Alto choice

les_g · Oct 26, 2007

Hi there,

I'm hoping you can help me choose the best alto saxophone for my son. I've spent several days trawling through the wealth of excellent info on the web and am feeling a bit dizzy.

I have read the variuos threads in the beginners section, but need your expertise to help me make the right choice.

My son plays piano & clarinet at grade 7, so he has the musical background. He wants to expand his range by learning to play a saxophone.

I don't want to spend much at this stage, and I am grateful to Pete Thomas for pointing me towards the cheaper Chinese imports.

I think that I have made a realistic short-list of the best of the cheap imports and I would like to call on your combined expertise & experience to help me make the final choice.

My short-list is:

Selmer Prelude AS700/701
Gear4Music
Walstein
Hanson
Academy SXA-1G

Have I missed any good quality instruments out?

Any feedback you can give me would be of great help.

Thanks, LesG 🙁

Linky Lee · Oct 26, 2007

Gear4Music and Walstein are the cheapest (I don't know anything about the Academy). I'd argue with anyone that the Walstein is the best of that bunch by far. Though I've only ever experienced Walstein, Hanson and Prelude.

griff136 · Oct 26, 2007

you should also consider a Jupiter or a JP John Packer own brand alto.

Jupiters are well made instruments and are priced around the 320 mark.

Bobby G · Oct 26, 2007

I think you might find there's a bit of a wait for the Walstein, there certainly is for their tenor; I guess word's got around that they are good for the money. Also, they are only available from one outlet somewhere down south.

Col9 · Oct 27, 2007

Hello,its a tough choice I know. I can vouch(own) for Prelude, Hanson and Walstein (good so far) .My other half has the prelude tenor and its spot on. Nice action, every note in the upper and lower registers is bang on with the tuner and it sounds nice which helps.

Gear4music get good press (on here especialy) but I dont own one so cant comment but a 14 day moneyback guarantee cant be a bad sign. They have a few different finishes as well. I nearly bought one of their baritones last week.

I used to have a Jupiter sax it was built well and played ok but it lacked something. The Prelude and the Hanson have "a thing" that makes them more enjoyable to play. Cant really comment on the Walstein yet as its still has novelty value.

My daughter has a John Packer french horn and its well made sounds really nice but we have no experience of their sax's

Col.

peter_fitton · Oct 27, 2007

I'm also a Selmer Prelude alto owner and have to say I'm very impressed with it. Excellent intonation throughout, as Col9 says, and very well made.

Over the last couple of weeks my TJ tenor has been at the repairers having some work done, so I've been playing the Prelude in its absence (having played my tenor almost exclusively since I got it about 10 months ago). Much to my surprise I found that I really enjoyed going back to the Prelude.

Cheers

Peter

jonf · Oct 27, 2007

If you buy any sax off ebay, budget fifty quid on top to get it set up properly. Alternatively (what I would recommend) spend a bit more and buy from a shop. That way it should have been set up properly and you'll have a warranty that actually means something.

You'll also be supporting your local music shop. If we all just give up on them and buy off the web, they'll go bust. When they do, no use moaning about their absence.

peter_fitton · Oct 27, 2007

JonF wrote:
If you buy any sax off ebay, budget fifty quid on top to get it set up properly. Alternatively (what I would recommend) spend a bit more and buy from a shop. That way it should have been set up properly and you'll have a warranty that actually means something.

You'll also be supporting your local music shop. If we all just give up on them and buy off the web, they'll go bust. When they do, no use moaning about their absence.

Fair point, generally speaking. However, Les G has already said that his local shop only sells saxes that he considers out of his budget so he can't really support his local shop in this instance.

Also, the Ebay seller selling Preludes is Norman Sales who are a music shop, as far as I'm aware. They claim that they do set up the instruments before dispatch and, in the absence of any evidence to the contrary, I see no reason to doubt them. Certainly mine played and sounded fine straight out of the box.

Peter

chris_j · Oct 27, 2007

An alternative is to look at a site like Sax on the web and get a second hand pro model, such as

Chris

Col9 · Oct 27, 2007

We got our Prelude from Normans, Cant fault the service, price or product.

Col

Pete Thomas · Oct 28, 2007

Chris J wrote:
... such as

Maybe also VAT in addition to duty. Import paymants seem to be rather erratic, sometimes you have to pay sometimes you don't. I've never quite worked out the ins and outs.

chris_j · Oct 28, 2007

I agree, import additional cost seem to be calculated behind smoke and mirrors!

I don't mind the duty and VAT, fair game. The imports are a bargain anyway, particularly horns being cheaper in USA and the exchange rate is just fantastic at the moment

But what really irritates is that, I understand, the duty and tax is calculated on the total value of the parcel, and the cost of shipping is included in that total.

I really can't see the fairness of charging import duty and VAT on a shipping charge!

Chris

simon_b · Oct 28, 2007

I have a Yamaha YAS-275 and i have found it is the perfect first horn for me.When i was buying mine i also play a few Jupiters but the wern't up to standerds with the 275.I have also hear the Selmer are very good horns as well but i have never played one.make sure you don't skimp on the price, make sure you get a quality instrument.

Simon

les_g · Oct 28, 2007

Thank you all for the time and effort you have put in to help me out, much appreciated.

I am still mulling it all over, but I have certainly learnt a lot!

I certainly think that an instrument that has been properly set up is a very important criteria to look for and in that respect I have looked closely at the Walstein which comes with such an assurance.

I have tried to get on to the Hanson site but keep getting an 'Bandwidth limit exceeded' message, so I can't even check out the price of their alto ( does anybody know how much they cost?). It seems that they also guarantee that their products have been thoroughly checked and adjusted.

I would guess that Chinese imports that have not had this treatment might be prone to quality control issues? Do you think that this would apply to Selmer Preludes, which may have simply been re-distibuted via the Selmer wholesale network?

Thanks again, Les (any input is most welcome)

Pete Thomas · Oct 28, 2007

Selmers (even the pro horns) aren't famous for a good factory set up. Expect to pay for a tech to spend a bit of time tweaking.

Linky Lee · Oct 28, 2007

The Hansons have 3 different 'levels' the 3 series, 5 series and 8 series.

Hanson's technician, Chris (If I remember correctly) is very good and did a nice job on my horn ( I have an 8 series).

My Prelude arrived in good condition but it was much better after a fiddle at the local repair shop.

Bobby G · Oct 29, 2007

Probably better to start out on a modern horn as the keywork is a lot easier to play with - before I got my Yamaha 62, I had a Trevor James Revolution 2 which worked fine and didn't cost too much.

Someone said something about Jupiters lacking something; I had a go on one once, and although it was easy to play, I found it lacked a bit too. Nothing wrong with it, just a bit uninspiring, which one or two people have also said about Yanagisawas.

les_g · Oct 30, 2007

Thank you all for your help and advice.

I have just placed an order for a Walstein alto which I think should do the job nicely. I'll let you know how he gets on with it, anyway. Tha Hanson was very tempting but a little out of the price bracket. Maybe later?

I will also be looking to upgrade the mouthpiece for him after a month or so.

Thanks once again. I feel now that I have been able to make an informed choice.

Best wishes,

Les Greenwood

frankb · Oct 31, 2007

Chris J wrote:
But what really irritates is that, I understand, the duty and tax is calculated on the total value of the parcel, and the cost of shipping is included in that total.

I really can't see the fairness of charging import duty and VAT on a shipping charge!

Ah, you miss the true elegance of the system!

Yes, the value for duty is the value of the goods including the shipping charges. However, the value for VAT is the value for duty plus the duty! 😱

What's that Gershwin song... "Nice work if you can get it...!"

Les - Best of luck with your Walstein! Keep us posted on how it goes!

Rogerb · Oct 31, 2007

FrankB wrote:

Chris J wrote:
But what really irritates is that, I understand, the duty and tax is calculated on the total value of the parcel, and the cost of shipping is included in that total.

I really can't see the fairness of charging import duty and VAT on a shipping charge!

Read more…

Ah, you miss the true elegance of the system!

Yes, the value for duty is the value of the goods including the shipping charges. However, the value for VAT is the value for duty plus the duty! 😱

What's that Gershwin song... "Nice work if you can get it...!"