Buffet SA-18 Tenor Saxophone 33xx

Description

This is a dark, smoky late 1940’s model Buffet Tenor that is a relatively unknown gem of the vintage saxophone world. People who have these horns swear by them. They play like a good Selmer SBA. Of course, the comparison to Selmer is inevitable, but it goes the other way as well. I recently had a guy contact me whose friend wanted his SA18 tenor so badly that he offered to trade him an SBA tenor for it! (And the Buffet owner refused, of course.)

These horns are also quite hard to find, with fewer than 4000 made of all sizes. This one looks like it was sent back to Buffet for a factory relacquer in the 60’s or 70’s. This is Buffet lacquer on the horn, but you can tell it’s relacquered if you look at the most finely-cut engraving and observe how it fades slightly in just a few places on the bell. Hard to tell, unless you know what to look for.

Cosmetically, this is a one-owner horn, and it is very clean. There are no dents or dings, and no past repairs at all. No resolders, and the original neck looks clean as well with no past damage. This is about as clean and unproblematic a relacquered horn as you will see.

This horn plays GREAT! It has just had all but a handful of the pads replaced by Matt Stohrer, and it feels really good under the fingers. The sound is really big. I played it against my Balanced Action this tenor, and the Buffet had a bigger sound. It has great intonation as well, and the keywork feels very good too! Buy this horn before I keep it!

Tonally, think 40’s French. Rich, dark, smoky, spread, able to fill a room with ease, beautiful lows and subtones. Ergonomically these are nearly as good as a Selmer of the same period, and the intonation is typically just as good as a Selmer. So if you’re looking for something different and awesome, but not too different, this could be a great horn for you.