Conn New Wonder Series I Alto Project

Hello, Here are some pictures of my Conn New Wonder Series I alto saxophone. I bought half of it, and my Mother, lovingly, paid for the other half. I was going to completely restore it myself, but I had only been able to replace a few pads, and then polish it.

Now I am extensively polishing it, and I am going to run a glass bead blast over the body, to restore the satin texture. This is a long, and frustrating process. But it is fun, once the final result is achieved.

When it was playing, it sounded amazing. I took it to a few Basketball games at the highschool, to play with the band, and I did some improvising during half time behind the bleachers, with my friend Melvin. He was playing bass. We were mostly playing Funk, and some Marcus Miller tunes, which excuse me, but kicked A**! The Principle even came up to tell us we sounded great, and we were not even playing for anyone. I loved the sound, it was perfect, it was darkish, and soprano like on the higher notes, and sounded fat, and perfect. I loved it. Now, I am mostly polishing it. It looks horrible at the moment, with the scratches, and I am currently getting rid of the gunk in hard places. I am going to have it the sam as my tenor, and Repad it with Roo Pads with airtight brass, Noyek Star, gold plated resonators. I don't know if I want to use shellac, or hot glue yet. I have had better results with hot glue, so far.

I am going to have to replate the gold inside of the bell. It is very faded, and barely noticeable. It is a great saxophone, but just needs restoration. I am hoping to buy a Glass Bead Blaster when I am done working on my car, or possibly during, so that I may use it for my car as well. I just need MONEY! But that requires work, and work is not always fun, but it is required, if you want to have things. I will be taking more orders, and flipping more hamburgers to pay for this, but I can do it. The sax was completely black when I purchased it off of ebay for only $220. What a frickin steal. Really, a sax that great, for $3000 less than a brand new Selmer? Even with paying someone else for the restoration, I would save a few thousand dollars. I am wanting to do the work on this horn, because my mother bought it for me, because I wanted to fix it, and play it. I really love her, and I will never sell this horn.

Here are some pictures below, of the polished areas. I have the majority of tarnish removed from the keys, but I have to go over it with jeweler's rouge, to remove the scratches. I will also need to do some minor replating, or I may have Doc do that to some of the keys. even though some of the wear is very unnoticeable, I want it to look like it came out of the Conn Factory.

I have a case for it, which I am also restoring, and my mother wants to redo it. It will look fantastic. The case, though, did not come with the sax, but came with a parts horn, and it is in good condition, on the exterior, but needs to be redone, as well as the interior of the case.

I am leaving the horn as original as possible, except for one thing, and that is the thumbrest. I am leaving it Conn, but I am replacing it with the thumbrest off of a Conn New Wonder Series II parts horn, and I am going to have it silver plated, and soldered on by Doc.

Here are the pics, please enjoy.

Farewell my friend.

Hello everyone.

Well, yesterday, I found out that my teacher is moving to Mississippi with his family. He has a new job down there. I am really going to miss him. He was my saxophone teacher, for three years, possibly more, I cannot really remember at the moment. He is a great guy, and extremely talented. He is mainly a classical player, but also a fantastic jazz player.

We used to have lessons every week. I have learned a great deal from him, and wish that I could continue to take lessons, but it is not possible, until we have teleportation. Joking. I would walk to his house every week, and take lessons. He only lived right down the street.

We are good friends, and will continue to talk to each other probably, until I die. David was the man who introduced me to Conn saxophones, and I am glad I met him. If it was not for him, I would be playing a Mark VI, and probably have no knowledge of Conn saxophones. I probably would not even be playing at all.

The first TRUE saxophone, I ever played, was his Conn Transitional Tenor. I came to my first lesson with a Bundy II Tenor, that was in horrible shape (I now know, Lol), and he pointed out all of the flaws, and I began to learn with what a real saxophone was. I could never afford a true Conn until recently because I had school horns, and my parents did not yet want to buy one.

When I played his Conn, (He only let me do it once when he was pointing out the damage on the bundy), it was the best sax I ever played. I still believe that, and I have played a lot of saxophones since then. I could not believe that someone could have something around eighty years old that looked, and sounded so beautiful. It was amazing, and since then, I wanted a Conn. He later sold me a Conn 25M Alto, which was my first sax, and I loved it. But when I moved to PA, I sold it out of stupidity wanting a tenor. I wish that I could have it back.

I would always love to listen to David play his Conns during a lesson, showing me how to play something the right way, or playing a duet.. I would love to look at them, and even more, the sound. I will forever more play a Conn, and I hope God lets me bring mine to heaven, (wink wink). I had a grand time getting lessons, and I have so much more knowledge thanks to him. I hope to play gigs with David in the future, and I am glad, I have had such a great friend.

Playing saxophone is fun, and enjoyable, and one of my great talents, that I hope to will continue to grow. Thanks a lot David for everything, and I wish you luck in your new job.

-Your Friend Ian

New Pictures of My Conn Tenor Restoration

I got my pictures! Note that these are not silver plated, (as obvious), but they are sandblasted, which comes before the silver plating. Then the bell will be gold plated. I almost want it to stay like this, looking so beautiful, but, I know what is coming. The bottom pics are the ones where the sax is sandblasted. The upper pics are the horn stripped and polished. I was so happy to get these pics from Doc. I can't wait to get the frickin horn! Lol! I can tell Doctor Frazier is very serious about his work, to take this much quality and time on a project. If you look closely at the pictures, the texture looks pretty original to that as it would have looked in 1929, when it was manufactured. Unbelievable! Usually when Conns are replated with satin silver, time is not usually spent masking up the engraving, to look original, but this has been done properly. The pads will be white (with kangaroo leather), as the possibly, could have been when first when manufactured (but some were lamb skin), or Conn Res-O-Pads (more than likely what was original), but if they were white, the only difference is going to be the gold plated resonators, which I believe have a better tone than the plain riveted ones. The dents, (although barely noticeable), that I thought would be impossible to remove because of the way they occured, are nonexistent. As Quinn-The-Eskimo says: "The Pictures tell the rest of the story."

--- Here is the front view of the horn, completely sripped and polished, along with one necessary solder, and minor dent removal. ---

--- Here is the rear view of the horn. ---

--- Pictured is the player's left side of the horn.---

--- The right side of the horn. ---

--- The bow. ---

--- The engraving, stripped of lacquer. ---

--- The masterpiece-THE engraving. (sandblasted). ---

--- The right side of THE engraving. (sandblasted). ---

--- The left side of THE engraving. (sandblasted). ---

I spent so much time at McDonalds, working, to buy the horn, and even more to pay for the work, but I did it, and it feels fantastic, and I cannot wait to get this Axe back. I am glad that I did not die during that accident, because I sure would be pissed off to miss something like this! ;-) Lol!

I just need a name for her.... Please leave a comment

-Ian

http://www.jandjwoodwinds.com/

The Conn New Wonder Transitional, with Pics.

Hello. Here is some ingormation on the Conn Transitional Saxophone, and my Conn Transitional Saxophone tha was Restored by J & J Woodwinds. (http://www.jandjwoodwinds.com/)
These all pictures of my Conn Tenor, disassembled, ready to be stripped, and ready to be replated. Above is a Picture of the exact same model tenor that I own from 1929. Also listed is a soprano of the same model.

Here is a Picture of he body awaiting Spring Measurements, and awaiting dent removal, and stripping, etc.

Here are the Keys Removed from the Saxophone, awaiting to hve the pads measured for new ones, and be stripped to be silver plated.

Here is a Picture of the Bow.

I worked at McDonalds for quite a while to be able to afford it, and it was well worh it. I love this thing to death, and I would kill for it. (Well, maybe not really, but instead metaphorically speaking, of course). here are pictures that I recieved from Sherry Huntley, who Re-Engraved the Pattern. (http://www.artisticengraving.com/).

The sound of this saxophone, if I could describe it in my own opinion, is absolutely Gorgeous-there are not enough words to describe the beauty of the sound, that comes from it.

This is a Rare Transitional Saxophone. It was originally Silver plated, and then stripped, and then Lacquered. This could have taken place anywhere between Ten years ago, and in the nineteen thirties, but jusdging by how the lacquer used to look, (note that is was recently silver plated like it was originally in the factory), I would say it was relacquered in the Fifties. The pads, which were originally Conn Res-O-Pads, were around fifty years old, which around that time, is when they stopped making the reso pads, which leads m eot believe it was probably the late 1940's, or early 1950's. I will be having ROO PADS, installed on it, which are sold and made, only by Music Medic, (http://www.musicmedic.com/), which will havve Gold plated Noyek Resonators, that are airtight. They do not stick (the pads), and reduce sound (when hitting the tonehole), when playing. This can often be heard during recordings, and does not sound nice.

Picture of a Conn Res-O-Pad

Here is a Picture of the a Roo Pads, which is the Kind tha t I am having overhauled on my Tenor.

This sax was made in 1929, which is when the Series II was given the Curved High "E" Side Key, and featured different engraving styles. Because my sax was relacquered, and the engraving was faded, I had Sherry Huntley Re-Engrave the original pattern, to look like it did in the Conn Factory, when it was first manufactured. This engraving style was also featured on some non transitional saxophones, butmainly the Conn Series II tenors. This engraving started around late 1928, and is very similar to the main engraving on the majority of that found on the Series II. During this time period, (Late 1928, and early 1929), not all of the saxophones had the Later designe engraving, whereas there are Transitionals, with the Type 1 Series II Engraving. After the 235,XXX Series, the Art Deco engraving was started. (See PicturesBelow).

*This is The First Series II engraving found on most Series II's. (compare with my engraving above, and there are a few noticeable differences, although they possess the same basis).*

*Here is the Art Deco engraving found on The Transitionals after 235,XXX)*

There have been rumors of minor changes in the Bore on the Transitional series (which is the technical name, note that all saxophones had there own letter and number name, ex: 10M tenor, 6M Alto), but because these Instruments were manufactured so long ago, the records have been lost. The reason this is said, is that many people believe the Transitionals possess a fatter and very-slightly darker tone. I believe this to be true in comparing the Transitional and the Series II, but hat is ownly my opinion, and no Two saxophones are exactly alike, and have exact measurements. There will always be very minor differences in sizes of the tone holes, and in the bow and bore on the same sax, even if they are one serial number apart.

Here are pictures of the Neck that is replated. I am awaiting more pictures, an I will keep it updated as often as possible. The satin silver looks absolutely fantastic, and is how it was originally manufactured. When it was manufactured, the body was Silver plated, leaving the trim shiny, but what I mean, by being left shiny, is the body was Sandblased for a satin Finish, that looked amazing, and still would, if left original. The keys were left Shiny Sivler, and the Bell was Gold burnished. There were different options availble for the finish, but mine was in Satin silver, and I know because if it was Satin goldplated [originally], or burnished gold plated, [originally], there would be a different engraving style. well ehre are the pictures of the Neck, and there are many more to be coming soon.

* The Images next to an Asterisk, are NOT MINE, and belong to http://www.saxpics.com/.