Advice on Upgrade

[jambo]

Cool

However... there is still another option.... Gear 4 Music.

Anyone got any info on those?

 

[Bobby G]

I've heard the gear4music horns are pretty reasonable, but have no idea about build quality - I suspect they may be a "use 'em up and wear 'em out" brand, but as a relatively cheap introduction to the world of the alto I'd say definitely worth considering. How all this compares to a Walstein in terms of build quality I don't know, but from Pete's tenor shootout the Wally certainly sounds good.

To add a bit more to what Greg and Nachoman have said about Yamahas; apart from sounding good, and being very flexible for the type of sound *you* want to get, they're also preetty darn tough and resilient.

Cheers, Bob

 

[Pete Thomas]

I've seen and tried a gear4music alto, and it's absolutely not a bad instrument. Doesn't measure up to the Walstein though.

 

[Jules]

Bobby G wrote:

To add a bit more to what Greg and Nachoman have said about Yamahas; apart from sounding good, and being very flexible for the type of sound *you* want to get, they're also preetty darn tough and resilient.

Cheers, Bob

When we had George Shelby (Yamaha endorsee and Brian Setzer orchestra tenor man) down at the shop doing a presentation he did a fantastic sales pitch on Yamahas- simply saying that, as a hard gigging musician, all he wanted was a horn that was tough and not prone ot going wrong and that's why he played Yamahas- a nice, simple, BS free endorsment

 

[jambo]

I thing is I cant afford a Yamaha at the mo... and id like to get playing the Alto ASAP

 

[Linky Lee]

maybe you want to look into rent-to-buy schemes?

 

[greg_strange]

Jambo,
Another option might be a Yamaha 32 series alto (semi-pro/intermediate) or even a student 25 series (high F#) or 23 (no high F#) or even the 21 series alto.
It might pay to check your local music stores to see what bargains they might have lurking in their shops.
Regards,
Greg Strange.

 

[Bobby G]

If the Yam 23 alto is as good as my 23 tenor it's worth looking at, or as Greg says the 25 with the high F#....

My tenor must be 30-odd years old, it's quite scratched and bruised but solid, plays and feels great. Not bad for a 'student' horn.

Cheers, Bob

 

[philthd]

its gonna take me being able to afford something really special before i replace my trusty yas25

 

[josh_johnson]

Justin Chune wrote:
A good thing to remember is always fit the mouthpiece to the neck before fitting the neck to the sax. This avoids damage to the neck and the sax.

I'm going to have to disagree with you on this matter. I used to put my mouth piece on the neck before putting on the sax. I stopped doing this this after the octave key came off in my hand - the octave key is alot more delicate than it looks.

Now I put my mouth piece on once the neck is on the sax - no damage yet.

Josh.

 

[Linky Lee]

I find if the mouthpiece is a bit stiff when putting it on, the crook twists in the body.

I don't like the idea of that happening, so I tend to put the mouthpiece on the crook and then the crook onto the body.

I'm just careful all round, I don't want a broken anything.

 

[Bobby G]

I also put the mpc on the crook before inserting into the main body of the horn, more out of habit than anything I s'pose, although I tend to think it's easier to bend an octave mech back into shape than risk bending the crook/body part. Having said that, using a bit of cork grease helps the mpc slip on easily so there's not too much resistance there anyway.

Cheers, Bob

 

[jambo]

Just to let everyone the update:

I got a vintage alto from my teacher over ebay. Its a Buecher Stencil (marked with the name Windsor) from the 1930's or 40's.

Its just been re-padded and it plays quite nice

 

[Bobby G]

Sounds reasonable Jambo, did you sell the Yani tenor yet?

Cheers, Bob

 

[jonf]

Hi Jambo

I saw that sax on eBay - looked nice. Hope you're happy with it.

Jon

 

[jambo]

Bobby G wrote:
Sounds reasonable Jambo, did you sell the Yani tenor yet?
Cheers, Bob

Just sold on eBay, I will be sad to see it go, but it didn't make sense for me to keep it as now i'm trying to get into practicing seriously I will need to concentrate on one horn (Alto). I also couldn't afford to keep it as I have just started a new college course (furniture making) and need money for tools ect