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The PINO I Tenor saxophones we created in collaboration and partnership with the amazing Saxophonist Lucas Pino.
To learn more about Lucas and his incredible music please visit his website. www.LucasPino.com
Lucas Pino has always loved the sound of his Conn New Wonder Tenor but felt that the economics and action of the horn have been making things more difficult for him to execute technique wise. It was in effort to solve this problem that the project for the PINO I Tenor began!
These PINO I Tenor Saxophones are Completely Hand assembled in our New York City Saxophone shop, and are designed to covey the sound of the conn tenors with the ergonomics of a modern saxophone! The Hand assembly of each saxophone is extremely time intensive and requires approximately 25-35hrs of complete dedication to complete on each horn.
The neck of the PINO I is designed and inspired by the neck of the Conn New Wonder Lucas has played on for many years. The opening aperture of the neck is a very similar diameter and shape allowing the neck to take large volumes of air without feeding back and causing unnecessary pushback much like the sound that Conns are famous for. The angle of the neck we collaborated on and ultimately decided should not be an exact replica of vintage conns because of the uncomfortable downward facing angle.
The balance point of the neck strap ring on the body tube has been soldered in the center position unlike most vintage Conns which have the strap rings soldered too high up causing the saxophone to have a natural balance point where the mouthpiece hits the player in the face.
On almost every modern saxophone you will encounter the connection between the body tube and the bottom bow is simply glued on and held in place by a collet. For this reason many saxophones don’t have a stable low end because the bell can easily be knocked and shifted out of position. In order to make the PINO I tenors vibrate and resonant as one piece and also have a completely stable and airtight low end, we carefully hand solder the bells on.
Aesthetically, in a nod to the vintage conns (with a twist), we made the key guards Conn wire style with adjustable bumpers to allow the technician very easy key height adjustment and pad work. The reason for the brushed Nickel Plated key work is 3 fold: 1. Increased Durability and key rigidity 2. Beautiful silver look that doesn’t tarnish like silver 3. Resistance to the players natural acidity and corrosion from their hands.
The body tube of the PINO I is a Selmer Style bore which allows for precision of intonation and extremely ergonomic key feel and setup. We experimented and made several saxophones for Lucas out different materials to find out what had the Warmest sound most reminiscent of his Conn and we settled on making the PINO I out of a high copper Content Brass. All of these elements in combination produces a saxophone that is nimble, in tune, and has a huge warm Conn Sound!