Saxophones Bari sax- Eb vs F#?

[WhiplashTM]

So I was looking online to maybe buy a bari sax. Back in JR high I was the 1st chair alto who got to play bari, and I loved it for 2 years. Then HS happened and I wouldn’t be eligible for one of the HS bari’s for at least 2 years. Realized I wasn’t all that fond of the teacher or Alto, so I moved on to other things. (Girls mostly.)

Had a tenor for a couple years as an adult but it just wasn’t enough. You can feel a bari, around the solar plexus, and that’s half the fun.

So I was surfing and decided I could pony up for a cheap bari and it turns out I don’t actually know what I should be buying. I don’t know the difference between and Eb or F# bari or why I should choose one over the other.

I’m hoping someone could point me in the right direction. I used to be able to site read for Alto and whichever bari I had in school, but that was decades ago so I’m not sure if any of that is retained. I didn’t love the tenor so I didn’t spend much time with it. Fingering seems to work well enough whenever I pick up any sax and see if I can blow notes or if I’ve devolved into making bird noises.

Lastly, I think my biggest inspiration (or reminder for why I’d like to play bari again) is Leo P. Caught him hoping around stage on youtube and it refreshed my ideas about sax. So, yeah, If I were to chart my course for sax, making energetic techno sax from a bari would be at the top of the list.

Any help with recommendations would be appreciated! Just realize I’m intending to be cheap. $1000-$1500 is all I can justify for what is a whim at the moment. Thanks!
-M

 

[Vetinari]

Baritones are keyed in Eb same as the alto. Some are keyed down to play low Bb others down to low A. The F# usually refers to it being able to key high F#.

 

[WhiplashTM]

Baritones are keyed in Eb same as the alto. Some are keyed down to play low Bb others down to low A. The F# usually refers to it being able to key high F#.

So you’re saying an F# bari just has wee bit more range?

 

[Vetinari]

Yes . Some saxes stop lower, some only reach up to F. At the bottom end some only go down to Bb but others have an extra key to go down to A

 

[WhiplashTM]

Ok. 2 questions:

• Do you mean The Vetinari?
• If you were to recommend where someone like me should be looking, should I buy some amazon stuff of reasonable quality (with a return policy and probably from china) or attempt to get something used from ebay?

 

[Vetinari]

THE Vetinari? No I'm just a cheap copy.
Can't recommend anywhere, I've only bought from my sax teacher, an ex rental and a cafe member. Be careful buying off ebay. Lots of fakes out there. Other people in the cafe can give better advice than me.

 

[Colin the Bear]

You wouldn't get much for that price in UK. Perhaps one to do up. Then there's the hazzard of shipping not to mention the cost. I'd look local.

 

[nigeld]

Looks like the OP is in the USA, so maybe some of the US members can make suggestions of places to look.
As @Colin the Bear says, it would be difficult to get a good secondhand bari for that in the UK. But a cheap Chinese instrument would be possible.

I would not worry at all about whether the bari has the top F# - that's nice to have but not essential.

It is a little bit more important whether to get a bari that goes down to Bb or one that goes down to A. On the whole, vintage bari saxes tend only to go down to Bb (often called a Bb baritone), whereas modern ones mostly go down the extra semitone to A (an A baritone). But again, given your budget, I wouldn't worry about it too much - either will be fine.

 

[WhiplashTM]

Yeah, I’m in the US. I do have family that splits time between the US, UK and Italy so if there were someplace that saxophones are cheap enough to be worth the imposition, I might be able to swing a favor... Most likely better to steer towards my US options and free prime shipping though.

Would it be rude to post the listings from ebay that I think might be decent options. I feel like an idiot here and dont want to waste people’s time. There are a thousand things I’m an expert at but apparently telling the difference between a decent bari and magic beans is not one of them.

Thanks!
-M

 

[Vetinari]

Shipping a bari sax is not cheap, getting it packed well enough for safe shipping is absolutly neccessery.
Taking on a plane as carry on, not much chance due to size and weight,will probably get thrown into the hold without much care.

 

[Wonko]

Are you in a hurry?
If you are on a budget, I would start looking out for a bargain and take my time waiting for that bargain. A little over a year ago I decided that I would start looking out for a bargain Baritone. My main horn is tenor, but I wanted to extend my range towards the bottom end for quite some time. I had some budget to spend because I had sold some stuff at that time. But that budget was not enough to get a good bari.
And in February (2020) I found a bargain bari here on the yardsale. I had to drive over to the north of Scotland to collect it. It was a wonderful vacation with my family and I now have a very decent Bari sax that I use as secondary instrument.
So, check out the yardsale here and other places where you could find a bargain.

There is one bari sax on the yardsale at the moment: For Sale - As NEW JP Baritone "Cadence" Sax Reposted
I'm not sure if you can access the yardsale, there are some restrictions on new members accessing the yardsale (I think that is just for putting up for-sale-adds)

 

[nigeld]

Would it be rude to post the listings from ebay that I think might be decent options. I feel like an idiot here and dont want to waste people’s time. There are a thousand things I’m an expert at but apparently telling the difference between a decent bari and magic beans is not one of them.

It's fine to show us some examples - go ahead. But you may not get as much help as you would like. Forum members may be able to tell you which ones to avoid, but whether an instrument is a good buy is harder because:
1. it needs to feel right for you, and only you can tell that. (Though my limited experience with bari saxes is that they mostly feel OK to me, especially the modern ones.)
2. it needs to be in playable condition, or at least you need to have a good idea what it would cost to put it into playable condition. This may be difficult to tell based on a few pictures - it is partly a matter of trust. But the experts may be able to say that instrument X will cost far too much to get repaired. And if the seller has a good returns policy then that helps a lot.