Conn 6M Alto Transitional 250xxx Great Deal!

Description

This is an early 6M-style transitional Conn alto. It is pretty unusual to see same side bell keys this early. This is the earliest non-experimental 6M-style horn that I have seen. Notice also that the left hand pinky cluster is also fully 6M style! Also the rare “1/2 New York neck” (a freshly coined term=no microtuner, but octave key on the bottom), and single wire bell key guard. Pretty cool.

This horn came in on trade. The former owner had the lacquer stripped “for resonance” (some people swear by this) and then had it overhauled by a well-known German saxophone tech. This was done a few years ago, so the horn has pads in the middle of their usable life now (not too bad though) and the brass has aged to a nice even patina throughout. It looks like the strap hook was resoldered at the same time, and I’m going to guess that this horn was probably relacquered before being stripped.

These horns are perhaps the most desirable Conn altos for tone, with a bigger and even warmer sound than the later 6M’s but with the fast 6M keywork that everybody loves. This horn can easily fill a room, but it also has a straight-ahead and somewhat focused sound that allows you to keep it under control quite well if you want to. The previous owner used this for classical saxophone, and it does do that well, believe it or not. The intonation is good as well. There’s a reason why people love these transitional altos so much – because they’re great! If you’re looking for a great lead alto for jazz or big band, it would be hard to do better than this, especially for the price.