Pierret - Buffet - Boiste Revisit

[pete]

Several years ago, I found a couple saxophones stenciled as "Robert Martin - Constellation - Macon." Here's the tenor I found:



The easiest reason to call this horn Pierret-made is because of the funky keyguards. Secondarily, the engraving looks like that on the Pierret Modele Competition.

I'm now a little less sure it's from Pierret. Maybe.

I found this pretty tenor, the other day. It's also a Robert Martin Constellation:



The bell to body brace is distinctive. Three companies used that. Buffet, for their Dynaction model, Ditta Giglio for their Dynaction copy, and Marurice Boiste. The keyguards for the 2nd tenor are also identical to Maurice Boiste horns.

Differences:
* Brace on the neck. However, Buffet wasn't consistent with this, either.
* I'm relatively sure that both of the above Robert Martin horns have altissimo F# keys. Well, they could be altissimo D# keys, I suppose. I didn't trace the rod. None of the Dynactions I've seen or owned had them. They did have G# trill keys, but either not consistently or because people tend to remove the G# key and reverse the spring.

FWIW, the 1st tenor listed above originally had red pads, which the Dynaction also had, as did the Dolnet Artist horns. Maurice Boiste apprenticed at Dolnet ...

Maybe Buffet made horns for Boiste and Pierret for awhile. I do know that Pierret went back to a standard "wire" bell-to-body brace. Boiste stopped producing saxophones around 1961.

Please note that all the above is *just* for this particular model with the interesting bell-to-body brace.

Other references:
http://luthiervents.blogspot.com/2012/01/maurice-rene-et-louis-boiste-voici-une.html
http://bassic-sax.info/version5/vintage-saxes/european-made-saxes/maurice-boiste
http://bassic-sax.info/blog/2013/the-mysterious-world-of-maurice-boiste-saxophones/

 

[Helen]

It's a Pierret. I don't know why you would be second-guessing yourself. There are a boat-load of features that just scream: "I was made by Pierret." Those include: the left pinkie cluster; the right pinkie keys; chromatic F# key; the left palm keys; the posts; the key guard posts; and so on, and so on. This horn is totally characteristic of the Pierrets built during that particular era. (The one that produced the Competition & Artiste Competition, plus lots of stencils like the Ambassador, et al.... )

Btw, check out this late-model Robert Martin made by Pierret that looks exactly like this late model Pierret Super Artiste--which happens to have similar features to the tenor you originally linked to...Which leads us back to where we started...

However, I'm not sure where you're going with the bell to body brace. Pierret had a wide variety of them. The original horn you mention had a Selmer-style bell to body support ring. Pierret had that in its late-model horns like this Super Artiste. It would easily make sense that if someone came to them and wanted a stencil, and requested a ring as bell to body support, they would use one.

As far as pads go, red pads could be bought as replacements. Perhaps it was repadded, or maybe it was just ordered from Pierret with red pads.

BTW, Robert Martin had horns built by a number of different companies, including Dolnet.

 

[pete]

Btw, check out this late-model Robert Martin made by Pierret

That one has the late Olds-style bell-to-body brace. I've got no problems with that designation.

It's a Pierret. I don't know why you would be second-guessing yourself.

Primarily because I owned a Buffet Dynaction alto. This is kinda like when I found out about the Ditta Giglio horns and realized I had to be a bit more cautious when telling someone that a horn that looks like a Buffet and plays similarly to a Buffet is not necessarily a Buffet. A second reason is that you don't just see a bell-to-body brace that you've only seen on one horn start popping up on a few other makes.

Anyhow, I might do a big-time revisit. More doctors in my near future.