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What's this Website About?
UPDATED on July 02, 2008.
I've subtly changed the direction of this Wiki.
Over 10 years ago, I started the very popular Vintage Saxophone Gallery (saxpics.com) website. About a year ago, I sold that website to the good folks at USAHorn. I had a recommendation for them: turn it into a Wiki. They didn't, so I decided to run with it.
Essentially what I intend this website to be is a compilation of saxophone make/model data, but with a focus on "What horn should I buy and why?" Additionally, it's now Wiki'd which means that YOU can contribute, add and edit stuff; I don't have to do all the work.
Additionally, I give you a new version of the Coppermine Picture Gallery that you can add pictures to. That means I don't have to spend hours and hours mining pictures.
I have several examples to get you started:
- Yamaha. This is an example of a manufacturer with several models. There's a nice menu bar that you can use for other makes/models, if you want, and it shows you the format I like.
- Grafton. This is an example of a manufacturer with only one model. It also has some examples of embedded YouTube videos (an add-on I installed).
- Jessen G Mezzo. This is an example of an "unfinished" section -- Peter Jessen's got a few horns he makes -- but also shows that the main "content" doesn't have to be exactly like the other pages.
- I haven't done any examples yet, but I plan on things like a page regarding contrabass saxophones, which isn't regarding any on specific make/model.
Don't worry about screwing something up. I can always fix it.
As a side note, I am planning on removing the "Features at a Glance", like on the Jessen page, in favor of putting them in the article's text ("Vital Statistics"), like on the Yamaha 875 page. This is to make editing more user-friendly.
Please note that I still have a couple test pages lying around and stuff from the original incarnation of this Wiki (such as the P. Mauriat pages).
BTB, this Wiki uses the same software as Wikipedia. I don't have all the extensions loaded that Wikipedia does, but the basic functions are very simular.
How to Get Started
Find the page you want and click on one of the little links that says [edit]. If you want to ADD a page, all you've gotta do is go to your address bar and type in "http://www.thesax.info/mediawiki-1.10.0/index.php?title=manufacturer_name" (where "manufacturer_name" is the manufacturer you want to create), hit "enter" and you're good to go.
A note: for a manufacturer that has multiple models, I use the naming convention of title=$manufacturer/$model, such as http://www.thesax.info/mediawiki-1.10.0/index.php?title=Yamaha/875.
Who am I?
I'm Pete, the humble creator of the internationally famous Vintage Saxophone Gallery website.
OK, I've got several different "resumes" depending on the situation, so I'll give the rundown of my musical career:
- Former Assistant to the Director at Western NY's largest church.
- Former Music Director and Music Department Head at a small, now bankrupt, church in Tucson, AZ.
- Former volunteer Director at a non-bankrupt church in Tucson, AZ.
- Played sax since, oh, 1985 or so. Originally started on clarinet about seven years before that. I was in every high school ensemble you could think of and I played multiple saxophones (Bb soprano thru Bb bass) and clarinets (Eb soprano thru Bb contrabass) with them and the various churches I've worked for.
- Currently I'm the World's Greatest Computer Tech at a large company in Phoenix.
- Studied saxophone with Dr. Laurence Wyman, a 1st-gen student of Sigurd Rascher, at SUNYC at Fredonia. I also studied with one of Dr. Wyman's pro students for several years.
- I haven't played professionally, semi-pro or at all, really for several years. I'm a better computer tech than player. I do sing bass and occasionally tenor at my church, Word of Grace.
- Former Administrator and Moderator on the Sax-on-the-Web Forum. Occasional article contributor to www.saxontheweb.net and a few others that have escaped my mind.
- I've been on TV and film many, many times playing sax and clarinet, particularly in the 1980's -- but never as a featured performer, nor as a studio musician. I'm used as a subject for a good deal of my current church's "commercials".
- I've recorded two CDs of me singing with my choir at Word of Grace church. You can buy them if you come on down to Word of Grace's bookstore -- they're not available online.
- I've owned approximately 20 different clarinets and 20 different saxophones during my lifetime, numbers most folks look at and say, "Hey n00b. I pwn u." (Translation: most collectors think this is a very low number.) My wife owns a Selmer Omega alto, a Selmer Signet 110 wooden clarinet and vintage 1955 spinet piano.
Contact Me
My general e-mail address is thesaxinfo@gmail.com. I can handle large attachments there, if you need to send them.
- If you want to ask me a question about a saxophone, please read the article I wrote on the Woodwind Forum to find out what info I need before I can answer your question.
- If you're looking for serial number info, check out my big woodwind serial number chart.
- If you have a question on how much your horn is worth, check out the article I wrote on the Woodwind Forum.
