“High Pitch” is an intonation standard that was used primarily before WWII (Dolnet used this standard until about 1970 — and didn’t mark their high pitch horns).  You want a horn that is stamped “Low Pitch,” “LP,” or “L.” High Pitch saxophones cannot be made into Low Pitch horns and vice-versa.

There is a current European orchestral standard of A=442hz and there was a German standard of A=435hz (sometimes written as “870”) that was used immediately before and during WWII. Because the A=442 and A=435 intonation standards aren’t that far off Low Pitch (A=440), they can be fairly easily played with other Low Pitch horns, provided you have a decent enough ear.

Before you go out to take a look at the horn, get some good pictures. You can compare these pictures to known examples of the horns found on saxpics.com, Bassic Sax Pix, TheSax.info, or even another dealer’s website.

Some older horns may not fit inside a standard case. This is not confined to just uncommon pitches, like bass or contrabass. Some horns might have a larger bell, longer or shorter body tube, or some other odd feature that make them difficult to put in a modern case.

If the case smells, that probably means that the smell has permeated all the pads, corks, and felts on the horn, itself. There are a variety of suggestions on how to get rid of “Smelly Horn Syndrome,” but the only sure-fire cure is to have the horn disassembled, bathed in dip (“cleaner”), and replace all the pads, felts, and corks. Then buy a new case. Don’t put a restored horn back in a smelly case. You’ll just make the horn smelly again.

Most saxophones have a brass body covered with lacquer or metal plating. The most common platings are silver, nickel, and gold.

Gold plated horns are silver plated first, because gold does not adhere to brass. So, one way you can tell a gold plated horn from a lacquered one is to look for some silver poking through the finish.

There was also a finish called “Perma-Gold.” This finish was available on SML and Selmer Adolphe Sax models and it’s really hard to tell PermaGold from regular gold, unless you can see it flaking like lacquer.

To tell silver plate from nickel plate, look for tarnish. Silver plate will tarnish a brownish or purplish black. Nickel generally tarnishes “dull,” like an American nickel that’s been in circulation for awhile, or whitish.

Look for spots of greenish rust. If the horn is rusted through in spots, you’re looking at spending a lot in repairs.

Silver, gold, and nickel plated horns can generally be cleaned with a non-tarnishing, non-abrasive cleaner designed for whichever metal. This can mean that an almost completely black silver plated horn can be cleaned up to look like new.

Saxophones can have patches of red peeking through. This is called “Red Rot” or “de-zincification.” According to the link, this isn’t something that can be fixed. However, this doesn’t immediately = an unplayable horn. I played an 80- or more-year-old bare-brass horn that had extensive patches of red.

There are a lot of opinions on if the material a saxophone is made of and/or the finish a saxophone has affects the horn’s tone in any way. If you are of the opinion that the finish really doesn’t matter, that can work to your advantage. As an example, there’s a very common rumor that silver plated Mark VIs are more “stuffy,” so you shouldn’t get one. I’m more than happy to keep that rumor going because that might mean I can get a silver plated VI for less than a lacquer one.

Almost all saxophones made prior to the 1920s and all American-made saxophones prior to the 1930s were NOT available in lacquer. If you have a lacquer horn from either of these eras, the finish is not original. However, the finish is probably not going to hurt either the tone or intonation of the horn.

There are two basic ways of relacquering a saxophone. The first way uses a variety of mechanical means to strip the lacquer, which can cause loss of metal and/or damage to the tone holes. The second way uses a chemical process to strip the lacquer, which won’t cause as much damage. However, relacquered saxophones are not original and should be valued less than an original horn in the same condition. A lot of folks won’t buy a relacquered horn, so, if you can play-test it and it’s to your liking, you might be able to get a bit of a bargain.

You can spot a relacquer by looking for engraving that has been smoothed over and doesn’t look very crisp. You might also find traces of polishing compound on the horn. It’s a reddish paste. Look around the keyguards and toneholes for this.

There were colored enamels available on Buescher and Conn saxophones — and possibly some of their stencils — in the 1920s. These finishes are extremely uncommon.

Colored lacquers were available as early as the 1960s, so if you find a blue lacquer Selmer Mark VI, it might be the original finish.

There are a lot of horns out there that have non-original replacement parts and a horn with non-original parts should devalue the instrument anywhere from a little to a lot. There are even counterfeit instruments out there.

Especially if you’re buying a horn off eBay, if you don’t see a picture of it, it’s not included. If you don’t see a picture of the neck, assume the horn doesn’t have one.

Non-original necks aren’t necessarily deal-breakers. There are a bunch of companies that make custom after-market necks. You might come across a horn that has a serialized neck, but the number doesn’t match the body. Provided it plays in tune (again, test using that chromatic tuner!), there’s no reason not to buy it. I would take a few dollars off the horn’s value, though.

Look out for necks that look misshapen.

Check by putting your finger into the neck and feeling for a bump. If the damage is beyond where your finger can reach, your tech can tell you for sure with one of his/her speciality tools.

Dents that are deep enough that they go into the body tube can cause swirls in the air flow and lead to tuning and tonal issues.

Dents around tone holes can be problematic, because they may cause pads to not be seated correctly and/or just cause that tonehole and those around it to play out of tune.

Minor dings and dents on the left side of the bow are pretty normal as players bump the horn into chairs, etc, and usually don’t interfere with the tone.

The presence of either of these indicates that the sax was likely dropped in its case.

For example, the lacquer shows signs of damage and almost seems to have lines that run up and down.

Soldered ones like those on Martin saxes can be prone to leaking, or even falling off, and require the skills of an excellent sax tech.

If there is too much movement, this will have to be repaired, and should be factored in to your offer.

NB: Vintage Keilwerths are especially prone to wear in this area and, because of their rolled tone holes, repairs are tricky. A really good sax tech is your best bet when faced with this kind of repair.

You should also take along some mouthwash. If the horn has a mouthpiece in the case, you’ll want to try it. Sterilize the mouthpiece first. Also note that alcohol will discolor hard rubber mouthpieces. Most commercial mouthpiece sterilizers are for brasswind mouthpieces.

You have to remember that I a) live in a desert and b) take meds that dry me out. Besides, you need those 64 ounces of water a day.

Particularly in view of the above points, some reeds just don’t work well on some mouthpieces. Take some reeds of different hardness as well as a couple of your favorites.

If you haven’t bought a digital chromatic tuner that can tune to any note, you should. Basic ones from Korg are $20.

If that person is another sax player, even better. This will give you a second opinion on the horn and give you a better idea of what the sax sounds like.

For example, are you buying a vintage horn for university, when you should be buying a new one instead? Or are you buying a high pitch horn when you in fact planning on playing current music with others?