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Boy, it looks like I've really lucked out...

SOTSDO

Old King Log
Staff member
CE/Moderator
It appears, tentative as it may be at this point, that I have blundered my way into the purchase of a relatively mint Selmer (Paris) professional model Mazzeo horn, the one with the full Boehm keywork.

A friend's father is selling off his collection of instruments, as his fingers shake too much to use anything but saxophones and plateaux horns. I am waiting on a photo of the horn before making the final purchase, but the asking price is very low, and the friend has never steered me wrong yet.

Stay tuned...
 
In this case, I'll be paying a few hundred above what he is asking (the price is almost incredibly low, and I have played with and like the old gent in the past), plus shipping.

But, it's still up in the air. He has a sort of clarinet playing daughter in law to whom he has given a mint condition Buffet soprano horn in the past, and when he asked her about it, it was found buried in the bottom of a closet full of junk. That error may have cost her the horn and put it in play for me.
 
It's back...

My Selmer (Paris) Mazzeo horn has returned from Saint Louis Woodwind and Brass Repair, and boy does it look good. Photos to follow once I get it shot and on the inventory. (I'll do the same for my metal Selmer horn at the same time.)

One correction to the previous posts: it wasn't a full Boehm Mazzeo. I didn't learn this until I saw the photos, but it was still in good enough condition for me to take the plunge.
 
It sounds like Christmas came a bit early this year. I'm looking forward to the pictures.
 
I seemed to have really lucked out myself. I purchased today a used Selmer Series 9 professional clarinet for 1100 bucks. Great sound and I love the tone. It has a better sound and tone than the Buffet R-13 clarinet I tried out today. Now I just need a new mouthpiece. I'll post pics once I get the clarinet because they have to overhaul it. I guess it was my lucky day.
 
Just curious about having the horn repaired at St. Louis Woodwind ad Brass - did you ship it to them? In my book, Marvin Kranz is among the best techs in the world, and a real pleasure to chat with. His brother is my section leader in a community band, and, in spite of being in the Buffet Mafia, is a really good player.
 
Marvin and I go way back, all the way to the war in Vietnam. He was in the 4th Infantry Division Band, an organization that I also belonged to for three or four misguided days.

(With a combat MOS, I would have joined the rest of the misplaced grunts in the band when they were all stripped out and sent as infantry replacements prior to the Cambodian invasion - I lateralled into the division armored cavalry squadron and watched them all get trucked off to war.)

I never physically joined the band, and thus never met Marvin face to face at the time. We later determined that we were within sixty feet or so of each other once, when the band traveled by truck down Highway 19. My tank was parked to the side of the road following our response to a contact along the highway, and he went rolling by in the back of his 2 1/2 ton truck.

Later on, Marvin did all of my work while he was at Saint Ann School Music Service, including the rehab of the rental bass sax that I once was "renting to own". Since that time, he and Bill opened their own shop, and have been fixing stuff ever since.

My visit to Marvin this time around was to get my usual use instruments tweaked back into shape, and to have him do appraisals on all of my horns for insurance purposes. We rolled in late Monday, and by Friday morning all was complete and ready to go.

They've even got my photo up on the wall...
 
Marvin and I go way back, all the way to the war in Vietnam. He was in the 4th Infantry Division Band, an organization that I also belonged to for three or four misguided days.

Thanks - I'll look for your picture next time I'm in the shop. And, the next time you see Marvin, ask him about the Orangutan in Viet Nam... hilarious!

And if you are in St. Louis for a while, give me a holler and we'll have a cup of joe or a brewski?
 
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