For some brands “Vintage” starts as early as 1914 or as late as 1918. Why does “Vintage” start with 1915 and end with 1975?Īdmittedly, those dates are a little arbitrary. They don’t actually go together as well as you might think. When asked why he doesn’t go to Hollywood instead, he says, “I don’t want to do it the easy way.” That’s right up there with the old joke about the guy trying to break into the movies in Hoboken, Pennsylvania. Occasionally I run into someone who doesn’t play saxophone and wants to learn but thinks it would be cool to learn on a vintage horn.
You’ll also find our article Shopping for C Melody Saxes helpful. If you’re looking for a used C Melody, you may find this article helpful, since most C Melodies - even those being made today - are based on early-20th-century designs. To start there, please jump to our Evaluating Used Saxophones article. If you want to learn saxophone and you don’t want to buy a new one (I don’t blame you), consider looking at “modern” saxophones, which started being made in the mid-1970s, and many of which can be made playable without a herculean effort. That said, you probably don’t have any business buying a vintage saxophone (roughly 1915-1975) unless you already play saxophone and have some idea what you’re getting into. And many surviving recordings of swing, jazz, rock, and even orchestral saxophones recorded before 1960 were made with those same horns. Think about this - before 1975 all saxophone players “cut their teeth” on saxes that were based on pre-1920 designs. Frankly they made things better in those days.Īs a saxophone player who knows something about playing, teaching, and maintaining saxophones, I would rather see a child start out on a properly restored quality vintage horn than the $200-500 “instructor-approved” junk coming out of China today. What’s more, almost all 1914-1963 vintage horns could be restored to playability, if all the pieces are still there and they haven’t suffered catastropohic damage. Nearly all American, European, and even Japanese saxophones made before 1980 are more solid than the average saxophone coming out of China today. I love vintage saxophones that have been lovingly restored to playability, if not to their original patina.
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