A couple of years ago I got to play QuinnTheEskimo’s (if you have to ask, you don’t run in the sax forums or eBay) Conn-o-sax.

It was the sweetest sounding sax I’ve ever played, speaking clearly from the top to the bottom of the range of the instrument. I is also in mint condition with beautiful silver plate and gold. I had the chance to buy it but the price even back then gave one pause. Today, they are available for the price of a luxury car! Don’t take my word for how sweet this instrument sounds, listen to it here on this track featuring the Conn-o-sax on Sidney Bechet’s beautiful composition Si Tu Vois Ma Mere.

These are rare instruments indeed. The Conn-O-Sax is a straight-conical bore instrument in F (one step above the E♭ alto) with a slightly curved neck and spherical bell. The instrument, which combined a saxophone bore and keys with a bell shaped similar to that of a heckelphone, was intended to imitate the timbre of the English horn and was produced only in 1929 and 1930. The instrument had a key range from low A to high G. Fewer than 100 Conn-O-Saxes are in existence, and they are eagerly sought by collectors. Here is an ad from back in the day.