David Sanborn's Personal Custom-Made Gold-Plated Yamaha Mark Alto Saxophone

Description

Here's your chance to own one of the rarest saxophones EVER sold on eBay... there isn't another one like it in the world.  This alto sax was custom made for David Sanborn and presented to him as a gift by Yamaha in 1980.  It is not like any other Yamaha... it is very much like a Selmer Mark VI.  It has the "heavy" weight of a Mark VI.  It has a "model number" that doesn't really exist, because it was a custom build.  The serial number is 4 digits.  No one in the public has ever been offered a horn like this.
There is a matching soprano I saw once when I was visiting Sanborn at his home in New York City.  As far as I know, he still owns that horn.  He had no interest in selling it!
These horns were used to record one of his most famous albums, "As We Speak".  A signed Letter of Authenticity from Sanborn will be included.  The photo in the listing is a picture of Sanborn in the dressing room of The Blue Note in Tokyo, autographing this actual horn.
I purchased this horn from Greg Fishman, a Jazz instructor in Chicago.
I traveled to Japan in 2006 on business, and planned to see Sanborn play at the Blue Note Tokyo. I carried this horn with me and had him autograph it in Japan, as I thought that would be a cool tribute to the sax.
I took the horn to Sanborn's repairman Bill Singer in New York City to have it restored to the condition Sanborn played it in when he owned it.  Singer completely stripped the horn and cleaned the gold plating, and then repadded it and built to Sanborn's particular style of setup.  I returned to pick it up and went by Sanborn's home for him to check it out.  At the same time, I purchased a couple of other horns from him.
He test played the horn after Singer had finished with it, and said it played exactly the way he remembered it, and it felt and sounded perfect!
I have let many professional players test this horn... without fail, every single person who has ever played it says it's the best horn they know of.  It is incredibly powerful, as you would expect from any horn Sanborn would play.  What is does most magically is altissimo.  Makes a mortal player have range they wouldn't ordinarily have.
The sax has the original case, which is mint, because Sanborn never carried the horn in that case, he always uses Walt Johnson cases.
Don't whine about shipping.  If you can afford this sax, you can afford to have it shipped properly.  Handling charge covers new shipping materials and insurance.
You can pick this horn up in person, and I can deliver it to the Atlanta Hartsfield Airport to meet the Buyer.  I personally would hate to ship a horn of this magnitude, so I would fly in to get it if it were me.
Enjoy!!!  Check out my other auctions including a rare soprano owned by Sanborn, and one of his personal Mark VIs.