Best sax for an 11yr old

[Pam]

Hi everyone
New to this board, but hoping for some advice!! I have an 11 year old daughter who has so far done 2 terms at school on alto sax (6wks of those out of action having her tonsils out!) and her school hire period will soon be up.
I have been checking out second hand instruments on ebay and would like to go for a TJ, the artemis I have kind of ruled out but would the classic be any good? Have also seen a 5yr old horn revolution, but really don't know which way to jump. The other one is the 500 series Jupiter, a manufacturer I've always rated below the likes of TJ and Yamaha (I'm a flautist). As I say I'm so confused, I don't want to get the wrong instrument and hamper her progress.

Any advice gratefully received.
Thanks
Pam

 

[Pete Thomas]

Hi Pam and welcome.

 

[jadoube]

Pam,

As one who has bought on eBay and paid a lot for repairs I second Pete's advice. I have a Walstein tenor and, although I'm a less advanced player than your daughter, expect it will suit my needs for many years.

Check out the Assisted Instrument Purchase Scheme. It should get you the sax cheaper because its for use by a schoolchild. Not just W&B but also other retailers seem to support it.

See here

This is a positive review of Walstein. review



John

 

[npw]

Hi Pam,

In the last few months I bought a saxophone for my 10 year old daughter.

On the basis of the advice I got from this forum I kept well away from ebay and bought from an excellent shop in Edinburgh near where we live.

The advice I would give is to go somewhere where your daughter can try the saxophone. She is the one that needs to feel happy and comfortable with the instrument. My daughter had very strong views on what she did and did not like!

Good luck

 

[Bobby G]

Hi Pam, and welcome to the Room. As people have already said, ebay is a matter of pot luck (so far I've been ok having bought 2 Yamahas, an alto and a tenor) and you do hear some horror stories.

All reports on the Walstein have been good, although I've not played one myself, but I reckon if Pete says they're good they must be. I did own a Trevor James Revolution II for a while before I got my Yamaha, and they're a nice horn, the only niggle I had with it was that the l.h. pinky Bb was a bit of a stretch which could take a bit of getting used to, especially for an 11-year-old.

 

[griff136]

Sound advice from NPW and Jadoube.


they also have a selection of pre owned instruments too - all of which have been through the owrkshop to ensure they are in good playing order.

Its a matter of opinion and taste - out of your choice of 3, I prefer the yamaha over the jupiter and the TJ. but if you are on a budget I would go for the Jupiter.

 

[Bobby G]

Yes, the try-before-you-buy option is always good, and some shops have rental horns that when the rental period is up you pay the balance of the cost of the horn. Another possibility (I got my curved soprano this way) is to buy an ex-rental horn that wasn't purchased by the hirer at the end of the hire period - my curved soprano had been out on hire for three months and then returned still in near-new condition, and I picked it up quite a bit cheaper than the list price.

 

[Pam]

Thanks very much everyone for all the replies 🙂 I felt so much happier last night, when I realised that I did seem to be coming to the right conclusions.
To be honest I would only buy from ebay on a very safe bet and having found some good deals with Eddie Moors music, it would have to be very good to make it worth the risk.
Since my daughter already plays a Yamaha I know that would be her choice, but she has never tried the Jupiter so we plan on taking her to do that at the weekend. If she is happy with both, to a certain extent the decision will come down to budget, but also how long the instrument will last her.
Thanks again for all the help
Pam

 

[phil_edwards]

Bet she can't wait for the weekend, let us know how you get on.

Phil

 

[FastFred]

Have you thought of hiring and then buying? I started playing last October and actually bought a YTS275 from Richard at Saxhire.co.uk. I am also on my grade 5 (after a lot of brain-hurting effort!). Recently I bought a Pro model YTS62 on ebay (cheap)which I saw before I bought. I have the money and thought why not. It does sound better and finger easier.
Good luck whichever way you go, sounds like your daughter will stick with it.

 

[Pam]

Hi FastFred, did consider that option, but I think it would work out more expensive in the longrun. I think she will stick with it as she says she gets a real buzz when she plays, something she has never said about her Clarinet.
Have hit a slight snag with the try outs as the shop we were going to has apparently closed down!! Back to the drawing board, may end up with a weekend in Bournemouth to go to Eddie Moors since that's where we shall buy it anyway.
Pam 🙂

 

[Pam]

Update!! Manged to try the Jupiter today, very impressed and then we realised it was the 700 series not the 500!! Didn't have the 500 to try, but she did prefer the Jupiter to the Yamaha and the better model is in the same price bracket.
I think we have decided to leave making a decision until half term, by then we will have a better idea of our budget. Ordinarily it would be a 'no brainer' and we would go for the better instrument, but unfortunately, since my husband's job is looking a little uncertain to say the least, I think a little more time will help. If things are OK we can get a 'good' instrument as opposed to a stop gap, although I would imagine on the basis of the 700 series try out, she should at least get a year out of the 500 and then we can sell it on. Hiring for say 3 months could also buy us more time, so that may be an option also.

Pam 🙂