Engraving clinic at Sax Alley, 7/20

I'll be doing a free engraving and general saxophone clinic at Sax Alley (https://www.facebook.com/events/395331347239031/) Saturday July 20th from 10am to 1pm.  Please come by and say hello!

Flickr

a rare Mark VI alto in "sparkle lacquer" made in 1960.  I tried to match period engraving for this one.

 Incidentally, I have a lot more photos of work on my Flickr site. 

Some recent projects

Hi all, it's time for some project updates!

Reference 54 Tenor

Reference 54 tenor

More Reference 54

Yamaha Xeno bass trombone in Art Deco style

The little dog was a specific request of the owner

Me with my Olds tenor I engraved.  This is going to be in Saxophone Journal when they have a feature on me

IW C Soprano 1 of 2.  Done in vintage style

The finished version of Dave's Yamaha Tenor

Up next are 2 exciting trombone projects and a Mark VI re-engraving.

Yamaha engraving project underway

This project is an unlacquered Yamaha custom Z, for a pro player in SLC.  This is an odd situation, since I had already done 2 Zs for him, but one recently got destroyed in a freak accident, so I am "replacing" the old one.  His lacquered version was featured on the Yamaha blog.

I took this photo so you can see the way I shape the existing factory engraving and give it more flow and organic shape.  Working with the factory pattern is extremely challenging, so it's always fun to try new things.

Buescher "Big B" re-engraving and additions

This was a very challenging project, as the owner wants to custom-plate the horn first with silver, then gold fill inside the engraving.  This meant leaving a lot of interior space, but also enhancing the existing pattern consistent with the factory work(!).  So, I spent a ton of time looking into all the various Buescher patterns and incorporated them into the design, as well as some tasteful augmentation.  The results are below, before & after:

Unfortunately, the factory text was really off-kilter and I couldn't do much to improve it.  I think it looks great overall.

A bit of inspiration

I love old Selmer (American) style engraving that started to emerge in the early 30s.  Even a horn so massively produced as the Mark VI had gorgeous work on it.  For me the pinnacle of their engraving was between 1939 and 1950, and I find a lot of inspiration in it.

Here's a project I am working on that merges the classic Selmer style with my own.  It's a 1950s Olds Ambassador tenor, made by Martin.

my homage to Selmer, especially the flowers!

The bell in profile...

Even with crummy pads this tenor still plays incredibly well!

King Super 20 before and after photos

This was a restoration project, as well as adding new work to it.  The owner wanted a "tasteful nude" so I added her to the side.  SilverSonic bells are harder to work with, as silver is softer than brass.  It did allow me to do some nice bright cut work though.

Projects in the works

I apologize for the lack of updates here. I am going to try and post regular updates on projects I am working on.  Right now I am selling a bari I just completed on eBay:  http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320562732486&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT

On the way are a Cannonball curved soprano, a King Super 20, a special project for Randy Cole and lastly a very special transitional Conn tenor.  Thanks for stopping by!

Welcome to the new DuMars Engraving website!

Hello and welcome to my site! I have recently decided to switch to a blog format so I can keep things updated more regularly. I will be adding more information soon, but for now, please take a look at some recent projects and let me know what you think.