As a new (re-incarnated) Clarinet player, I have become a fan of the Mazzeo Clarinets.
I purchased a set of Mazzeo A/Bb Series 10 horns on EBay (not sure if the A horn will see much action)
wonderful horns, but did need to acquire a shorter barrell to play in tune.
When I saw a Signet Mazzeo on EBay I was interested as it was listed with a low starting bid and after only one other bidder, and I purchased it for ~$140.00. After some back and forth I learned that the seller had acquired it from a great uncle who purchased it new, and the seller had it checked out by a tech and played it for a few years in school in the 90's.
I sent some pictures of the mechanism on the Series 10 to the buyer (it's a different mechanism on the Signet and Bundy - odd ) and showed her that she needed to press the lower rings to make the side Bb open.
The seller indicated that she really wasn't a player anymore, and wasn't certain that the Mazzeo was functional,
as it didn't work as (I) had described.
I told her that I would buy the horn and return it if the Mazzeo didn't work and that I would absorb the expenses. It arrived and - the Mazzeo was in operative.
I brought it to my tech - he had a Mazzeo Service book. He looked everything over.
His service book applies to Series 10 Horns - so it wasn't helpful - but he could not get the Mazzeo mechanism working as something was missing.
The seller (grudgingly) accepted the return.
The point of all of this:
1. The great uncle purchased the horn and paid for the Mazzeo feature
so why would he disable it?
2. The student (grand niece?) had no great knowledge of
musical instruments, so it would not make since that her tech would disable it.
It is interesting that the late, great Terry Stibel (hope I spelled his name correctly) posted that most of the Mazzeos he came across had been disabled.
I don't think the hardware changes with anything on the horn (at least on the Series 10)
Why it would need to be altered is a mystery to me
I purchased a set of Mazzeo A/Bb Series 10 horns on EBay (not sure if the A horn will see much action)
wonderful horns, but did need to acquire a shorter barrell to play in tune.
When I saw a Signet Mazzeo on EBay I was interested as it was listed with a low starting bid and after only one other bidder, and I purchased it for ~$140.00. After some back and forth I learned that the seller had acquired it from a great uncle who purchased it new, and the seller had it checked out by a tech and played it for a few years in school in the 90's.
I sent some pictures of the mechanism on the Series 10 to the buyer (it's a different mechanism on the Signet and Bundy - odd ) and showed her that she needed to press the lower rings to make the side Bb open.
The seller indicated that she really wasn't a player anymore, and wasn't certain that the Mazzeo was functional,
as it didn't work as (I) had described.
I told her that I would buy the horn and return it if the Mazzeo didn't work and that I would absorb the expenses. It arrived and - the Mazzeo was in operative.
I brought it to my tech - he had a Mazzeo Service book. He looked everything over.
His service book applies to Series 10 Horns - so it wasn't helpful - but he could not get the Mazzeo mechanism working as something was missing.
The seller (grudgingly) accepted the return.
The point of all of this:
1. The great uncle purchased the horn and paid for the Mazzeo feature
so why would he disable it?
2. The student (grand niece?) had no great knowledge of
musical instruments, so it would not make since that her tech would disable it.
It is interesting that the late, great Terry Stibel (hope I spelled his name correctly) posted that most of the Mazzeos he came across had been disabled.
I don't think the hardware changes with anything on the horn (at least on the Series 10)
Why it would need to be altered is a mystery to me