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New Gallery

January 17, 2026

New gallery started in January 2026 alongside a major website rebuild. Click any image to enlarge.

Burnished gold plate Conn 6M transitional. This engraving pattern would later become the 26M/30M pattern, with the addition of textured hair.

A page from the 1968 Conn Product Manual, scanned in high resolution. You can find the whole thing at the Greenleaf Collection (Interlochen) website.

1951 King Super 20 'Silver Sonic' alto saxophone with full pearls.

Pad set cutouts for a Super 20 alto - felt, card, leather.

HN White alto hanging on a tree outside my Airstream workshop.

Mark VI tenor with self-made pads showing padwork.

Self-made pads from inside a sax.

Booklet from a 1957 Martin tenor.

Neck fitting a 10M.

1941 Conn 10M, original finish.

Self-made saxophone pad. Flat!

Vintage Conn guarantee card. I have tried without success to find out who I.U.L. was - he or she tested and inspected Conn saxophones from the 20s through the 40s at least.

Conn 'How to Care' booklet, also with I.U.L.

Business card for when I first moved from NYC to the country.

Buescher 400 silver bell engraving.

'I made my own key risers'. You don't say...

Selmer Modele 26, earliest serial I have seen in person. Serials start at 5000.

Henri Selmer Paris 'British Empire' engraving.

Conn Connqueror silver 'naked lady' engraving.

Vintage Tonex pad with stamp.

Tonex pads cutaway.

Couesnon double socket neck is a bit unique.

Selmer's short-lived stack adjustment screws, only seen on the Balanced Action as far as I am aware. It works great.

Otto Link hard rubber mouthpiece with original box

Visible 'wear' on key from corrosive skin chemistry. Everyone is different! Some people, unfortunately for them, wear away keywork very quickly.

Conn 'Naked Lady' engraving, a bit more literally.

Conn curved soprano with the M-series style lady in the pentagon engraving. Exceptionally rare.

Tiny groove worn in a flat spring at the end. This can contribute to a sloppy or binding feeling on keys with flat springs. You can sand or file or dremel it smooth so that it won't 'catch' in the spring receiver.

'Hey, let's hand engrave HAND ENGRAVED on this thing.'

Modified straight Yanagisawa soprano to have a one-piece bent neck.

Two Yanagisawa sopranos being modified to have a one-piece bent neck.

Close up of the unusual rocking Eb/C spatulas on a Buffet S3 saxophone.

Some nice re-engraving by Jerome Brownstein, an old-time NYC hand engraver who also did work for Bach Mt. Vernon, on this Selmer SBA.

You can crimp Buescher snaps back to tightness with swedging pliers.

The STD'D stamp on a Conn 6M transitional tuner neck. I still don't know what this means.

Some Mark VI's have a Mark VI *stamp* on the body. Some are engraved. Most do not have this on the body.

Stylized photo showing the Buescher 400 logo.

A crack in the body of a horn! Not common. Repairable.

Holton Stratodyne saxophone bell engraving. These are excellent saxophones- not often seen, though.

Someone in the past patched this side F# closed and did away with the posts and key completely.

Actual band-aids inside the bell of a saxophone. People will do crazy things to a leaky horn! Best practices is just to fix the leaks.

The horn with the band-aids in the bell. Pretty leaky!

Vintage C.G. Conn Ltd. 'Special' alto saxophone reed box

First guest in the Airstream workshop!

Conn saxophone serial with an X. I think this just means it is a duplicate. Actual prototypes were not typically given serials, or if they were, they were just normal serial numbers.

'Rex Fox Fixing Six Saxophones' vintage illustration. I forget where this is from.

Original resonators on palm pads of a Selmer. Early on in the Tonex resonator run, these were tiny reusable resonators. Later on, they became these large rivets instead. I think they might be (old school) brake pad rivets.

Selmer original pads with large rivet style resos in palm pads compared to the small Tonex resonators in front.

Couf Superba in Back to the Future.

Factory flattened rolled tonehole on a Conn. You won't see this often, but if you do, it will likely be on the G# tonehole. You can see the original plating completely intact over the filed tonehole. I have seen this several times.

Ruff engraving of a dog on a gold-plated Buescher New Aristocrat.

Buescher 400 logos.

Black pearls on an SML Coleman Hawkins Special tenor saxophone.

Geared octave mechanism from a Selmer Radio Improved. These can be tricky if worn out (or more likely, buffed during relacquering) but they are fantastic when set up properly and in good shape.

Very worn post!

Conn 6M overslung octave key neck with the original weirdo cup neck plug (that actually goes into the neck, not the horn).

Difference between the earlier 6M transitional low Bb (top) and much thicker later 6M low Bb spatula.

Conn 8M (C Melody) with naked lady engraving, mid-overhaul. Exceptionally rare.

Otto Link was briefly in Freeport Long Island! I have only ever seen this one box like this in person.

Otto Link Reso Chamber mouthpiece.

Padwork.

Powell Silver Eagle. I have seen two of these in person and got to overhaul one of them.

Charlie Ventura's tenor King Super 20.

Pearl keytouches from a Zephyr Special. This horn was mine and it was in fantastic shape, so I elected to take these off to see what it was like. Not usually recommended or necessary!

Conn engraving for bare brass horns at a certain period of time - these were quite often lacquered later. If they were in decent shape, there was only a light buffing required before putting lacquer on. Making them not quite original lacquer, and not quite a full relacquer.

Buescher tipped bell soprano.

Conn curved soprano with the 'art deco' engraving.

Rue Myrha Adolphe Sax by Selmer.

Gold plated Martin Master 'Typewriter' alto saxophone. These are more comfortable than you'd expect!

Buescher straight alto.

:-O Halfway through neck fitting.

I should be good on reeds for a bit.

Taig lathe, tiny but mighty.

Buescher Aristocrat with the exceptionally rare 'Improved Method' soldered toneholes. I have only seen this once, I think. There is a video on my YouTube channel.

This was a Selmer Series III in solid silver that had been overhauled elsewhere and every pad was uneven like this. You gotta use the correct thickness pads!

Me engraved on a sax bell (I did not do this).

Silver plated keys and lacquered body on this Mark VI tenor.

Pivot screw in an optical comparator tool.

Cool diamond logo plate on this Selmer Model 22.

Fit neck tenon looking nice.

Long/tall tenon shoulder on this Mark VI neck. I have heard this was something you could special order as a replacement neck, but I do not know the purpose.

Yanagisawa 9932J - my favorite Yanagisawa. Sterling bell and neck, bronze body, brass keywork, unlacquered.

Selmer moved to a two part tenon receiver fairly early on, and the ring is attached with soft solder. It can come loose over time or when damaged, and it is possible to remove, clean up, fix, and resolder it.

Yeaaahhh I think someone may have messed with this post in the past. No matter! We can fix it - get the rod out and make a bushing on the lathe.

The Martin Baritone engraving.

Conn New Wonder I tenor showing the loooong reach between bis and B.

Neck tenon receiver mid-fit. See high and low spots as it is lapped in.

Neck tenon receiver neck fit complete, even and smooth and beautiful now.

Conn 6M pinky cluster in nice alignment.

Conn 6M upper stack.

Another neck fit shot taken mid-fit. This one looks particularly rough! Lots of high and low spots.

Neck tenon receiver fit and finished and looking nice and smooth and polished!

Close up of the gold inlay on a King Super 20 Silver Sonic bell.

Another Conn 8M with the naked lady engraving - this one is in lacquer. Exceptionally rare horn.

Sigh. Tonehole crescents all over this horn. I am not a big fan of tonehole crescents, and when you see a bunch all on one stack of the horn you gotta wonder why they didn't just lower the action a bit if the right hand stack was sharp.

The result of successfully removing all the rollers on a Conn without any breaking!

Rare Conn 'Naked Man' engraving.

Lyon & Healy 'Perfect Curved' soprano saxophone.

Workshop shot.

Selmer's version of the adjustable key foot. Different than the adjustable F# adjustment! I have only seen one or the other, never both on the same horn.

The dreaded 'jolly rancher' adhesive.

Conn 30M right hand stack and pinky table.

VERY porous leather on this pad. Air goes right through! Not good.

Lightly engraved Selmer Radio Improved tenor.

Heavily engraved Selmer Radio Improved tenor.

Mark VI engraving on the body of a Mark VI saxophone.

Lots wrong here! That key needs straightened out so the adjustment material is not so massive and the pad will fit evenly in the keycup when the pad is sealing well against the tonehole.

'Leda and the Swan' was a common motif on the Stenberg-engraved Conns of the teens and 20s.

This is original! Conn had a neck that had a very shallow groove machined in it for a cork sealing surface.

Lovely engraving on this pristine Conn 30M tenor saxophone.

All the steel bits and pieces from a Conn 30M. Way more than a normal sax!

Case for a Conn 30M. Apparently this was called 'airplane cloth' and is seen on cases from the time for other instruments as well.

Gotta get that green gunk out before putting new pads in!

Oopsy daisy! This King is separating at the bell to bow brace. Not common!

Borgani tenor, polished up and overhauled.

Gold plated Conn transitional 6M with the 'art deco' engraving.

'Double S' which is not actually a double S on a very early Mark VI. Only the first few hundred or so have this logo on the neck.

Extra Buescher snaps I have acquired over time! Not for sale.

Buescher True Tone sopranos! One straight, one tipped bell.

Tonex Resonators.

Keys laid out to be sprayed with Hagerty's for polishing.

Selmer upper stack.

Conn 26M.

The 'VIII' stamp on a Conn 26M neck. Not sure what it means!

Some fairly extreme 'acid skin' wear on a Selmer tenor. Some people still believe this isn't really a thing!

Martin screwdriver. I love the old branded sax tools.

Conn 10M prototype! One of three that exist. There is a video on my YouTube channel.

Nice palm trees and mountains scene on a Selmer Balanced Action alto that is still sporting its original pads.

Conn 10M prototype assembled. Crazy neck! I got to overhaul this horn, and it played fantastic. There is a recording of Branford Marsalis giving it a whirl on my YouTube channel.

Pristine Conn 30M, overhauled by me.

The correct color for redoing the blue in a vintage Selmer S.

Gorgeous engraving on a pristine old Selmer.

Vintage Paramount Reeds box for clarinet and saxophone - Made in U.S.A.

Email about Buescher saxophone pronunciation from a descendant of the family.

Selmer baritone neck with that crazy long tenon shoulder! Only one I have seen.

303030 serial on a King! I love stuff like this. No, the glue was not mine and I did get it all out.

Martin 'home model' alto. One of a few types of stripped down saxophones built for very young beginners.

Pearl inlay on the left hand pinky table of a Conn Virtuoso Deluxe soprano.

'St. George and the Dragon' on a Conn Virtuoso Deluxe soprano.

Another angle of the engraving on that Virtuoso Deluxe soprano.

Hmmmmm

King Super 20 tenor with the original 'Guarantee Bond'.

Gold plated Couf Superba tenor.

Gold plated Couf Superba alto.

TWO Conn 28M 'Connstellation'!

TWO Graftons!

Beaugnier C-soprano makers mark.

Beaugnier C-soprano black pearls.

Beaugnier C-soprano. Extremely rare.

Conn 4M soprano with 'naked lady' engraving in silver plate.

Detail of key of gold-plated Selmer Mark VI.

Detail of gold-plated Selmer Mark VI neck.

Gold plated Selmer Mark VI alto. Not many of these exist!

Double case for all those times when you need to bring your Buescher straight alto and Conn-O-Sax to the gig.

Well here's a few horns to take back to the shop! Just kidding, these were only cases and most of them were broken or damaged in some way.

Bass sax takes up a good bit of bench space!

Every once in a while I work on mouthpieces, however I am not great at it.

Visible wear on a hinge rod held in front of its post. The shiny bits are where the key was contacting and wearing it smooth over time.

Varitone pickup in a Selmer neck.

Alternate Eb tonehole brazed shut from the factory on a Buescher Aristocrat. For a few horns right as that feature disappeared, it seems like they cut the tonehole but never pulled it, and brazed it shut before continuing on as usual.

Old Erick Brand flat spring screws. Some nice human sent me these! I should be set for a while.

Conn-O-Sax!

Padwork.

Gold plated Conn 12M transitional. Boy howdy!

Some old neckstraps.

Original pads came out of the gold-plated Martin Magna tenor when I was overhauling it, and the *backing washers* were gold-plated.

Martin Magna tenor saxophone in gold plate, upper stack detail.

Gold-plated Martin Magna tenor saxophone with solid silver neck.

Engraving detail of gold-plated Martin Magna tenor saxophone with solid silver neck.

The 'cigar cutter' mechanism, because well it looks like a cigar cutter.

Silver Conn C-soprano mid-overhaul. Nice lines.

Conn C-soprano with the 'naked lady' engraving. Only one I have seen.

Conn C-soprano with the 'naked lady' engraving. Only one I have seen.

Yikes.

Yike removal.

De-yiked.

Robert Drouet alto keyguards, silver one is original and brass one by Brad Wherry, who is a wizard.

Robert Drouet alto keyguards, silver one is original and brass one by Brad Wherry, who I say again is a wizard.

The prototype saxophone Allen Loomis built for his run of 6 Loomis 'Double Resonance' saxophones. He used a Conn New Wonder I as the testbed.

The prototype saxophone Allen Loomis built for his run of 6 Loomis 'Double Resonance' saxophones. He used a Conn New Wonder I as the testbed.

One of the first saxophones built by C.G. Conn. High pitch alto, silver and gold plate with ornate engraving, 1890s.

Engraving detail of one of the first saxophones built by C.G. Conn. High pitch alto, silver and gold plate with ornate engraving, 1890s.

No free shipping for you, sir! Very early C.G. Conn correspondence.

Cutout for a high G on the neck tenon of Herb Couf's personal Couf Superba.

High G tonehole all the way up on the neck tenon receiver on Herb Couf's personal Couf Superba.

High G tonehole on Herb Couf's personal Couf Superba.

Herb Couf's personal Couf Superba.

Herb's Couf.

Adolphe Sax's tomb in Paris. I visited in 2025.

Saxophone pad materials for pad making.

'Master' from the Buescher factory, G# key. This would have hung on a board in the factory and was used to check that the jigs and machines were in spec. Star Model, Straight Bb Soprano, Sax Lever Key, Operation 1.

Horsies on a fully engraved Buescher.

Fixing up an old StroboConn 12 wheel chromatic strobe tuner, thanks to the help of Scott Granlund.

Padwork.

Martin booklet. Only image I have seen of their factory.

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