Agree w/Jon, very good horn for the money! Just got 1929 Tru-Ton, silver, Emilio Lyons (The Sax Dr) complete overhaul www.emiliolyons.com. Small fingers and onset of arthriitis, and this is the easiest left-hand keys I've found. Vandoren Jazz A35 mpc. Looking for used Meyer G, #5, otherwise, I'm rushing home from work to practice.Not sure ofmarket prices $12-1500. Traded a Mark VII tenor for 1959 King Zephyr, and got $500 from dealer. Traded the King for Buescher even. So ahead of the game, I guess. Love the Tru-Tone, have used on gigs and satisfied (for now). Bird lives!
so, i took a chance and bought this sax off ebay, because it was in good shape and the seller made a pretty bold statement saying how well it played, and only payed $500.00 for it. thought i scored a good deal for a pro vintage sax. my first observation is this sax is a tank, the metal is really strong on the keywork, connecting rods and etc... the silver finish seems very durable, especially for 85 yrs. old. some wear on side keys and a tonehole cover looks a little sad, but for the price who cares. what lead me to this particular sax was matt stoher's overview of it on youtube. thanks matt. as far as the ergonomics go, i adapted to it easy. i find the octive key touch on top of the thumbrest much more comfortable and doesn't make my thumb sore like the SA80/mark 6 clones i have, and it's got 2 real pearls for thumbrest and octive instead of cheap plastic and bare brass you would think since it is built like a tank it would be heavy, but it's built post to body method,(i prefer) and i don't find it heavy at all. the connecting rods on the left side are laid out well and not so vulnerable as i find the sa80's design to be. the first mpc i tried on it was a silver selmer paris *c mpc, (my favorite) sounded great. got a vintage buescher mpc and played that on it.. ehhh not so good, and then tried a ny meyer on it and that sounded ok, not a fan of plastic and hard rubber mpc's. my dukoff d6 was so so, i dont think it likes this design and a metal runyon mpc...forget that one too. to my surprise a cheap cheap chinese made metal clone of a metal selmer paris mpc played well on it, go figure. the fork/alternate Eb tone hole has been deactivated as ive seen on others, what ever... post on another sight about it. put a couple of risers on the palm keys, problem solved. finding a new case without paying a small fortune for it could be a challenge with the split bell design, oh well. overall i'm very pleased with this purchase, i mean come on 5 bucks for a good sax is just.. silly compared too.. i could reccomend one of these to someone looking for a sax on a budget and on just about any given day you can find a half dozen of them on ebay for a great price. nice addition to my growing collection. that's all for now
since this review i have reactivated the fork Eb on this sax, and damn if i can tell a differance in sound or the lack of. checked it on my tuner.