Conn 26M Connqueror Alto 281xxx Near Mint Original

Description

This is a gorgeous example of a Conn 26M alto that still has its original pads intact from the factory about 80 years ago! You could check yard sales, pawn shops, and local music stores for the rest of your life, and you would likely never come across something this rare, this nice, and this cool. The 26M is the pinnacle of saxophone manufacturing in the United States. It is the most deluxe saxophone ever made by the most highly-skilled craftsmen to have put their hand to this craft. The Conns between the mid 20’s and the mid 40’s really are very special saxophones, and the Connqueror model tops them all, with specially redesigned mechanisms to make them as fancy as they can be. This includes solid silver key touches, lots of extra hand engraving on the bell, and individually adjustable key heights each set with an individual permadjust screw mechanism. In theory, once you get one of these setup by a master tech, you should only have to swap out individual pads and not have to overhaul the horn again for decades! It’s a cool idea, and it is too bad that one of the wider effects of WW2 was to greatly lessen the ability of the Conn company to keep making its top quality saxophones.

In terms of rarity, assuming that 1 in 50 Conn saxophones was a Connqueror (which may be optimistic) there are only a few thousand of these saxophones made ever. And of those, hardly any still have original pads and almost all of their original lacquer intact. So if you love the idea of a super-rare, super-deluxe, golden age Conn that has not been messed with by anybody since it left the factory, then this is the horn for you. The only thing that was replaced on this horn was the pinky key rollers, and they were replaced with custom-machined rollers that are so similar to the original that hardly anyone would be able to tell unless they were told.

This horn comes in the original Conn case, and it has no resolders or past repairs, save a small dent that was removed from the neck in one spot (and which pretty much disappeared, leaving little to no trace). The 26M is my favorite vintage Conn alto, so in my opinion, it would be hard to do better than this. The tone is just excellent. Rich, warm, focused, powerful, and flexible. The ergonomics are actually very modern and great, and they have their own kind of logic that helps you play really fast as you get used to it. Intonation is great too, and these horns are very mouthpiece-friendly. (I like Meyers, Brilharts, and Otto Links on these, of vintage mpcs, and there are many modern options as well.)If you plan on getting it overhauled and playing it, I would be happy to advise you on things to think about with the overhaul, or I can assist you with the process myself if you prefer. Getting saxophones overhauled is lots of fun, and is a chance to learn a lot about the horn in the process. I think this horn is going to make someone very happy!