Purpose

FAQ
(Frequently Asked Questions)

Yes, these are real questions that I have been asked.

Q. Who are you?

A. I'm Pete (or PJ or PH), a professional computer geek that lives and works in the great state of Arizona. I also play clarinets (usually bass) and saxophones (usually bari) semi-professionally and sing bass/baritone/tenor II (sense a trend ...?) in my church choir. I have conducted two different church instrumental ensembles, taught beginning/intermediate sax and clarinet lessons, and played in two different jazz bands and eight or so different orchestras. Along the way, I collected a variety of vintage horns and had the opportunity to play many more. If you wish a full resume, send me an e-mail.

My other interests include fine art (M.C. Escher and others), listening to music, reading, collecting good books (like Charles de Lint's) and the occasional hike. I like sunrises and sunsets. I'm newly remarried and have one beautiful daughter that I see often. I'm 6'1", 170lbs, shay whitey with a touch of Amerind, brown/brown. Age: someplace between 26 and 36.

Q. Kewl. I got this saxophone. Can you appraise/tell me more about it? OR I wanna buy a saxophone. Can you tell me whether or not it's a good horn?

A. Not a problem. Drop me an e-mail. Remember to include: pitch (sopranino, etc.), plating (silver, etc.), serial number, honest estimate of damage to the horn, other engravings on the horn and any other special features. To be more accurate, you might want to include a picture. I can handle about 1mb at my current e-mail address. For larger pics, send me a text-only e-mail and I can make arrangements.

Remember that I'll give you an estimate to the best of my ability. Don't get mad at me if I assign a lower value to the horn than you think it should have or dis me in a discussion group because you got more/less on eBay. In other words, play at your own risk.

I can also help to a certian extent with flutes and clarinets.

Q. Where do you get all those kewl pics?

A. Most of the places I look for pictures are listed either below, in the extensive Abbreviations section, or on the links page.

Q. Where'd you put all the technique/mouthpiece/player information?

A. It's only tangentially mentioned on this site. Let me explain:

I've been contacted by a couple of folks (more than one, so not as to single 'em out) folks who are trying to design saxophone-related websites. They've all wanted to throw everything into one site. Now a few sites can do that, such as Mel Martin's, but I feel that if your approach is so broad, you're going to start missing something. My focus is on the aesthetic beauty of these instruments, not on technique, etc.

Interestingly enough, this site that started out as essentially an exercise in using HTML has become one of the top saxophone picture sites. It's definitely the most comprehensive ... I'm not bragging. Trying to find this many different kind of saxophones on a different site is futile.

Now, I've got some great contributors that want to focus on other subjects. That's great (primarily because I'm not having to devote more time to it :) and you'll see special features pop up every now and then.

Q. Then why the focus on SML?

A. SML is a special case. The SML horns are kinda the great find of the saxophone world. They are fairly rare horns that only a few people know about. A reader once asked me what models of SML were out there. I couldn't tell him, so I researched. I ended up creating a paper on the SML horns which is one of the most comprehensive around. I had lotsa help: all the SMLunatics at Sax on the Web, Fred Cicetti, Brenton Coombs, Paul Coats, SAXTEK ... and hopefully Santy Runyon.

Q. Where's all the student horns?

A. I don't have pics of many student-model or new horns on this site. I do have some shots of the Selmer Bundys, as they are the most popular student horns in the world. I don't include many other student horns because either a) the horn is so common, you can go down to your local music store and see one live or b) they're (bad) knock-offs of either the Mark VI or Super 80 or c) they're just, well, kinda ugly.

Q. How do I contact you?

A. Why, just send an e-mail. I'd also love pics of your horns. Please send those to saxpics@x-mail.net.

This site can't operate without your help. Please contribute pics, links, or suggestions. If you have files over 1000k, please send them to saxpics@x-mail.net. My Hotmail account doesn't like files bigger than this.

NOTE: if you send SPAM, your address will either be BLOCKED or I'll give your address to all the other folks that spam me. Now, that's justice. (Posted after I got 300 messages in 10 minutes.)

Q. Can you post my banner?

A. Maybe.

I get fair traffic (200 to 400 hits a day) and I want to keep this site as fast as possible. If you're a vendor and really, really think I should have your banner on my page, I'll submit to putting a link on my links page. I'll remove it if my readers complain about your service, product, etc.

Q. I can't access your files because my company's got a smut blocker and won't let me open files that have "xxx" in them. What do I do?

A. Sorry. The most common way of listing a serial number, e.g. 126,987 is 126xxx.  This standard is followed by just about everyone.  Almost all of the pics contained on this site are like that.  (I'm not gonna even ask how the smut blockers will react to the Conn "Naked Lady" horns :)  I can say, however, that if your company's proxy server does this, you're gonna have to access this site from home (and/or tell your IT guy that they've got a really poor smut-blocker).  It's too time-consuming to rename all the pics on this site. Your best bet is to try my picture databases.

Q. Why all the links and directories and stuff? Couldn't you use Javascript and frames and stuff?

A. Yes, I could. According to my site meter/counter, there are a significant number of folks that access this site that use browsers that don't support java or frames (about 10%), so I don't.

Q. Do you sell horns?

A. Not at the moment. This may change in the future, but it will only be to hook up folks to get good horns. The only horn that I've sold since starting this 'site was my 1900 Cousenon bari, in hopes of getting a better horn that I could use for a gig that has long since passed.

One of the reasons I don't sell horns from this 'site is because I can remain objective for folks writing in and asking questions. It allows me to say things like, "I believe all Selmer 22/26 and Super horns are overvalued and I think that a Buescher of the same era is a better buy," without then saying, "... and I have a special on Aristocrats this month."

Q. My question isn't listed. What do I do?

A. Send me an e-mail. I can't promise that I'll answer immediately, but I do pretty good with a 24hr time limit :) I generally don't answer e-mail on the weekends.

Awards

8/10/99: Well, I'll be! This site is a winner of the Genuine Saxy Site award. 
Here's a clip of the E-Mail the webmistress sent:
You're wondering what made your site catch my attention. First off, the content on your page is historically important, interesting, and there. But also, I like the fact that your site is well organized and low on unnecessary graphics. This makes it easily navigated and it looks great!

11/3/99: This site has won the "Excellent Site Award" from the Saxophone Emporium web. Look for the award and link on the main page.

This section gives me the space to thank some folks.

First of all, this site wouldn't have 1/2 the significance it does and wouldn't have 1/2 the amount of horns without the contribution of Gayle at vintagesax.com. I'm enthusiastic about her and her site not only because she's contributed a lot of pictures, but because I've heard a lot of nice things about her from folks that have bought horns from her. (Hey, Gayle! I hope you liked the trade of the F Mezzo for that Saxello!)

Second, this site would have a lot more mistakes in it if it weren't for the efforts of SAXTEK, Randy Emerick: a collector (that owns FAR too many horns), lecturer and repairman. He's contributed a lot of documentation and many beautiful, rare horns.

Third, thanks to Fred Cicetti for providing pics of his ultra-rare SML horns and helping me with the documentation thereof -- even after he wrote four articles on the subject. (And for not killing me when I found about a half dozen different models he hadn't listed :)

Fourth, thanks very much to Rick Mussi for the incredibly detailed pictures of several SML horns. The entire SML community thanks you -- and it was almost worth re-writing my SML model chart whenever you find another horn :)

Fifth, thanks to Paul Coats for the information on the Santy Runyon horns made by SML -- as well as the additional pictures of his gold-plate Buescher bass.

Sixth, I link to an awful lot of pics on the cybersax.com website. It's refreshing to know that there are dealers out there that do collecting and are knowledgeable about the history of the horns they're selling. I've also heard good things about the customer service there.

... and of course, where would we all be if it weren't for eBay?

More contributors that I owe a debt of thanks to (and a more lengthy list will be forthcoming):

Steve at smlemaire@aol.com
John Rolling
Steve Goodson
Paul Lindemeyer
Antonio
S. Witthoft (beautiful pics)
Richard Bartlett
Scott Marlowe
Michael Kilpatrick
Laura Burdick
Jenseman
Ruben Palsgraaf
(I know I've forgotten a bunch. I'm working on it.)

... and thanks to the man that inspired this site, Paul Cohen: author of the Vintage Saxophones Revisited column for the Saxophone Journal magazine.