Slide Saxophone

[Gandalfe]

Arno Bornkamp playing the Slide Saxophone in GAP (French summer course in the Alps). It's amazing to watch Arno show us how it could be done.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POzJoi463UI&NR=1

See the details of the Slide Saxophone at http://www.adolphesax.com.

 

[tictactux]

Lemme guess ... you've already earmarked some money to get one, right?

 

[Gandalfe]

Lemme guess ... you've already earmarked some money to get one, right?

Well... if the price was right.

 

[Dave Dolson]

What a joke. DAVE

 

[Gandalfe]

Slide Saxophone by Reiffel and Husted

Found on ebay today:

Slide Saxophone by Ruffel and Husted - $19,000
Serial # 1090, made in Chicago

This is a very rare slide soprano saxophone. There are not many left. To find one in this condition is very difficult. The body is dent free and looks great, slide works well. Original everything. . It plays great from top to bottom. It is ready to go. This is a rare find. It also has been checked out by Oleg, one of the worlds foremost repair men, he worke don it and it is ready to go. Email us any questions or phone us @ 818-904-0030​

 

[Helen]

You scooped me! You dog you.

 

[Groovekiller]

The horn looks good. Original case and mouthpiece are a plus, but don't you think the price is a bit, um, optimistic?

 

[pete]

I'd say more "dreaming" than optimistic . I also find the misspelling of "Reiffel" in the ad quite amusing ("Ruffel"), especially if you are trying to get that much cash for a horn.

In any event, good pics to glom for my gallery!

EDIT: By the way, he's also selling a Buescher Tipped Bell soprano for $6495.
EDIT #2: And a Buescher straight alto.

The guy got a pretty interesting collection from somewhere!

 

[Groovekiller]

Very good stuff from this collection on ebay. It's not often you see that many rare ones in original condition from one seller.

 

[pete]

Very good stuff from this collection on ebay. It's not often you see that many rare ones in original condition from one seller.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Conn-O-Sax-Hist...ultDomain_0&hash=item45f15251b8#ht_500wt_1154



(Amusingly, there's another misspelling of "Reiffel", too.)

 

[pete]

Being somewhat more serious, intermuzika (he's the guy that's selling the slide, tipped soprano and straight alto in separate ads) might get someone to bite on the Bueschers. They're not outrageously priced, especially compared to THE OTHER Buescher Straight Alto for sale.

Yep, a horn so rare only three (including Dr. Rick's) are being sold on eBay at any one time .

A few years back (see this), Steve Goodson was trying to sell a Buescher Straight Alto for $10K. It was listed for a long time on eBay and, IIRC, he eventually sold it to someone from Japan. So, it's not an impossible $ figure that intermuzika is asking.

 

[Groovekiller]

Even if 3 are available at one time, they are rare. The last one tends to abuse the term "mint." It's in great shape for 80 years old, but lets reserve that rating for something unusually clean.

 

[tictactux]

The last one tends to abuse the term "mint."

I've seen that term translated into French as "en condition menthe"

 

[pete]

Even if 3 are available at one time, they are rare. The last one tends to abuse the term "mint." It's in great shape for 80 years old, but lets reserve that rating for something unusually clean.

Of course, I'm being mildly sarcastic . I know that they're rare -- and you've got one of the rarest, Groove.

My definition of "mint" is "showroom new" or "completely overhauled, replated and re-engraved". "Mint" is NOT 10% finish wear or bad pads.

I could show you interesting pictures of horns that look like they've been abused for years and the owners call them "mint". I get so many amusing e-mails ....

 

[Helen]

Getting this thread back on topic here boys... ....

How's your Reiffel and Husted slider now Randy? I assume it's all finished up. Have you managed to get a handle on it enough that we might see a a YouTube video?

I'll be curious to see how much this one sells for...If it indeed does. I guess it all depends on what the seller has in his mind with regards to the lowest price he'll entertain. The Swanee that was on eBay last fall sold for around $1200, and it was in just as nice a condition. It had its original case, and the original directions as well.

Does anyone here know if the Reiffel and Husted were built "better", and by better I mean more sturdy, and more aimed at musicians. Comparing photos of the 2 kinds of slide saxophones, it looks to me like the Swanee was more a novelty-type instrument, while the R&H might have actually been built more for serious musicians.

Oh and while I'm in the question asking mode... What other companies built slide saxes?

 

[pete]

I'll be curious to see how much this one sells for...If it indeed does. I guess it all depends on what the seller has in his mind with regards to the lowest price he'll entertain. The Swanee that was on eBay last fall sold for around $1200, and it was in just as nice a condition. It had its original case, and the original directions as well.

Does anyone here know if the Reiffel and Husted were built "better", and by better I mean more sturdy, and more aimed at musicians. Comparing photos of the 2 kinds of slide saxophones, it looks to me like the Swanee was more a novelty-type instrument, while the R&H might have actually been built more for serious musicians.

Oh and while I'm in the question asking mode... What other companies built slide saxes?

I mentioned in another thread that most slide saxophones I've seen sold sell in the neighborhood of $2K.

There were a number of companies that made slide saxophones. Probably the most common ones -- if one could call them common -- were the Swanee and the R&H, but there are some from Couesnon (IIRC) and there's an extremely rare one that looks like a French horn.

I'll try to remember to look at my Paul Cohen Topical Index, later on. I think he did at least three articles on slide saxophones for The Saxophone Journal.

 

[pete]

The articles are:

July/August 1994
Sept/Oct 1994
Jan/Feb 1995 (that's the one about the circular slide alto)

In the July/Aug 1994 issue, there is mention that the Reiffel & Husted folks approached Lyon & Healy to make the horns. I'd have to find my copy of that issue to tell you more.

I nailed the number of articles, tho .

 

[Groovekiller]

When I bought my slide, I didn't know the value. Mine needed a lot of work, and the slide handle ring was missing, so the one up for sale now is worth much more.

The National Music Museum in South Dakota once claimed that their Reiffel & Husted slide saxophone was "the only one that has survived" but since I personally know of five of them, even museums can be wrong.

I did get the slide sax working well, and I plan a video, hopefully soon. The biggest advantage of the Reiffel & Husted slide sax is its all metal construction. There is no rubber gasket to leak to deteriorate.

There are at least 4 or 5 varieties of slide saxes. One even has keys operated by a slide. The Paul Cohen slide sax article is good (Saxophone Journal, July/August & September/October 1994). What issue has the 3rd article, Pete?

 

[Helen]

Thanks for the lead on the slide sax articles Pete & Randy. Thanks also for the update on your project Randy. I'm looking forward to the video.

 

[pete]

What issue has the 3rd article, Pete?

I listed three articles, Groove . I'll look at them in a moment.

BTB, I completely agree with you that there are quite a few of the R&H slide saxophones around. I think that one of the problems some researchers have in trying to find them is that they don't check TOY collectors. They definitely should.