#Conn pan american alto saxophone cracked
#Conn pan american alto saxophone professional

The lacquer looks to be original, though I find it harder to tell with Pan-Americans since they sprayed it over the engraving a lot of the time. Physically, the horn has seen a good bit of use and has the scratches and dings to prove it, but it has no major damage, the neck is in good shape, the keywork is tight, and its ready to play reliably for years out of the box.

#Conn pan american alto saxophone cracked

The overhaul was done with black kangaroo skin pads and domed resonators, the key heights are correct (12Ms like fairly open key heights) and even the neck tenon receiver has been replaced with a very well done custom replacement- which is amazing and excellent because those neck receivers are a major pain point, almost always leaking or cracked and not easy to replace well and impossible to replace cheap. A well overhauled vintage baritone in good shape without any gremlins hiding around the corner, and although it has the 12M body tube AND is keyed to high F, because it is a Pan-American (Conn’s second line brand) it is cheap, baritonely speaking. More about stencil saxophones can be found in an excellent article on Cybersax.ĭo you own a stencil saxophone or Conn of this early date? Do you play them live? As always please let me know by commenting on this post.Well here’s something of a unicorn.

Ease of Fingering – Unbalanced, no pearls.

Ease of Blowing – A bit rough in the middle.

Place of Manufacture – Elkhart, Indiana, USA.However, having played it for this review I have no doubt that I will be taking it out to a few jam sessions in future.

Not least because I have many other – arguably better – altos to choose from. I must admit I haven’t played this sax much over the years. As always I got my excellent local saxophone technician to replace the pads, felts and cork.Īs always I’ve included a video clip so you can hear what this horn sounds like being played. I notice no difference without rolled tone holes – in fact this horn would last a lot longer if played for hours every day. In fact the over all sound is clear and crisp, with nice sub-octave undertones you’d expect from a Conn. The keys are much less balanced than on a more modern horn, but they stand up well to comparison with the other altos I have from around this date. However it plays reasonably in tune across both registers. It’s a little bit rough when blowing, especially around the G on the bottom octave. Conn moved the keys to the left with the 6M and even kept them there with the 28M Connstellation, when Selmer had moved them to the right. By design it is a ‘clapper’ with the bottom keys on both left and right of the instrument. The key tops don’t have pearls and there is no top G# of course. Although this has worn off in places, it hasn’t got the nasty reddish-brown rust that appears on some of the Conn horns of the 1950s. It is made of good quality brass and is finished in gold lacquer.

#Conn pan american alto saxophone professional

It doesn’t have the microtuner neck: nor does it have the rolled tone holes of the professional Conn branded saxes of the day (although interestingly it does have the ‘Patd 1119954’ patent stamp which refers to them according to saxpics). The company continued supplying to the military after the Colonel lost all financial interest in the company in 1915. In fact Colonel Conn entered the US Senate and passed a bill ensuring that every unit of the American military had its own band (to which of course his company provided many of the instruments). Therefore, although referred to as a ‘stencil’ this is really just a different (cheaper) brand, as Squire is to Fender in the current guitar market.Ĭonn had very big vested interest in marching band instruments and used the three marching men as a logo. In this case the ‘Pan-American Band Instrument and Case Company’ etched on the bell of this alto was, I believe, a wholly owned subsidiary of Conn itself. I’ve always been confused by descriptions such as OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) in the computer industry and ‘stencil’ in the musical instrument industry, because they ought to describe instruments made for one company by another and yet often are used to refer to something else. It was a truly great find – a classic horn, made by Conn in 1920. He bought it and brought it back from the States and into work on the following Monday. He mentioned the Pan-American alto, so I asked him about the condition. He was in one of my favourite ‘savings and loan’ shops and ran through the saxophones they had.

My friend Chris Ingle was travelling on business in San José and gave me a call on a Saturday afternoon.