Conn New Wonder II Tenor 210xxx Burnished Gold Portrait

Description

A serious contender for the best combination of beauty and tone in the history of saxophones is any gold-plated vintage Conn New Wonder. This horn is the rarer burnished gold finish, which, if you have ever used a burnisher, you will already know is extremely labor-intensive to apply. There are no burnished gold saxophones made today because both the cost of gold and the cost of labor have become prohibitive. And there are no saxophones today engraved like these artist-level Conns, with their fine lines, intricate patterns, and generally satisfying aesthetic. The gold plated ones have also generally been outstanding players when they were in good physical condition and overhauled well.

Cosmetically, this horn has been played and loved, but has also been well cared-for. The neck is in good shape and not damaged or pulled down, and the body has minimal past repairs – only some key cage legs that have popped off and been re-soldered over the years, which is very common and not serious at all. I often wonder whether saxophones, like vintage guitars, can “open up” over time. With guitars, decades of sound traveling through the instrument loosens it up in the right places and frees it to vibrate and project better than new instruments. Brass is obviously different from wood, but once you play some of these “broken-in” old gold plated Conns, you might find yourself asking the same question. They are just so free and resonant, with such a big, effortless tone that surely the decades of vibrations have had some positive effect. Or maybe we need look no further for an explanation than that they were just really well made to begin with.

In any case, this horn has had a somewhat recent high-end overhaul followed by some additional setup to get it playing its best. The resos are Noyek (waffle) style, which gives the horn a bit more highs in the overall sound and a bit more volume. It comes in a NICE $300 BAM case with shoulder strap.