No serial number chart for Dolnet was found in the database. Do you have some information that we don't? Want to help out? Please send any info to [email protected]. If you believe this to be an error, please contact [email protected]. Dave Guardala Alto Saxophone Artist Series, Black Lacquer, Serial number 008238. This sax has a big sound! I've been using a Raphael Navarro ebonite mouthpiece on it which smooths the edges of the sound but Iv'e heard it played with a metal Guardala mouthpiece and it roars.
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Based on these horns' keywork, I would estimate they were made in the mid- to late-1930s.
There also appears to be an 'intermediate' horn in this series without these 'gems', or it could just be that Dolnet wanted to change things for a year or two. The later horns in this series switch to the 'diamond' bell to body brace which is found on virtually all later Dolnets.
Engraving is quite distinctive: elaborate concentric geometic scrolling, all emanating from what might be called a central 'cartouche' -- I think the artist was strongly influenced by the patterns in the magnetic field! The overall effect is stunning. [The 'Bel Air' model name is based on] a conversation I had with an old guy back a few years ago: he had a Bel Air tenor identical to mine, though of a slightly earlier ser. no. (within a few hundred). He bought it new in Paris back in the late 40's (though he couldn't be certain exactly when). My alto, which came from the same source, matches my tenor closely but again is not marked 'Bel Air'. My 395** tenor is probably younger by a year or two. These horns are virtually identical to the Imperial model (listed below). It's possible that Dolnet actually labelled these horns 'Bel Air' for a few years, labelled them 'Imperial' for a few years and then decided not to label them anything at all.
It's possible that these horns were only available for this thin serial number range.
It hasn't got the big sound of its older brothers, but it is one of the sweetest and most clear-voiced classical tenors I've ever played. Just recently I performed a Haydn duet with harpsichord/electric keyboard, and the audience was ecstatic about the sound: it plays the most controlled pianissimos of any of my saxes and has a lightning-fast action. Again, it has pearl touches to the keyguards which are typically Dolnet art-deco, though the engraving is quite different: this time in very beautiful series of straight and zigzagged lines in true deco style. Ser. no. 834** places it very late, possibly 1969-70. I also know that my M70 's original and battered case is one which was in production in the late 60's -- I actually remember them being sold. (Purely speculatively: could M70 stand for 'Modele (19)70'? Some manufacturers start off a new decade with a new model [e.g. the Mark VII and Super 80]. If it is true that the case is from the late 60's and this horn was only produced in the early 1970's, this might explain the extreme rarity of the sax, the significant departures from earlier Dolnet keywork and the dramatic lefthand angle on the bell.) The horn also has a redesigned G#/C#/B/Bb cluster, more 'rounded' (i.e. not 'Art Deco') keys and 'Selmeresque' lower keyrods. If you accept my theory that Dolnet borrowed heavily from Buffet design, this horn looks an awful lot like a combination of a Buffet Super Dynaction or S1 and a Buescher 400 'Top Hat and Cane'.
I have heard of altos and sopranos in this serial number range. As far as I have been able to determine, this is the last model Dolnet. If the M70 was introduced in1970, I see no reason not to believe that these horns were introduced in 1980.
There are at least two models of these horns: 'The Royal Jazz Model', which sometimes has additional keywork (altissimo D# trill, G# trill, etc.), rolled tone holes and a microtuner neck, a la Conn and one sometimes labeled 'Artist Model' that generally doesn't have all the additional stuff, but is striking, nonetheless. As mentioned in the introduction, these models sometimes have been done in Sparkle Lacquer, like some Buffet Superdynactions. I've now seen two of these models, so I doubt that these horns were relacquers.
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