Repairman's Overview: 1950 Conn 28M CONNstellation Alto Saxophone 

Hi Matt, I convinced my repairman (Robert Schroeck, you might remember) to get us both one of those (rare occurrence, two for sale!)... I thought I regretted that decision for a while, but now I tried out the MB Fat Boy on the sax, and oh boy. I can control it MUCH better, and it is a real joy to play. Thx for the vid, as always.

I missed these. So happy they're back.

I love listening to someone who really knows what they're talkin about like listening to someone who really knows how to play 🖖🖖🖖 L.L.&P 😎

"My name is Matt and I re-Stohrer saxophones for a living."

As always . Thanks for your expertise. Seeing how you care about your work is inspiring. I’m sure my clients get a better job because I watch your videos not just due to the knowledge but the excellent work ethic.

Great review Matt. These are wonderful instruments. Just some history behind how I started making the plastic guard... I was asked to make one for a sax that was missing the guard and three of the posts. Someone had sawed off the posts and installed a metal guard, so after researching the instrument I discovered what the guard should be like so I made a mold to vacuum form a guard. A very trusting musician saw. pictures of my guard and he asked if I could make one for him. He agreed to send me his guard so I could make a mold. The guard has gone through a couple of iterations with the most recent being the one you have on this sax. As you pointed out my guard is not an exact copy. I call it a replacement and not a reproduction. It functions as well as the original, is a bit stronger and if I do say so it looks pretty good. I always suggest if you have an original in good condition save it and use my guard to make it a player.

Seeing a new repairman's overview video nearly made me weep. This is my hands down favorite thing on RU-vid. Thank you!

Thank you Matt, this is so much valuable information you are sharing. You're videos are historical documents that will be referenced for all time!

Awesome! Great to see more of your videos coming online, Matt!

Hi Matt as a budding repairman I read up on the 28m and brought a beat up one… case had USN (United States Navy?)…. It was a well used horn and I just loved it’s Uniqueness in design feel and tone.. I later purchased one which had spent most it’s life under a bed… Original lacquer about 90 % and fairly dent free. I love playing it and when I’m practiced the sound is great has warmth enough for jazz but punch enough for funk and club… I changed my mouthpiece to a metal Pete Ponzol to achieve as I hate having 2 mouthpieces for set jobs. My only bug bear is I haven’t been able to set the octave mechanism correct…. I always seem to have play in action however much I adjust the square topped adjustment screw… would love a vid on how to set up. I always think as conns like formula one or race cars…. The amount of adjustment and set up screws means when they are set up correct they are the best but … you have to stay on top of it…. Maybe why the robust durable selmers of the era came out on top? Oh yeah the 3 octave pip thing was reinstated by selmer some decades later I believe. Shame selmer monopolised the market after WWII a lot of conns and other innovations where lost Still love all your vids and they are an invaluable source of knowledge for reference and students Thank you

This is one of the wildest design-wise "Show & Tell" videos you've done. Very cool!

The late Santy Runyon (Runyon Products) was one of the 3 man design team for the 28M. Ergonomics (though that was not a term used in those days) was an important consideration in the design of this instrument, to get an even, precise feel, and movement that worked with the natural motion of the fingers. Santy also designed the Conn Comet mouthpiece specifically for the 28M, and his company made these (and other) mouthpieces for Conn. They began design on it around 1939, but production of this instrument was delayed to 1950 due to WWII. Santy was also featured in Conn ads for the 28M. Matt, I'll send you the ad.

Great Matt-beautiful horn-Always interesting to hear your assessment of different equipment.

Fantastic video! Thank you Matt.

i have one this baby few year ago(its goes all the way to VietNam ) and do ovehaul myself,was come to me in bad condiction,bend body and bell turn to body . Was tricky to repair this one but went out good,just one this i chance is metal of keys are too soft so i add more metal to righthand system bridge.Love the feeling and sound come out after. Thanks for your clip.

Excellent video again, old Conns always remind me of what car mechanics must feel when a Citroen turns up. I love them but at the same time, everything is just slightly, or sometimes vastly different to any other Horn. Often for no apparent reason except - to just be different!

Brilliant!

It is good to see these again. I have always liked the old Conn naming system for their instruments, quite unique as far as I know CONNqueror, CONNstellation, Conn Comet etc... Seeing these older saxophones with unusual designs makes me wish Saxophones today hadn't mostly had their design standardised and still had some interesting quirks in the design like these. I have heard one of these being played and I know what you mean about the tone and Yamaha saxophones as I play Yamahas and they don't have a lot of color and variation to the sound compared to some other saxophones ot that I dislike them or the sound of this Conn either. The only thing I would have liked is to hear a sound recording of you playing them to hear what the tone is like since some of these interesting saxophones you have done videos on, there isn't either any/very few sound recordings of, that I know of, or little to no videos of people playing them either.

Interesting. Never saw one before! Jim

I need help my g sounds sharp on my soprano and I see the pad that suppose to be down is not closing idk what to tighten or fix to make my g play normal

Is there any chance that I can send you an old baritone sax for fixing from Miami FL?

Thank you for that! I've never seen one of these, let alone have one on the bench. Regarding the altissimo, which mouthpiece did you use to test?

How are the octave vents set? The lowest controlling D-F, 2nd G-A, 3rd (neck) B through the palm keys? That would seem to make the most sense. I would think that the feel of the chromatic F# would match well with the RH touches, although it would certainly feel different than pretty much all other saxes! Thanks for doing another of these!

Dear Matt, I have one of these, but the keys around G sharp have been SLAUGHTERED by some overwhelmed idiot. This tube/rod is missing, probably other stuff too. I want to rebuild the keys. Is there any chance you might have and share photos from various angles?

Matt: Did this originally use the Conn Res-o-Pads? If so, did you use the Res-o-Pads? A brief video about Res-o-Pads would be a helpful resource!

First to give a thumbs up 👍🏽

Had a Holton bari with three pips. Was really nice top to bottom. Not know for saxes and looked like old plumbing but it made the guys with nice horns sad:-0)

The octave mechanism is a beauty, I wish they all had that. But ....... The low C key guard is a ring? No bar across the top .. I guess they know what they are doing.

Thank for your attention to details Sir. Have you had any hands on a 'The New King' Eb Alto Sax? Griffe.

conn

Just my percy opinion but that perspex clothes guard is horrible. I am repairing a sax that had the long pipe guard in perspex. It was missing, I expect it broke. It will be replaced by brass.