Melissa
Member
Hi,
I started to play on the reeds which came with a sax, these were Rico 2.5, and I did find it hard going, I tried Vandorens and broke my lip,
The I went over to Rico Royals as ran out and had one spare, these too I found ok but a bit of a hard blow, I have tried + 1.5'+ 2's and for some reason always seem to squeak and find them hard to manipulate so have stayed with the 2.5's. However, blowing from cold, I just could not get those bottom notes out right until warmed up 
I had a sax come in and had it overhauled-that old 1920's Tenor I always speak of,, it is rather nice. I ran out of reeds and there was a brand new La voz medium reed in the case, tried it and found it much easier to play with, this died on me so I bought some new Lavoz 2.5's.. lip problem again,
but I have been eagerly practicing recently and today I just could not blow the Lavoz reeds... (though I have had bronchitis for a couple of months now so felt it was because of this..)
However, I decided to take one of the Lavoz medium hard and scrape it down half a dozen times.. incredibly it plays better than anything I have ever used... just wondering if when I am close to running out, whether to buy the medium soft or just keep scraping them down? I think they sound much nicer than the standard Rico's or the Royals... but I suppose that is a personal thing right?
I would class myself as a crap beginner😳, I can play some tunes ok but just never practiced enough, self esteem, depression and lack of time through work. Just wondering what others opinions of what is classed as a good beginners sax and such, I have tried modern and late 20thC horns and most just do not do it for me, whilst they play ok, I started to lose interest as for me they did not sound right..I know that sounds odd, but some saxes make noises, others sing and my old horn really does sing for me.
I do believe I have a nice combo for me now, 1920's horn, scraped lavoz, sounds really nice,🙂 the ergonomics are not perfect by any means as I have found that the low Bb is a bit out of reach, but I have managed to get by ok with it.
Oh, just thought to mention that the mouthpiece I use also came with my first sax, a Berg ebonite 100/1 sms and I have stayed with this since.
Just speaking out and hoping some may give their honest opinions and advice... please!
I started to play on the reeds which came with a sax, these were Rico 2.5, and I did find it hard going, I tried Vandorens and broke my lip,


I had a sax come in and had it overhauled-that old 1920's Tenor I always speak of,, it is rather nice. I ran out of reeds and there was a brand new La voz medium reed in the case, tried it and found it much easier to play with, this died on me so I bought some new Lavoz 2.5's.. lip problem again,

However, I decided to take one of the Lavoz medium hard and scrape it down half a dozen times.. incredibly it plays better than anything I have ever used... just wondering if when I am close to running out, whether to buy the medium soft or just keep scraping them down? I think they sound much nicer than the standard Rico's or the Royals... but I suppose that is a personal thing right?
I would class myself as a crap beginner😳, I can play some tunes ok but just never practiced enough, self esteem, depression and lack of time through work. Just wondering what others opinions of what is classed as a good beginners sax and such, I have tried modern and late 20thC horns and most just do not do it for me, whilst they play ok, I started to lose interest as for me they did not sound right..I know that sounds odd, but some saxes make noises, others sing and my old horn really does sing for me.
I do believe I have a nice combo for me now, 1920's horn, scraped lavoz, sounds really nice,🙂 the ergonomics are not perfect by any means as I have found that the low Bb is a bit out of reach, but I have managed to get by ok with it.
Oh, just thought to mention that the mouthpiece I use also came with my first sax, a Berg ebonite 100/1 sms and I have stayed with this since.
Just speaking out and hoping some may give their honest opinions and advice... please!