***Featured Restoration***

The Forever-Featured Restoration

Martin 'Handcraft - Typewriter' Alto- 1929

11/2012-11/2016 GOLD RESTORATION

This cool project was for a client whose father played this one. During metal prep I learned this classic Martin was once silver!, later buffed up, and "re"lacquered. Well, it was technically the first-time lacquer coat but it is the non-original finish. It underwent massive metal prep with precision surface work to make it the glorious show piece that you see. There is no other sax to my knowledge that has ever received this much attention to detail. Did you notice that it took nearly 4 years from start to finish!?
The original plans were drawn-up from vintage Martins as inspiration to enhance the elaborate engravings (custom) and the shiny gold-plate finish!
This is a project with tedious love built in, and many helping hands. Masterly engraved with enhancements by Sherry Huntley. Even she will never forget this one--and that's a craftswoman who has seen 1000s of them! Oh, those keys, the glimmer, the beauty. I hope you enjoy these photos, our story, and the plating work and countless hours.
   What you can & can't see are these details:
     -Gold Springs upgrade.
     -Gold flat springs (custom made, prepped, polished, plated).

     -all the screws and rods were also polished and flash-nickel-plated too!
     -WWS Felts (Custom sized/made, colored to customer's [red] request).
     -Gold plated resonators (Custom design, polish, and plating).

MORE PHOTOS BELOW (and coming soon)

Sound Files of the actual sax:

Here's one of the several grateful notes that the owner and I exchanged near the end of the project:

"Chadd, I can’t thank you enough for that audio presentation.  Yes, there is a clear difference and it really does stand out.  It’s like having lightly packed tissue paper in your ears with the other two compared to the Typewriter’s greater clarity, less diffused and muffled sounds of the other two.  I can best describe the difference as simultaneously hearing multiple and parallel sound waves vs. a tightened closer band of sound wave from the typewriter. And, there is no tininess that I can detect either, just a purer, cleaner sound.

As you probably noticed, I also spent a lot of time polishing the inside of the key holes, removing excess solder and roughness.  The attention I gave to the interior surfaces along with the added thickness and “molecular bonding” of silver and gold to the brass (compared to lacquer) along with the medium resonators is a big part of this, BUT, an equal contributor which you failed to mention is the unbelievable attention to detail, fit, and “fashion-to-perfection” effort that you put into this horn. You are 1-in-10,000 and this project is a once in a lifetime Mona Lisa.

Scott"

Buescher 'Aristocrat I, "The Aristocrat"' Tenor- 1938 , #282k

This is a special project for a customer in Australia. Serial #282,803. It was his grandfather's sax, WWS saw it only as a relacquer, but I found silver hidden underneath the tight areas. This sax was silver to start with! We planned a very special project as this was right in the middle of when we moved WWS to the new location. This caused a long time from start-to-finish, but it allowed us to setup and invest in our new tooling to get such a restoration to an even higher quality of output.
Upon arrival, this sax was thoroughly (!) used, dinged, pitted (underneath finishes). It became a very extensive project. It easily will have 2-3x the normal amount of hours put into this type of restoration. Dare I say, I even had to stop myself from trying to make everything perfect; there would have been no way, nor enough hours to do so. Thus, we left a few distinct "beauty/age/use marks" to remember her years of loving service.

Buescher 'Aristocrat I, "The Aristocrat"' Tenor- 1937 "Art Deco", #272k

Rare early version of the Aristo, with the small bell for a more focused, sweeter sound. Beautiful Art Deco engraving. Think Johnny Hodges tone. Serial # 272,xxx, built about 1937. No major damage ever done to it. Neck looks great and has a matching S#. I am going to remove a couple small dents/dings and do a Satin Silver Resto on this one, then when it's back from Anderson Silver Plating, I will do a complete rebuild/repad with metal backed Buescher style pads and snap the reso's back in. It just returned from Andersons. New pics above.

I've just finished her up, really quite beautiful. Beautiful is really the right work for the tone produced by the small parabolic bore. I would say it's a compact, or centered tone that is very warm and rich.

You can see the "just finished" pics. Nice.

Buescher 'True Tone' Bass- 1920s

Check out this restoration of a Buescher Tru-Tone Bass Sax for a customer. These things are beasts! Justin and I both had to take an end and disassemble her. Once we unsoldered the bow the removing dents work was started...
I ordered the metal backed Buescher replacement pads, so while we wait for them, I'll get started on the dent removal and Justin will be polishing like crazy....

ok, all the dents are out of the bow and bell. these big guys sure get a lot of little dents. In the words of Little Charlie and the Nitecats, "That's BIG" wood.jpg (209606 bytes) Justin "Wood" is wearing out his fingers....

.Various repairs and dent removal. ...and the keys are getting plated now... polished silver on the left, is being plated with 24 carat gold, on the right.
She's finally all done and playing as big as she looks. here are a few pics

there is really nothing quite like a Bass sax, but they aren't for everybody... they are big, heavy and take an immense amount of wind and embouchure to play.

Buescher '400 "Top Hat & Cane"' Tenor - 1945

Custom Engraved Restoration

Here is without a doubt, one our finest works, a Buescher 400 Top Hat and Cane: these are the finished pictures, there are pics from the beginning of the reassembly below

This incredible sax has been custom engraved to Randall Pennington's specifications, with Sherry Huntly's Artistic Engravings, Silver plated as well as 24 c. Gold plated inside the bell and has been totally rebuilt with our Premium Repad, with Prestini Black Goatskin Pads and Solid Silver Resonators. Click on the pics above for a more detailed image, or click here for backside, bell, gold inside bell and back engraving, key engraving and Bell Keys.

Conn 'New Wonder I' Bass - 1920s

Silver Restoration:

A gorgeous bass sax upon completion, but it needed major love in the prep work. As you can see, it had to be fully disassembled. Rumor has it that you can't even fit an assembled baritone in the silver tanks, much less a bass!

Conn 'Connqueror 26M' Alto- 1940s

Here we have one of the finest altos in sax history, a Conn 26M. It's owner, Bo Pep, has had it for many years and it had been relacquered along the way, so Bo wanted to bring it back to it former glory, with a complete silver Resto and a Premium rebuild. Initially, i told Bo that we were only doing 2 restos a year, but now, i think one a year is more realistic, due to ever rising prices. Enjoy the "after" pics of this beautiful alto!
The following is a letter from Bo:

Sarge,

The tired old Lady I sent to you was so different than the one you returned, I had to ask her for a positive ID when I took her out of the case. She showed me her serial number and sure enough, it was the same Lady, but you would never know it.

She is drop-dead gorgeous, easily the best looking sax I've ever held and these old fingers have held many. But, as the old saying goes, "Beauty is as beauty does," and WOW does this beauty do it! All the keys are tight, low and light as a feather and I totally forget I'm holding a mechanical device as I'm playing - it's all fluid sound, just as it should be. At times I feel as if I'm not moving my fingers at all, just 'thinking' the notes coming out of the horn - a beautiful experience only made possible by perfect spring tension, perfectly seated and height adjusted pads.

You are truly a master and I'm certain that every horn leaving your hands is going on to lead a better, more musical life. There are not many of you around anymore. My 26M Lady and I are deeply grateful for your expertise and it's been a pleasure exchanging emails throughout the process.

(An unusual thing happened after I took the alto out of the case and put it on the double stand next to my 30M - I heard an odd whimpering sound. It was my Lady tenor crying over the fact that I had chosen the alto over her for the face lift and restoration. "Maybe next year, my dear," I said.)

With much gratitude and pleasure,
Fraternally,
Bo

Conn 'New Wonder II "Chu Berry"' Tenor- 1928, #211k

"HOTROD" - Major Mods Project:

OK!, this great sax that has seen better days. These are great players, so I wanted to make it someone's perfect gig sax! AND improve the cosmetics! Upon initial inspection, there was one main 'damage story' in its past: the lower edge looks to have taken a knock, the bell-to-body brace needs resoldered, the rear body tube will need aligned to the bow (de-soldered damage), and address the front knock, address dents to the high palm keys, messy solders, remove the unnecessary lyre holder, The Front F rocker arm went missing.

*SEE HAPPY CUSTOMER TESTIMONIAL & PHOTOS OF THIS SAX*

WWS SPECIAL CUSTOM PROJECT:
~White Roo pads
~Resos: to-the-max sized Silver Resotech resonators--3mm shy of the tone holes!
This will be a stunning sax cosmetically, but I want it to make the guitar
players turn their ears! Other ideas:
~New Selmer Thumb hook!
~upgraded ALL the octave KEYWORK (See photos)...moved side pip!
~NEW case
~fabricating keywork: selmer palm keys! Front F teardrop!...

Item #:WWS5.6S0.01.241.4-0

Keilwerth 'SX90' Alto- Straight

One of three projects for Randall Pennington. It came to us in lacquer and retuned to Randall in Japan, as one of our finest works. Silver and gold plating, custom engraving, with Sherry Huntly's Artistic Engravings virtually everywhere, and a premium repad. Best sounding alto I can recall and so beautiful it is like a piece of art.

Martin 'The Martin Tenor' Tenor- 1956, #195k

Serial 195xxx, made in 1956. Lacquer is about 75%. Body and neck are excellent, no major dents. Includes non-original, but fairly good case. This sax is in such good physical shape, that i have decided to send it to Anderson Silver Plating and turn it into a beautiful Silver version. I can't think of a horn that sounds better in silver than the Martin Tenor and this is a very good vintage for them too. I decided to make this one a screamer, by maxing it out with Saxgourmet pads and oversized flat metal resos. i will start by hand polishing her with anti-tarnish cream polish, then i will begin installing all new premium stainless steel springs.  Springs are in!

Now she's looking good... the body and keys are hand polished, the Ultrasuede, Synth cork, Tech cork, Saxgourmet pads and oversized flat metal resonators are just about finished up, next comes re-assembly.

She's all back together and, as promised, this one really wails! fantastic volume if you push her, or warm smoky tone with a Dukoff Hollywood...

Selmer 'Mark VI' Baritone- 1977, #257k

"Ms. LOLA" - in CUSTOM TORCH (2022)

Named: "Lola" from her owner. She has been a hard-working marching baritone for a professional band in Texas, USA.

This was an experimental finish done in conjunction with the owner and his metal-working expertise. We had a lot of "fun" on this job, and the custom brazing repairs and new bow guard were a thing of beauty. She got black roo pads and Selmer nylon resonators with WWS Premium upgrades. Dave, the owner, had nothing bust excitement and praise for the final look. The process was longer than expected the list of comments from us both was entertaining to say the least. He sent me many knowing they would have to be included in this description, like "The owner wanted this." :

• "Wow. Hot! Better than expected"
• "I'm awestruck. That's more impressive than I had imagined."
• "I think you guys really nailed it on the keys. It's going to look like an ancient mythical object, which isn't too far from the truth!"

Selmer Mark VI Tenor:

(Project from 1-2008)

We restored this one to it's former glory by stripping, silver plating and totally rebuilding a 5 digit MK VI that had been relacquered with epoxy lacquer and the tone compromised.

All done and playing great. removing that epoxy lacquer really opened up the horn and helped it to really vibrate again.

1963 Selmer Mark VI Tenor:

Shiny Restoration

Here's a really nice MK VI that we restored in the European style. No engravings, just the Selmer logo stamp, clean and beautiful.

Selmer 'Mark VI' Tenor, #104k

This week i'm finishing up on one of my silver Restorations. This sax came to us relacquered and needing much TLC.

So i Prepped it, removed scratches, removed dents, cleaned up previous bad soldering work, buffed out small imperfections and sent it to Anderson's Silver Plating for plating and Artistic Engraving's for re-engraving.

She's coming together. Just to be clear, i never do re-lacquers, and i usually only do my silver resto's when a sax has already been relacquered... it's the only way to add back the weight and beauty again. The finished product is beautiful and plays like a dream.

Here is The Owners comment on the MK VI restoration:

Hey Sarge-
You did a fantastic job and I don't mean just the way it
looks, the horn has never played better and the sound is thicker and
better than before the plating. Now that my injury is healing I can
really enjoy the horn. I can hit all the notes easy and the pad job is
top notch. The action is quiet, smooth and even. I am already thinking
of buying back my old Conn 10M and having you do it also.
Thanks, Teddy Yakush

Selmer 'Mark VI' Tenor- 1964, #116k

This is a customer horn, great serial number--116k, but it had been relacquered... so we decided to do a silver restoration on her, which would allow removing a lot of scratches and add back on the weight that was lost through previous buffing, in fresh new silver. I prepped her and sent her to Elkhart, for re-engraving and silver plating.
The previous rebuild had left it in pretty goofy condition, so I did an authentic French style rebuild, with my premium teflon and ultrasuede upgrade. The customer wanted Saxgourmet pads and selmer plastic domed reso's.

the pics aren't as good as usual, because it's rainy outside and i had to take them inside with a flash.

She's all finished now, has an awesome tone that is full and powerful, the keys feels so smooth opening and closing... and she looks absolutely beautiful.

Selmer 'Super Balanced Action' Baritone:

"The Angel"

This job was for a very good customer in Japan, who wanted another Total restoration, in silver with massive engraving, then a premium rebuild. This one got the full treatment. It had been buffed and poorly re-plated, so Sarge disassembled it... the neck was unsoldered and rounded out and the Eb tonehole and many dents were all removed, then it was sent to Anderson silver plating for chem-stripping and extensive engravings and expert silver plating, satin body and bright keys. Finally, Sarge did a total Premium Rebuild with Prestini's Hermes" treated pads and Solid silver Resotech resonators and using Teflon, to reduce friction, Synthcork for quieter and longer lasting bumpers and Ultrasuede, instead of felt, in key places. . It's a long process, anywhere form 3 to 6 months, but the results are always magnificent. look below:

Our friend Robert, from Goldmasters came today and 24 carat Gold plated the bell, bell to body brace and crook brace. These were hard to reach parts that were soldered onto the body, that could not be dip plated and he has done a beautiful job on a very difficult project that required masking off and carefully detailed work.

Sarge also measured every tonehole and custom ordered a set of solid silver flat resonators that cover 90% of the tonehole.

And I thank Randall, for this nice review of my services

From: Randall Pennington

Sent: Sunday, August 29, 2004 8:54 PM
Subject: The SBA bari sax review...at long last...
Hi Sarge,
Now that summer vacation has fully begun, I just wanted to tell you about the SBA bari you restored for me earlier this year. As you know, I have a pretty imposing set of horns (some of my very best are on your page of bests!). One of them is a custom made JK bari, a MK VI low A and of course the SBA. Recently I started playing bari full time in my salsa band too, so I have been trying out all 3 baris to see what works best.
Well, the SBA has won, hands down....the sound is exactly what I needed for the tunes I we do and the action is just perfect. The work you did on this horn is as good or better than what you did on my Buescher TH&C tenor. This horns simply screams, grunts, wails and honks!
I couldn't ask for a better restoration than the one you gave it. It is worth every cent I payed.
Next is the beauty of the horn...it is absolutely stunning from the plating and gold accents and inner bell plating that you had added later, to the elaborate engraving....my many thanks to your wife for helping with the drawing for the angel in the bell!
I just performed with this bari at a salsa festival and virtually every member of the Cuban band that was doing a sound check before us, when they saw the horn as they were leaving the stage, literally ooohed and aaahed when they saw the horn. And they were all BRASS players! One guy came up to me after our performance and told me he wished they could find a bari sax for their band. They liked the sound that much!
This is not the first time that horns you have restored for me have gotten kudos from non-sax players.
I don't know what else to say that I haven't said before Sarge. I love what you have done for my horns....I couldn't be happier!
Looking forward to getting another masterpiece done in the near future....
Kindest regards,

Randall Pennington
Fukuoka, Japan

SML 'King Marigaux/Gold Medal II' Tenor- 1970s

A customer in WA state got me going on this restoration a few months back... it one of these fabulous playing, King Marigaux's, built by SML in France. The owner wanted to make it something really special, so i prepped it and sent it to Jason DuMars for all over body engraving and then off to Anderson Silver Plating for the works. As usual, it took about 3-4 months, but the result is beautiful.

The new stainless springs are in. The new pearls are in. The Premium Repad with Saxgourmet pads and flat metal reso's are in... All back together and playing like a house a fire, this thing is a powerhouse... not to bad to look at either.

SML 'Gold Medal II' Baritone- 1977, #25k

SML Strasser Mariguax Lemaire Baritone: This beauty got the full restoration treatment. It had old brownish lacquer, so we got it mist stripped and silverplated at Anderson plating, re-engraved with Sherry Huntly's Artistic Engravings, then did our premium repad. This is one of my finest works. What a big, strong sound! Huge tone production...enough to get you thrown out of most orchestras!