Mark Overton; Experience Saxquest and the National Saxophone Museum - Ep 233

Everything Saxophone Podcast Host, Donna Schwartz, interviewed Mark Overton, Founder of SaxQuest and the National Saxophone Museum.

Mark Overton started Saxquest in 2000 with a vision of creating a mecca for saxophone players to find great equipment, share knowledge/learn about their instrument and engage in safe honest transactions with a knowledgeable sales staff in both a brick & mortar retail store and over the Internet. 

This vision has led to the creation of two ventures, a retail store front-repair shop, with their online store at www.saxquest.com,  along with a social media website for saxophone players at www.saxophone.org. 

Mark has been active in the St. Louis jazz scene since 1993 and founded Code Blue, a Jazz Messengers style sextet and the Saxquest 9-piece Jazz Orchestra. 

Mark has performed with many jazz ensembles such as the Allegro Jazz Ensemble, Original Knights of Swing, as well as classical ensembles such as the St. Louis Philharmonic Orchestra, St. Louis Youth Symphony, St. Louis Wind Symphony, and others.

Saxquest, a family-run business for over 25 years in St Louis, is a woodwind pro-shop specializing in both vintage and new professional model saxophones and clarinets. 

Located on the 2nd floor of the shop, the Saxquest Saxophone Museum showcases a huge collection of many of the finest, rarest and most historically significant saxophones in the world as well as a collection of vintage saxophone accessories and other historical saxophone memorabilia. 

The museum is free and open to the public and is a real treasure for the music lover or the eclectic museum goer.

The link to Mark’s full Bio, as well as the background information on SaxQuest and the Museum is on our site at https://saxophonepodcast.com

Along with getting an overview and tour of the Museum and the SaxQuest shop, we also talked about:

• The influence of Conn Music in schools
• Conn experimental horns
• New invention saxophone
• Lost Wax mouthpieces
• How metal mouthpieces started
• Working on vintage horns
• Instrument Handling Tips
• and much more!

Timestamps:

00:00 Museum and repair shop overview

05:38 Discussion on St. Louis and connections

12:47 The influence of Conn music in schools

17:12 The Conn Family Bible

23:15 Conn experimental horns

30:18 New invention saxophone

33:15 Lost Wax mouthpieces

38:05 How metal mouthpieces started

40:01 Other unique saxophones

46:02 Exploring the museum and repair shop

49:31 Working on vintage horns

56:33 Instrument Handling Tips

57:39 Case Design Considerations

01:00:50 Long-term Instrument Care

01:02:41 Innovative Drying Solutions

01:03:40 Swab Recommendations

01:07:37 Overview of the Repair Shop

 

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