GARDET MARKED CH. GRASS SAXOPHONE / GRASSI ''PRESTIGE'' ALTO SAXOPHONE (''60)

GARDET MARKED CH. GRASS SAXOPHONE

By clearing away the attic I was surprised with an old case

and a saxophone of an unknown brand to me. As I'm a

guitar player that is no big surprise of course and a few years

ago I already did some investigations concerning this brand.

Luthiervents is a France based saxophone repairer who

helped me in finding the origin of this instrument. At first

he was surprised as well but the address on this instrument

cleared up the mystery. Charles Grass had a factory on the

Chaussee d' Antin 12 in Paris so it has to be from that

factory. This is an Alto saxophone that didn't surprise me

by its' looks but the sound is professional in every way!

A fairly straightforward built horn but built with a lot of 

experience and taste but Ch. Grass was a very good player

in his own right. As can be seen this instrument has a small

bore as most French saxes have from that period. This

instrument can be dated around 1930.

This particular model has been marked "PRIMA" which

was their most successful and best sounding saxophone.

In spite of the small bore the tone is sooo big! With

lots of lower end and a beautiful rounded middle and

upper register. This was simple to conclude even for

a guitar player like me! I compared it with my Buescher

Aristocrat from 1933 and this saxophone, I have to

admit, out roars the Aristocrat while the Buescher is

a great sax as well. I tried this one out with my standard

Selmer mouthpiece and a 1,5 reed (I didn't have a better 

suited one at that time) that in fact makes a saxophone 

sound too thin. Not with this one!

Of course this saxophone has a single octave key and the next

investigation was if it was a low or high pitch instrument as the

high pitched instruments are non usable with other instruments.

That was again a nice surprise: It plays well on A = 440 Hz.

The extra's on a saxophone regarding extra keys I'm

not familiar with as I can play the standard notes but

no more than that. In spite of the older pads that in fact

better can be replaced it already played down to the

lowest notes so it can only grow better!

The GARDET is a very sturdy built instrument and not

a light one. By hearing a saxophone like this I can only 

wonder how it can be possible that this brand ever disappeared

but it counts for more French (and German) brands as most

of the time they did little effort to conquer the international

market what resulted in a too small market for France

alone. These Gras labeled saxophones are the ones

to look after. Hearing is Believing!

A brochure from 1933 in which the address at the

Boulevard Chaussee d' Antin 12 is mentioned.

You are able to enlarge by clicking on the pics.

GRASSI ''PRESTIGE'' ALTO SAXOPHONE (''60)





Although Grassi is most known for their mediocre instruments
it is in fact sad that the better instruments were produced and the
end of their production when it was already clear the factory
had to shut down.

On this picture you can clearly see the two coloured

combination that was very popular in the sixties.