Stephen Howard
Well-Known Member
Bingo! Nailed it.Since the bulk of players for these were students perhaps accounts for "characterless" saxes, as they had not developed their instrumental character yet?
Seriously, you give a pro or an advanced player a humble Selmer Bundy and they play a gig with it. Few will know what sax they are playing. Their riffs, everything will sound pro. Some pros even use a "busking level" student or intermediate sax to play in venues where they don't want to risk damage to their higher cost axe. The character is in the musician. The sax is a tool.
I used to get lots of players asking me how I got such a sound out of my old YTS-23 - and I told them it was down to using the same setup for years.
I get lots of clients in with fine old vintage horns and posh mouthpieces - and yet I can still 'out warm' most of them with my 23 and a Dukoff D8 with a Plasticover reed. Once you figure out that your horn is merely a vehicle for your own sound you can make it do pretty much anything - and the choice of horn becomes that of finding the one that makes it easiest to do this.
The student Yamahas tend to suffer because of their position in the market and their selling price. I mean, who turns back to a 'student' horn once they've bought their first intermediate or pro horn? There are countless players out there rocking posh horns that have never played a 23 and so have no idea at all about what it's capable of.
And yeah, I've moved on to the RAW...because it was the cheapest of only three horns that gave me a little bit more but still retained the clarity and transparency of my 23.
As for the late series Weltklang - it was always a turd. Built like one, played like one, sounded like one and often smelled like one too. Recommended only by people who are unlucky enough to own one...or who are looking to sell one.
The baritone used to be just about OK if you were on a very limited budget but these days a used Chinese Yamaha/Yani copy will comprehensively kick one in the nuts for much the same money.

(With apology to Weltklang owners.)

