dilemma? used gold vs. new brass?

[Helen]

...and I think I'll take Helen's advice and see if I can't hunt down old Layne. I'll at least book some extra time with my guy to have the regulation...regulated?

Rory, do you happen to know where Layne ended up? If I remember correctly, he had a cabin in Chester that he always went to.

The R&R band he played with since the late '50s, I can't remember their name, it was a type of car (the Ramblers, the T-Birds, something like that) I wonder if they're still around?

I had heard from a couple of people since I moved that he had lost his love for the work he did, so I'm not surprised that he retired. He'd been at it a long time.

Whatever others' experiences with him might have been, I just know that whenever I made the trip to see him, and I'd book a room in a motel close by (although he always offered me a place with the 2 of them), he'd work on my horns for as many days as it took, and he did an amazing job. My horns never played as well as when Layne looked after them.

He loved my "collection". He told me on more than 1 occasion that I had the largest collection of vintage saxes in Atlantic Canada. He loved working on them. He loved taking pictures of them...Sometimes in the most unusual settings...One Christmas he sent me some photos that his wife took of him holding one of his miniature dachshunds in the bell of my bass sax. I have that photo hanging in my studio. It is one of my all time faves.

I really miss Layne. I really regret that I never got a chance to go down to Halifax and say good-bye before we moved, but the move came about very suddenly, and unexpectedly in 2004 due a family medical emergency that resulted in us having to move back to BC. I had musical commitments I couldn't break (mostly jazz festivals) so for our last 2 months in the Maritimes, we stayed in the apartment building of the Lord Beaverbrook Hotel of Fredericton.

If you do see or talk to Layne, please send him my best. Thanks...

 

[rleitch]

Will do!

The Lincolns: Truro's finest Rock and Roll band!

 

[saxphil]

I'd buy a standard lacquer horn given the choice. If gold plated and bare brass are your choices I would ask if they lacquer over the gold. If they do I would probably choose that as it will look better for longer.

I have a gold plated Barone tenor from Phil's first "source"
before he went to another.
The horn is gold plated and lacquered as well.

 

[saxphil]

In my opinion, if you're talking about the same price, the same condition and the same paying characteristics, go with the gold plate: it's worth more. It'll last longer.

I'd also look a little closer at the used prices: gold plate currently almost doubles the cost of a new horn. That can mean (not "does mean") that you could get the older gold-plated horn, sell it, buy a new unlacquered one that you'd like and have some spending cash -- which you could use to treat teh WF staff to pizza and wings.

FWIW, look really, really closely at the postings regarding Barone's horns and make sure you're comparing two horns from the same factory with the same tooling.

FWIW, SOTW members Bub99 and Al Stevens met and played each others gold plated Barone tenors.
Al's ,and mine, is from the first source and Bub99's from the source where Phil has been getting them to now.

Bub99 felt that Al's was similar to the PM66
and that his, which are current Barone tenors, was like a PM76.
... if that means anything or helps anyone.