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Bass
SX90 5300
SX90 Series bass saxophones
A few points about the SX90 bass saxophone that are important:
- Keilwerth is the only company making professional, long wrap, AKA vintage American style, bass saxophones. This is the only style they have ever made, as compared to Selmer’s short wrap, AKA French style.
- If you want a true, authentic, yet modern long wrap bass, Keilwerth is the way to go.
- As the owner of a 1983, Couf Superba I, I will tell you, you can’t go wrong.
- Keilwerth bass saxophones have all the grunt and guts of the Bueschers and Conns of the 20s and 30s, but none of the quirks. Period. End of statement.
- The SX90 will be even better than my Couf I suspect. Sadly I have not had the opportunity to try one. Yes, they have to be custom ordered, and yes there is a wait time. Check with your local Buffet/Keilwerth dealer to see about current price pricing, availability, as well as estimated wait times.
Description
The SX90 Bass saxophone is a masterpiece of craftsmanship and performance. The voluminous tone will offer a solid foundation for any ensemble, with clarity and distinction for the soloist as well. The key work is designed for comfort and ease of playing for an easy and fluent transition when doubling. Gold lacquered body and keys with precision engraving is standard along with an adjustable peg stand*, and three strap hooks levels**.
Source: Julius Keilwerth
*I have not seen any SX90 bass saxophones with an adjustable peg stand. The photos provided by Keilwerth don’t show it either. Interestingly enough, the last edition that I have of the Keilwerth brochure, Passion: Saxophones, circa 2016, also mentions the adjustable peg stand. You would think that if the horns had this feature that they could have updated their online photos. Furthermore, as you will see in the photos below, a brand new SX90 bass sold by Weiner Music in 2021, didn’t have the peg stand. What does it mean? Your guess is as good as mine.
** I am not sure what the three strap hook levels means. None of the images I have seen of a SX90 bass show more than 1 hook. Multi-hooks are common in cheap, Chinese-made bass saxophones BTW, and look nothing like these heavy JK ones. Does “three strap hook levels” refer to something available at time of order? Or is it, like the “adjustable peg stand”, a feature that doesn’t seem to exist in real life, but only in the minds of the content writers? 😉
Technical Specs
Key: |
Bb |
Range: |
Low Bb to High Eb |
Country of Manufacture: |
100% Handmade in Germany |
Body Construction: |
Single Post to Body |
Material: |
German Brass |
Key Buttons: |
Mother of Pearl |
Palm Keys: |
Adjustable |
Thumb Rest: |
Metal, Adjustable |
Pads: |
Leather Pisoni |
Resonators: |
Metal |
Tone Holes: |
Drawn |
Body Finish: |
Lacquer |
Key Finish: |
Lacquer |
Engraving |
Precision Laser |
Model: |
JK5300-8-0 |
SX90 Bass Pics
Finding decent photos of SX90 bass saxophones has been extremely difficult—a task made more difficult by the fact that at most Keilwerth makes at most 3 bass saxophones per year.1
1 In a 2006 email to a JK bass sax owner, Keilwerth reported that they were making only 2 or 3 bass saxophones annually. German saxophone historian, Uwe Ladwig, confirmed this number, and stated that approximately 100-150 Keilwerth bass saxophones had been built by that time.
Since the publication of Uwe’s first edition of Saxofone: Ein Kompendium, adding at most 3 new basses per year, we would have circa 200 Keilwerth bass at most of ALL MODELS, since the company started making their bass saxophones in the 1930s.
