B&S Soprano sax from year 1990

[Jonatan Jargieło]

Hi everyone,
I'm new in here. Few days ago I bought B&S Soprano Sax with serial numbers 5180. After short corespondency with Museum I found out that this sax was manufactured/sent in February 1990. That's all I know. I wanted to know a little bit more about B&S company and its history, but I've reed different sources and it feels very messy to me.

Can anybody tell me:

1) Something more about this instrument. Is it considered "good", what people think about it, was it a "pro" instrument back then? Maybe some fun facts about those instruments. Were older models better than those made in 1990?
2) What is the history of this line of Soprano Saxophones? Were there other soprano saxophone models from B&S?
3) How did it happen that B&S company was made? Was it "good" company among others? What happened to this company and is it good nowadays?
4) Do you have some documents/historic photos/sources about B&S or this line of soprano saxophones?
5) What was standard destinations for those saxophones?
6) Do they have any value in the market?


Im very impressed by knowledge of yours and I think it's the best place to ask these types off questions. I really want to "dig in"

PS I bought this in Poland from collage student, who bought this from someone who bought this from some music professor. That's all I want about previous owners. This horn plays very well and have very "warm sound".

[tobi]

1) Something more about this instrument. Is it considered "good", what people think about it, was it a "pro" instrument back then? Maybe some fun facts about those instruments. Were older models better than those made in 1990?
2) What is the history of this line of Soprano Saxophones? Were there other soprano saxophone models from B&S?
3) How did it happen that B&S company was made? Was it "good" company among others? What happened to this company and is it good nowadays?
4) Do you have some documents/historic photos/sources about B&S or this line of soprano saxophones?
5) What was standard destinations for those saxophones?
6) Do they have any value in the market?

Hi Jonathan,
I'll try to answer some of your questions, hope that other specialists will help accordingly:

1) B&S was the "better" line compared to Weltklang. But there are even some great sax-players in Germany who play a Weltklang Soprano. Especially with Sopranos, the weight of the instrument sometimes is decisive.
2) The B&S soprano line started in 1978. The Weltklang line is still unclear to me - start should have been between 1953 and end of 50's. And finally, there is the "Series 1000" line which was made shortly after the German Re-Union.
3) The answer would be too long. All started in 1946 with VEB Sächsische Musikinstrumentenbabrik Klingenthal after WorldWar II. From 1953 onwards it was the VEB Blechblas- und Signalinstrumentenfabrik (B&S). The successor company is still in place.
4) -
5) -
6) of course, look at the well-known market places in the internet

Regards, Tobi.