player) and the adjustable felt bumpers for the low notes, which while nice is not a game changer in any way.
This particular horn is in very good aesthetic shape, and currently wears old pads and will need an overhaul although it does play a little bit as-is. The original silver plating is in very good condition and seems to be almost unworn, and the neck shows no sign of past damage or repair work. There is some evidence of past dentwork around the lower stack F# and G# toneholes, which were both unfortunately filed a bit for levelness at the time the dentwork was done, I am guessing. However the filing does not go through the roll, and should not impact playability or repairability, and the dentwork is not noticeable until you get close. If it weren’t for that, this would be a nearly pristine SML, and this flaw serves mostly to bring down the price without having much of a real-world effect on ownership.
These SMLs have a fantastic sound, unique in their blend of refined yet powerful, and possess excellent craftsmanship. Not very many were made- about 15,000 total of all sizes of the horns considered to be their best- and they hold up very well over time.
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Yamaha YAS-62III Rare Original Silver Plate Near Mint
$ 3,000 -
Yamaha YSS-82ZRS Soprano Saxophone One Piece Bent Neck Silver Plate! BRAND NEW
$ 4,750Available new by special order anytime. Email me at [email protected] to order. The Yamaha YSS-62R and 62RS are the most desirable vintage sopranos pretty much. Yamaha made an upgraded reissue of this soprano, with improved keywork but the same bore. It’s simply the best.
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Yanagisawa SC-9930 Curved Soprano Saxophone with High G! Rare
$ 4,150For those of you who love to have the best and rarest at the same time, here is my favorite vintage of curved soprano ever made, the Yanagisawa SC-991, but this is in the solid silver neck and body tube version, which is SC-9930, AND it is one of the rare ones that came with the high G key included. This is the first one like this that I have seen, and it’s cool in a nerdy kind of way to have such a rare and fabulous example. You can order a new SC-9930 for $6730, but your extra $$$ won’t get you the high G! Nor will it be the warmer, fuller-sounding version from the 90’s like this with the bell keys on the left. My personal soprano is one just like this but brass, and I think it sounds better than the right hand bell keys version at least by a little bit. I also like the more direct action that you get with the pinky keys on the left hand bell key configuration. We’re splitting hairs here, but hey, if you’re in the rarified territory of exceptional curved sopranos, then maybe that’s your thing too.
Condition wise, this SC-9930 is in very good shape, with no significant past repairs or current problems at all. I have not spent any money on pad work yet, as I’m trying to keep the price as low as possible, and the horn plays fine on current pads. I would like to sell it a little higher and spend maybe $250 on a thorough setup, so you can have that as an optional extra if you want.
Original case and mouthpiece are in good shape as well. There is most certainly only one of these available!