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Engraving detail on the second Balanced Action alto ever made, and the first one sent to America, meaning it is the first “American Engraved” BA alto. Nice steamship, cool spider! I have not seen those before I don’t think. There are also a few other oddities about this horn that I will cover in detail once the overhaul is done.

A 1937 Conn 30M that arrived here in two two different boxes will leave in one! This tenor arrived to me as something I had purchased very cheaply on a bit of a lark. It had been disassembled since the ’80s, was probably refinished, and it was not completely certain that all the parts were there. I was hopeful that there would be enough there for me to make a saxophone, and upon opening the boxes and laying everything out, it was clear I had gotten lucky. All the major parts were there. There were many smaller things that were missing, and ​I did have to break the seal on several sacred secret and holy places in my parts collection- several Perm-Adjust adjustment feet, the special fat 26M/30M rollers that are NOT the same as 6M/10M (and even those are super hard to come by), the weird octave neck screws, tons of tiny 1-64 lock screws, a thumb pearl, pivot screws, a neck screw, a replacement neck tenon and receiver (compliments of Musical Fabrication/Matt Slauson). And then dent ​work, and so much cleaning. I think I probably got a cubic inch of red rouge alone off of this thing, to say nothing of the regular grime. And these are challenging horns to work on when they are in excellent condition! This horn ended up being two full ​weeks of work, and then a bit more I lost track of. All in all, I broke even. Which is somewhat of a miracle! And I got what I wanted- a horn that probably needed to get very lucky to get put back in circulation for the long-term, me being almost ready for the job at this point in my career, the luck to actually acquire it cheap enough that I could put the work it needed into it, and the right long-term customer to buy it who was willing and excited to let me do my thing. I​ love that I get to work on such special instruments- whether they are extremely rare or mint condition or collectible or have some sort of special heritage, or a workhorse like this one that found its way back to the sunlight. Time to make music again.

This is a reference library for pad set sizes for padmaking. This library is a work in progress. Pad sizes can vary between individual instruments of the same model, especially across serial number ranges, and of course variations from one to the next as a result of damage or even just variation at the factory is common. Note: not all sets here include octave pad sizes. Use these as a starting point and always verify against the actual instrument. Hopefully if you are making your pads yourself, the pads themselves will be the correct sizes, but note that if you are buying pads elsewhere even if your pad set measurements are correct you will likely find variance in the pad sizes you receive.

Not one but TWO rare Conn 18M “stretch” sopranos, both in rare finishes! One in gold plate, one in nickel. I will let you decide which one is cooler. The Conn 18M was one of the outputs of the Conn Experimental Laboratory around the same time as the Conn-O-Sax and the F Mezzo-Soprano. The stretch was supposed to be part of Conn’s 1920s major upgrades across the saxophone spectrum, but ended up being part of their failed/abandoned cadre of great but weird horns that include the F-mezzo and Conn-O-Sax. They were made starting in 1928 and quietly and quickly faded out- probably within two years, although as is the case with other horns that fail to sell they trickled out over time long after they ceased production. The “stretch” was as it sounds: longer and skinnier than a normal soprano, with a redesigned bore and scale and keywork aimed at improving both tone and intonation and facility- something they very much achieved, IF you have the right mouthpiece.

Lookup Submit Specs This is a reference library of original factory screw and rod thread specifications for vintage saxophones. Having the correct thread pitch is essential when making replacement screws or sourcing parts for repairs and restorations. This library is a work in progress. I am collecting and verifying data as I research original specifications.

This is a saxophone serial number lookup tool. Select your manufacturer and enter the serial and get the year it was made. Note: Not all serial number lists are accurate, but we do the best we can. If you see an error, let me know. Manufacturer Select a manufacturer... Serial Number Look Up Year Data from Stohrer Sax Shop Companion Sources # Serial number data has been compiled and cross-referenced from multiple sources including:

NOTE: THIS IS VERY ROUGH AND I WILL CLEAN THIS UP SOON -matt january 2026 This is a reference library of saxophone key heights. Some are from original factory setups, some are heights I have come to prefer that have other provenance. This is not instructions to use these heights for a guaranteed good time- you have to use your ear for that! But hopefully you will find them useful.

I have (with the major help of Claude Code) completely rewritten this site for the static site generator Hugo, and moved hosting. These two changes are major, but completely under the hood. What you should notice is that the site is now much, much faster and hopefully shows up better in searches for sax info. I have added a “new gallery” as well, with images from the past several years.

New gallery started in January 2026 alongside a major website rebuild. Click any image to enlarge.

It has been a great year! Very full. I just updated the Index, and there are now 274 videos and articles in there, which is kind of a breathtaking number. I cannot believe I have made that much saxophone content- and that there is still so much more to explore! Last year, in July 2024, on a road trip with our home-built camper, I visited the Greenleaf Collection at Interlochen Center for the Arts. I met Eileen Ganter, the wonderful person who runs the place. This led to go back in October and working with them to get the collection organized, connect them with repairers, and get things moving there again after many years of stagnation. I got to meet the children of Leland Greenleaf, who remember playing in the Conn factory and watching the Stenberg brothers engrave. The brothers would give them hard candy if they were quiet.

Some of the first pads I made. This guide is based on the method generously taught to me by Phil Noy over about 6 months starting in late 2024. We both believe that knowledge like this belongs to all of us, and that by having it out in the open, the saxophone benefits. Phil’s saxophone pad making method is elegant because you only need one tool: a laser cutter. With this tool you make your pad die holder, your pad dies, and cut all of your materials. It is a brilliant solution to the problem, and combined with the “Stohrer Sax Shop Companion” program I made using a chatbot, the process is both streamlined and accessible while producing a very high quality pad with a total shop footprint of about 3 feet by 3 feet. Startup costs- including the laser cutter, software, acrylic sheet for the dies, and a heap of leather, felt, and card stock- are about $2500 (as of 2025) to produce about $2500 in pads- though of course it takes time to make them. Once the initial investment is made, pads are thereafter quite cheap to make- around 25 cents to 3 dollars apiece depending on size, and you have total control over the end product and will always have pads you like regardless of backorders or government whimsy.

Couesnon Monopole II low A alto, original finish, just overhauled by me. The “other” low A alto, and keyed to high G. Plays fantastic, supremely even and in tune, and low Bb sounds like a regular low Bb (unlike Selmer low As, oftentimes). Low A also works with one key, and not at the expense of adding low A once low Bb is already engaged, which is the typical tradeoff with Selmers.

Note from Matt: Shortly after I posted the JJ Babbitt stuff, I got an email from Paul Coats (formerly of SaxRax, also Runyon, SOTW columnist, and generally a saxophone guy going way back) where he laid out an enormous volume of interesting information from his days at Runyon mouthpieces. Steve Goodson had linked him to my video, and Paul then graciously shared what is obviously only a small portion of his saxophone knowledge with me, and even more graciously has allowed me to reprint it here.

In the early 1920s, Conn made saxophone pads with a lead foil interior backing to the pad skin. Some of them were marked “Conn-Foil” on the pad, some were not. Some were white with or without a center stitch (no resonator), some were tan with no stitch and no resonator. When handling an original pads Conn saxophone from that era, it is a good idea to handle it carefully until you know for sure- that lead foil has often oxidized and turned to dust, and the pads themselves are often dry rotted. I wear a mask and handle them with gloves whenever I come across them, and continue to wear the mask and gloves until the pads are removed and safely disposed of and the saxophone has been thoroughly cleaned.

J.J. Babbitt in Elkhart Indiana is one of (the?) world’s oldest and largest mouthpiece makers, and they make Otto Link and Meyer mouthpieces, among many, many others. In July 2024, my family and I took a 3000+ mile road trip, and along the way we drove through Elkhart. Unexpectedly, thanks to Ryan Lillywhite at Conn-Selmer who saw my Facebook photo of my car and our home-built camper in front of the Selmer building, I was able to tour both Conn-Selmer and the J.J. Babbitt factory. The new owner of J.J. Babbitt, Steve Rorie, graciously took over an hour out of his day to show me around.

(full description coming soon, price includes overhaul/restoration) Price: $2800 Contact me to purchase or inquire about this horn.

SOLD Early SML alto with left hand bell keys, says “Le Strama” on the bell. Looks nearly exactly like the horn they used to make the early “Coleman Hawkins Special” alto- I say nearly exactly because I cannot be certain it is exactly the same, but I do not see any differences myself. These horns are somewhat challenging to work on, but they are some of the only saxophones I have encountered that can even be considered in the same league as a Conn New Wonder I or II for fatness of tone, while also having a certain “French” color to the sound. Super fun to play.

This is a gorgeous Conn New Wonder series II transitional alto saxophone in an extremely rare finish: burnished gold plate. The engraving is the art-deco style, heavily elaborated for the burnished finish. Only a few of these probably exist; I know of two of them and this is the only one I have overhauled myself. It turned out beautifully. It was a powerful player as you might expect from a Conn of this era, but it also had an incredibly cheerful and nimble alto sound that was unique in my experience with Conns. All it all, it is one of the best altos I have ever played- very hard to put down, and I was genuinely sad to see it go when I was done with it! What a fantastic horn.

My personal alto is a King Zephyr Special, and these horns have a special place in my heart. The craftsmanship is outstanding, the tone is unparalleled, and they are drop-dead gorgeous horns. They play much like a Super 20, but darker. I find the intonation to be particularly excellent, and the sort of zing to the tone that King aficianados seek out is present in abundance. Typically, King Zephyr Specials are in lacquer, rarely in silver, and only a very few of them were gold plated. I have been lucky enough that this is my second gold plated Zephyr Special to come through the shop, and I actually have a third one scheduled for later this year! I would not be surprised if there were less than a couple dozen of them ever made, but I don’t really have any idea.

I have finally overhauled my websites and combined them, and now all of my content lives here in a much simpler format. I prioritized ease of use, quick load times, and a simple design that was inspired by early internet. Still using Wordpress as a site builder, after a dalliance with a simpler but less user-friendly (as far as administration) format called Hugo. This website redesign is now pretty much complete as of this posting. There is even a new logo, adapted from the old Open Source Saxophone Project. Last thing to happen on the backend is migrating to a faster server in the next couple weeks. My website is so old it has been operating on actual hard drives vs. SSDs, and that will change.

The open source saxophone project ended up being mostly me doing it (although I had some fantastic help with the pivot screw stuff) and it seemed dumb and felt like extra work maintaining two different websites. So I have added everything that was once on the Open Source Saxophone Project to this website, under Sax Repair Info –> Articles and Info. They have their original publishing dates, so most of them are pretty far back (around 2015ish).

Well, when I was building a repair shop out of a 31 foot Airstream trailer, I have to admit I did not think of contrabass saxophones. I can comfortably work on everything up to baritone without any issues, and even basses are accounted for by moving my torch holder a foot to the right. Dentwork is possible thanks to a rotating and height adjustable vise stand with carefully considered placement. But the contrabass saxophone is 6 feet, 2 inches tall, weighs close to 50 pounds, and was a challenge to work on in the space. I could do regular work on my secondary bench, which is deep enough and long enough. But dentwork was a non-starter, not just because the metal on this instrument was incredibly thick and resilient, but because it literally wouldn’t fit in my work space.

Originally written in 2014. I still use basically this same toolset as my take-home tools, but I need to update this article. Working from home. Regular workshop (Airstream) visible out the window. Even though I work in a workshop about 50 feet from my front door, sometimes I work from a backup bench in my house- in inclement weather, or perhaps I am feeling lazy. I have an old toolbox where I keep my most-used tools, and over time I have honed it into a fairly complete set of what can get me through 90% or so of my work- once dentwork and cleaning has been taken care of, anyhow. In the event that you find it interesting to know, check through the photos below to see what my personal toolbox contains.

On the bench this week is an extremely rare original burnished gold plate Selmer Super Action tenor from 1953/54. Amazingly, this horn spent most of its life nearby to my shop in semi-rural North Carolina, being owned by a player in Hillsborough who had ties to a local music store here. This history makes sense, as it was both extensively played and well-cared for. It had a lot of miles, but it was loved.

First things first: I continue to be extremely lucky and am booked for the foreseeable future. I am not currently accepting new clients, and I will post a news item if that changes. Well gosh darn that was a hell of a year, or hundred years, or whatever that was. My wrist is mostly healed (still a few more months to go before my last follow-up) and functionality is quite acceptable, I am vaccinated, my kids are getting vaccinated in a few days, I’ve signed another long lease at my current home/workshop- it feels like a new chapter.

SOLD This saxophone (and another like it that I didn’t even have a chance to post to the site) sold in August of 2021. If you are interested in acquiring one like it, let me know. I enjoy putting good 6Ms into player’s hands. (Original description below) This is a ready to play 1933 Conn 6M Transitional alto saxophone in very clean original condition, with original lacquer (one of the first lacquer horns Conn sold!) at about 98%. This has been my personal horn recently, but unfortunately medical expenses mean I need to sell. I performed a full mechanical overhaul on this a few years ago with flat metal resonators, and I recently did a very thorough clean-oil-adjust, and it has been taken care of very well. It also comes with its original case in exceptionally fine condition- so nice you can definitely use the original case as your daily case for this horn- and also the original neckstrap and Conn pad measuring tool. It is a fantastic alto that plays with crisp and instant response and a warm, round tone that is ready to play for many years out of the case.

Yanagisawa 990 with black lacquer and the sterling/gold plated neck. I spent a lot of time on minor but evenly distributed key fitting and adjustment material upgrades during this overhaul and I am especially pleased with the feel of the action. Absolutely quiet, snappy, light, obscenely quick and comfortable. A joy to play.

On the bench. 1967 Selmer Mark VI tenor, original lacquer, fresh overhaul done by me. I was about 80% through this when I shattered my wrist. Done! This was for a client who I first met in my early days in New York City about 15 years ago. I have had a few of those in a row recently, and it has been nice to reconnect.

March 5th, 2021- Just short of 6 weeks after my wrist surgery. I am a little slow, a little limited, but I am making a start. Been working my P.T. hard and nearly constantly.

I have been encouraged to move my wrist if I can, and I am taking that to heart. I learned to reface mouthpieces a long time ago, and I am dusting off the old memory banks and polishing up my skills, since most of it is done with the right hand.