I love the value in the old "stencil" saxophones. For a fraction of the price you get an instrument that is often times almost as good as the name brand instrument. In this case we have a Pan American, usually made by Conn ( I say usually because I have in the shop a Pan Am tenor that was certainly made by Martin).
This alto is post WWII based on the same side bell keys. The original lacquer is very much intact, little wear. There are a few, very few, teeny dings but really this baby is clean! There is some keywork wear, I'm imagining this horn didn't have a mechanical overhaul anytime recently, but the wear is minimal enough, and the horn plays very very well.
This horn needed little to make it shine. Its one of those times where you get a horn, play it, and then wonder can I even make this any better? Sometimes I can, but not always! I mean yeah, if you fully overhauled this horn it would be taken to the next level, but this horn played so well on the current pads. This one needed a new felt bumper for the low C, some minor regulation, and the neck was loose so I expanded the tenon for a perfect fit.
The case I'm not sure is original, maybe? It did come with the original white Pan Am mouthpiece which unfortunately has some cracks in the shank and needs repaired/banded.
One note, after finishing what work I had to do, the low register D was not speaking well. Something was going on, it was minimal but really the D, even though its known to be a problem note on some older horns, at least needs to be up to a certain level for it to sound good in the context of notes surrounding it.
The fix was simple, the new felt I put on the low C was not allowing the D to vent properly, once the venting was increased, problem solved!
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