Fitting a Martin Committee (“The Martin”) Neck

Martin Committee saxophones pose a special challenge for neck fitting because of the teardrop hanging down in the way of the tenon. This, combined with the thickness of the tenon itself, make for a neck that can only be adjusted in one particular way. This is not a difficult job, but it is one that …

Read more

Original Selmer (Paris) saxophone spring set from the 1920s

This is about as hard core as saxophone geekiness gets. If you had been the owner of a Selmer curved soprano about 90 years ago and you wanted a spring set, this is what you would have gotten in the mail- it would have cost you $2.15, and it would have cost 12 cents to …

Read more

Gold-Plated Martin Handcraft Baritone Saxophone (High F)

SOLD   This is a gold-plated 1928 Martin Handcraft baritone saxophone, keyed from low Bb to high F, recently overhauled with reso-tech reusable brass dome resonators. It plays very well, with a rich, dark and powerful tone. The horn itself is in excellent physical condition (especially for a baritone) and the overhaul work done (Mike …

Read more

Stohrer Music News, #1

Hello!  So here we are.  New website, new products, new location, new email, new phone number.  Find my contact info in the contact section, find my repair information in the repair services section, read about me and my philosophies in the about and philosophy sections respectively.   This website, as you can probably tell, is …

Read more

Selmer Mark VI Soprano: American Engraving, Silver Plate

You just don’t see these every day. I am in the mid­dle of clean­ing up this horn, and the sil­ver plate is so bright and thick that if I hadn’t seen it tar­nished and cleaned it up myself I’d won­der if it was excep­tion­ally classy nickel plate. Beau­ti­ful and rare exam­ple of a Mark VI soprano.  

Why Cheap Saxophones Are Cheap

Curt Altarac, a fel­low sax­o­phone repair spe­cial­ist here in North Car­olina put together a great arti­cle at MusicMedic.com based on the expe­ri­ence of one of his appren­tices fit­ting the keys (aka rebuild­ing the mechan­ics) of a cheap East Asian import sax. Any of you who are repair­men read­ing this are imme­di­ately get­ting clammy, and per­haps …

Read more

The Plastic Saxophone

A com­pany based in Thai­land has made a plas­tic sax­o­phone, called the Vibrato. had a chance to test out a Vibrato model A1S and take a look at the mechan­ics from a sax­o­phone repairman’s point of view. (Click on any photo for a high res­o­lu­tion version) In the way­back times, an Eng­lish com­pany made an acrylic sax­o­phone aimed at …

Read more

The Original Mark VI Booklets In Their Entirety

I love orig­i­nal lit­er­a­ture, be it ads or book­lets or price lists, and I col­lect them as I come across them. Here are some high-quality scans of the book­lets that would have come with your new Selmer Mark VI sax­o­phone.   Click on any image for a high resolution version.