jazzdoh
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 2,978
- Locality
- West Midlands
The best cure for GAS is poverty, you can't buy if you ain't got anything to buy with.There is no cure for GAS. Just a temporary reprieve before the next attack.
The best cure for GAS is poverty, you can't buy if you ain't got anything to buy with.There is no cure for GAS. Just a temporary reprieve before the next attack.
Well some places allow you to borrow stuff on approvalI have a Yamaha 25 alto and sometimes a GAS mood comes upon me and I speculate on whether I should 'upgrade'. Then I talk myself out of it with all sorts of arguments but I am still curious about what a more expensive 'pro' horn would be like. What would kill GAS would be to try out a supposedly better instrument and see what happens after a fortnight. If one ended up sounding the same then one might just return it and celebrate the money saved.
I have a Yamaha 25 alto and sometimes a GAS mood comes upon me and I speculate on whether I should 'upgrade'. Then I talk myself out of it with all sorts of arguments but I am still curious about what a more expensive 'pro' horn would be like. What would kill GAS would be to try out a supposedly better instrument and see what happens after a fortnight. If one ended up sounding the same then one might just return it and celebrate the money saved.
Not in my experience.Playing a student horn or second hand vintage quickly reaches the point where the instrument is holding back development.
Or (more likely) a visit to a good tech or better breath control. Or maybe the embouchure isn't as reasonable as the student thinks. Took me quite a while to get that right and ten years in i still have to think about it sometimes.According to Hemke, a reasonable embroucher, with a good quality playable mouthpiece like a Van Doren Optimum or similar, should play every note easily, cleanly and in tune from low Bb to high F or F#, without adapting, ie moving tongue, tightening lips, etc. If your horn can’t do this, you need a far better instrument.
Playing a student horn or second hand vintage quickly reaches the point where the instrument is holding back development.
Respectfully...I actually disagree with this. Taking your example, a beginner with a Jupiter 5XX series horn (a respectable instrument BTW) in good tack will have no 'easier' a time learning sax than a beginner with a French Selmer in good tack.George, what I'm saying is that the quest for the best horn for YOU doesn't need to be expensive but it will make you a better player.
In the hands of a pro player a Jupiter 500 will sound great, but a novice has a better chance of sounding good with an SA80II than with a Jupiter, plus it will likely play easier too. My 100 horns haven't cost me a penny over 7 years and I still have four currently.
This only applies to 2nd hand horns. Buy new and you'll always lose.
Holy cow, with due respect that is one of the most subjective comments I have heard in a while. The fact is, plenty of pros play horns which, by your definition, should be hobbling them.Playing a student horn or second hand vintage quickly reaches the point where the instrument is holding back development. The player doesn’t notice, struggles on, finds difficult what is easy, can’t make the next step up, commitment tails off in the mistaken belief their talent has reached it’s peak.
I'm all in for toys but not so much for rationalizations and excuses to buy. I say give yourself permission or dont. Might you sound better on a better horn? Very possible. Will you be a better player?.........Nope.
First ....EVERY saxophone is unnecessary.
A good way to look at it.I have a Yamaha 25 alto and sometimes a GAS mood comes upon me and I speculate on whether I should 'upgrade'. Then I talk myself out of it with all sorts of arguments but I am still curious about what a more expensive 'pro' horn would be like. What would kill GAS would be to try out a supposedly better instrument and see what happens after a fortnight. If one ended up sounding the same then one might just return it and celebrate the money saved.
Indeed, if it's what you want. But don't fool yourself that it's necessary.Perhaps it won't be of any benefit musically but what harm can it do to buy sax that is deemed to be beyond your capabilities
Out of all the altos I've had, my YAS-23 Vito still sounds great, even with five duff pads (still to be replaced). I suspect your 25 is similarly good.
If you've read Steve Howard's reviews he found his YTS-23 to be unbeatable over many decades until he tried a TJ Raw.
I played my Chinese made YAS-23 for about six years before I bought a nicer horn.
After I took delivery of the new horn, I left the YAS-23 with my technician for some love and attention beyond the usual "Can you patch it together quickly? I've got a lesson tomorrow!". Well, when I got the horn back a couple of months later, the action was so smooth, light and slick that it would have made the upgrade decision harder if it had felt that way all along. Yes. Sure, I would have still bought a new horn, but I would have felt less justified.
I might be biased being more interested in tenor but does anyone else feel that its easier to get away with something like a 23 on alto than it is the same grade of instrument on tenor? I tend to really notice the differences in horns among tenors more than I do altos. Again...maybe its because Im listening more closely. Opinions?
I have 2 Alto's, a Yas 25 and an SA80II, both are set up very nicely but there's a world of difference between them in the sound quality.
Weren't the 23 series horns made in the Land Of The Rising Sun, i.e. Japan?
Actually, unlike others who suggested 'if it's a really good deal, get it"...in situations like this I always ask the person to consider:
how many trips/vacations/holidays to cool/interesting places would that $ buy...if you DON'T buy the item ?
I would say the experience of traveling to places you have never been to before (or places you HAVE, and Love) would trump owning a 'new' horn, actually....
I am sure a similar argument can be made for things other than trips....