I bought this horn from Tony at Maggini Supplies in 2005. At the time I was building my collection and very keen on Selmer, which made the best saxophones of all – especially the Mark VI, which beat all comers from the late 1950s onwards. Continue reading
Filed under: Selmer Pennsylvania Sepecial (Kohlert) | Tagged: alto saxophone, Keilwerth, Magginisupplies, Pennsylvania Special, Saximus Maximus, Selmer | 43 Comments »
This is a recent acquisition. I’ve owned a ‘naked lady’ alto for a number of years and jumped at the chance of buying a great big sounding tenor from one of the key American saxophone makers. I’ve played this once so far – it has the loudest, fullest sound of all the tenors I own. Continue reading
Filed under: Buescher True Tone Series IV | Tagged: Buescher, Saximus Maximus, tenor saxophone, True Tone | 3 Comments »
My friend Tony H brough this round the other day. He’s owned the horn for about 3 months. Unlike me he’s a transient collector, preferring to own just one tenor and one alto at any particular time.
He associates Martin horns with Art Pepper – a player he remembers from the 1950s. He had a melodic and light innovative sound – very different from Charlie Parker and his many imitators who were all the rage at the time. I definitely agree, having many Art Pepper albums. The poor man’s personal life was unfortunately in stark contrast to his beautiful horn playing. He also noted that a number of British dance band players used Martins in the post war years. Continue reading
Filed under: Martin 'The Martin' (Committee III) | Tagged: alto saxophone, Committee III, Martin, Saximus Maximus, The Martin | 5 Comments »
I bought this in 2001 when I was travelling a couple of times a year to San Francisco to events such as the annual Sun Microsystems analyst meeting. There are a handful of Savings and Loan shops in the less touristy places – areas where people will ask you for money on the street and your middle class American friends advise you not to go. I really like these shops, because their owners tended to undervalue their stock, minimising the loan value on the assets. Although I didn’t realise it at the time the pound’s rising value against the dollar made buying secondhand saxophones even more attractive. It’s all changed since then – the pound hs declined significantly in value and eBay makes all saxophone values knowable for the shop owners. I also believe that these instruments are a finite resource – they got pawned years ago. I can’t find many interesting saxophones any more in San Francisco in these shops – I joke with my friends that I bought them all. Continue reading
Filed under: King New Voll True | Tagged: King, New Voll True, Sax-O-Mute, Saximus Maximus | 1 Comment »
I bought this for from my excellent saxophone doer-upper in 2006. He knows that my collection spans all types of saxophone and was right that I’d go for the art deco look and feel of this one. I know Dallas Arbiter as a UK importer of guitars in the 1970s and it’s nice to have an example of the company’s earlier activities with brass instruments. Continue reading
Filed under: Dearman New Super | Tagged: 1950s, alto saxophone, Dearman, Foreign, New Super, Saximus Maximus | 13 Comments »
Filed under: Keilwerth SX90R | Tagged: Keilwerth, Saximus Maximus, SX90R, tenor saxophone | Leave a comment »
Filed under: Conn C Melody | Tagged: C Melody, Conn, Saximus Maximus | 2 Comments »
I can’t really remember too much about acquiring this horn. I know I already had quite a collection and believe I bought it from Magginisupplies before having it repadded by my favourite saxophone technician. I’m not even sure when it was. I know I already had my Conn C Melody at the time. However I was attracted to owning a Martin, even if only a ‘stencil’. Continue reading
Filed under: Martin Concertone | Tagged: C Melody, Concertone, Martin, Saximus Maximus | 9 Comments »
I bought this from my saxophone technician a few years age, who had already repaired, repadded and replaced the felts on it. It is a silver-plated Martin Handraft alto from 1930 and is excellent condition, made just after the stock market crash the previous year. Continue reading
Filed under: Martin Handcraft Typewriter | Tagged: alto saxophone, Edwin Van Druten, Handcraft, Martin, Saximus Maximus, Typewriter | 4 Comments »
My friend Chris Ingle was travelling on business in San José and gave me a call on a Saturday afternoon. He was in one of my favourite ‘savings and loan’ shops and ran through the saxophones they had. He mentioned the Pan-American alto, so I asked him about the condition. He bought it and brought it back from the States and into work on the following Monday. It was a truly great find – a classic horn, made by Conn in 1920. Continue reading
Filed under: Conn Pan-American | Tagged: alto saxophone, Chris Ingle, Conn, Pan-American, Saximus Maximus | 13 Comments »
Saximus Maximus 
