I'm a music student in pretty desperate need of a good tenor sax! my current instrument is in really bad shape so my options are to A. Spend several thousand on a new (or well-kept second hand) pro or semi pro sax, or B. spend $1300 fixing my old one.
The problem is I don't know what kind of sax I've got! It's a Weltklang, silver plated and VERY old school (probably made about 50 years ago the repair guy who gave me the above quote thought) and the registration number is 6205.
I've heard good things about Weltklangs in general so if this was a pro-level sax in it's day then repairing it is probably a better option, and if not then I need to look at getting a new one because repairing it still won't give me a good sax.
So any ideas? Can anyone tell me more about this mystery sax?
I believe these are made in eastern Europe, possibly Czech Republic, and are related to the Amati Kraslice family. They are generally considered a mid-level horn. They may have had some family relationship with Keilwerths at one time (not Julius Keilwerth but one of his brothers) which may be detectable in the keyworks and other features, such as rolled tone holes.
My reaction is that a repair estimate of $1300 is sort of outrageous, unless there is a massive amount of body work to be done or parts to be fabricated. And if that is the case, it is certainly not worth it for this horn. Try taking it to another repair tech, preferably one who specializes in saxophones.
If you have to replace the instrument, you ought to try to find a good used pro-quality horn such as a Couf Superba 1, Yani or Yamaha. If you are buying off of eBay, you should assume that you will need to spend a few hundred bucks getting it into top playing condition, but you will still come out way ahead compared to buying a new horn.
Cheers! looking at getting a used Yamaha 64 now for a good price so pressure's off, thanks for helping me clarify that (the repair guy told me to replace it too so he wasn't a complete ripp-off artist)
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