Conn 30M rescue!

Mon, 20 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

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.

Some interesting Selmer Balanced Action engraving

Mon, 20 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

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.

Posts on Stohrer Music

Conn 30M rescue!

Some interesting Selmer Balanced Action engraving