"The Martin Tenor"
Tenor Saxophone

aka "38 Special"

Serial Number 190202 (1954)

SOLD

Here is a solid "The Martin" Committee III Tenor Sax.
Definitely worth your while to come in and try it...see what all the brouhaha is about.

This sax has very new pads, installed in July of this year, with very few hours of playing time on them. They have brown Nylon resos. Very nicely set up.

The horn is in great mechanical condition and plays with the full, rich sound that Martins are known for.

The intonation on this horn is excellent, playing in tune up and down its range.

When I got it the most annoying things was the low C and low B and Bb went 'clunk' when allowed to open. They swung out and hit the cork bumpers on the guards. Little provision was made for anything better...there is just a slim flat space for the bumper to be glued onto, on the underside of the wire keyguards.

Some years ago I looked around futilely for a closed-end brass tube to hold cylindrical bumper felts until I chanced upon the idea of using spent bullet casings.
My nephew recently got his gun permit and bought a 38 special...he was able to provide me with the brass casings and the felts fit perfectly. Here are some pictures:
ONE
TWO
THREE
FOUR
FIVE
SIX

There is a very mild dent on the bowguard.

A lot of the lacquer has worn off. It was probably relacquered at some point. The good part is that these Martin's, with their thick-walled, soldered-in tonehole chimneys, can stand up to the buffing that almost invariably precedes relacquering. I firmly believe it is the buffing that can really harm a sax, not the relacquering per se.

And while I am totting up the negatives, the neck does have some 'pull down'. On the plus side, it fits snugly into the neck receiver.

It comes with a very nice, vintage case.

But it comes down to is that it's a great, vibrant player, I think you will like it.