Saxophones Buying an Alto Sax

[Pete Thomas]

I beleive they are made by Mormons

What makes you say that?

 

[Adrian63]

Hi Pete. Made in Salt Lake City. Mormon HQ. I dont suppose they make them. I have heard it said it is a Mormon based company. True; false i dunno. As i said, all this is my opinion. Rambling, is a better word. I do not mean to offend.

 

[ATG]

lol, speaking of Cannonballs I actually think they make a pretty good horn now. I like the global big bells & the stone series with the two necks. are they as good as Selmer, Yamaha (the big 4), etc.? eh, not quite, but they're still good horns, much better than they made 10 yrs ago. I like the tenors better than the altos. back to topic.....were I goning to buy a new alto & had the money it would be a Ref 54 by Selmer. I played an early lacquered one & thought it was really good, no gurgle, no problems of any kind, moderately dark smooth tone, full upper, I just really liked it & thought it the best alto Selmer had made in a while IMHO. my early MKVII with the silver III neck sounded about as good though (to me anyway)......not enough difference to my ears to justify spending the $$$, but had I not the VII I would have bought the 54. I tried my sterling neck on the 54 & liked the orig 54 neck better just for the record.

oh, btw....cannonballs are made in Taiwan (or were), probably distributed thru a company in Utah.

 

[jonf]

oh, btw....cannonballs are made in Taiwan .

As are Barone and Mauriat and loads of others with Western-sounding names. These days pretty much all horn are made in a handful of countries. France (Selmer), Germany (Keilwerth) Indonesia (student Yamahas) Italy (R & C and Borgani) Taiwan (Mauriat, Barone, Cannonball, Jupiter, T J James, and most of the 'intermediate' saxes) and China (Conn-Selmer, Bauhaus and almost all cheaper saxes). I reckon 90% of the world's production comes from China and Taiwan.

None of this is a bad thing.

 

[cannonballer]

yo guys.. finally settled on a reference 54. im so happy right now! i gota deal too! thanks for all your help everyone!

 

[TomMapfumo]

What an excellent choice.........................................! Hope you have a great time with it!

Kind regards
Tom

 

[Two Voices]

What an excellent choice.........................................! Hope you have a great time with it!

Kind regards
Tom

I knew you'd say that ;}

 

[TomMapfumo]

I bet you will have one before the year is out.......:shocked:;}

Then you'll have to get some Francois Louis excellence reeds........;}

 

[Two Voices]

I bet you will have one before the year is out.......:shocked:;}

Please don't put ideas like that in my head I am so tempted, I really am! However, I think it would be best to sort out a good mouthpiece first! The metal link is okay but I don't like the top end on it as the only way not the make the high notes thin is to blow harder and that ruins any pianissmo. So it is back to ebonite but which one?

Hopefully the new Soprano mouthpiece will be the ticket ;} Almost decided on my Tenor Mouthpiece! The Berg Larsen Bronze Duckbill 130/2/SMS So that just leaves me to sort the Alto out!

Will it ever end??? ))

Then you'll have to get some Francois Louis excellence reeds........;}

Been thinking about those but on the La Voz Medium at the moment! Lasting longer than the RJS Unfiled 2M.

 

[SilverSax]

I'm 53 and after a lifetime of singing I got into the sax at 47. I don't know a lot about different manufacturers and models. I started with a little $200 "beater" in case I found out that saxophone wasn't for me...once I learned that I had found my passion, I bought a Yamaha silver Custom Z (YAS 82Z). This is a much better horn than I am a player; I'm trying to live up to it. I can easily recommend it. It does everything I've ever asked from it. I've had two teachers - both play a Selmer Mark VI. Each has told me that the Custom Z is a great horn and that it especially rocks on the lower notes. As a side note, the Custom Z is worth about $700 more than I paid in 2005.