Martin Centennial Alto Saxophone Committee II and III Transitional Model Rare! 142319

Insanely low price (not my decision) on this gorgeous Martin Centennial Alto saxophone. (This is on consignment and the owner wants me to move it quickly!) The lacquer has aged to a dark honey color and looks great. Having no other Centennial altos around to compare to, I’m not willing to commit to this being original lacquer, but it might be. I don’t see signs of buffing, and if it were a Comm II, then it would look correct to be original. So maybe it is? The Centennial celebrates 100 years since the invention of the saxophone. It appears briefly between the Committee II and the Committee III (The Martin Alto) models, and it has features of both models. You can easily spot some guards and key shapes that remind you of the Comm II, while the main design chiefly anticipates the Commitee III in design and tone. If you want a The Martin Alto, but you want one that is cooler, super-early, darker than average, and rarer and more collectible, this is it!

The tone is warm, powerful, round, and full. The ‘carrying power’ (as Martin calls it in old ads) is a main plus of this model. It sings out with absolutely no resistance to blasting over a section or a band. You can do the west coast dry jazz tone like Art Pepper, or you can blast like the SNL sax players if you want to. The intonation is remarkably good. The ergonomics are also surprisingly good.  It’s hard to beat this horn for the money. It even plays well on the existing mix of pads, and doesn’t need an overhaul right out of the case like most of these.

Only one available!