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In case you missed it, I just got myself a rather lovely Yamaha 875, in black. Looks and sounds rather tasty. However this only came about after extensive, almost obsessive research and play-testing over a period of about 4 weeks, during which time I pestered, annoyed, and generally failed to buy anything from, sax dealers the length of England.
Up till then, I hadn't played many saxes at all apart from the B&M, Conn 10M and Cannonball that had been my previous tenors. Day after day (someone has to do it) of intensive blowing in rooms that varied from luxurious, carpeted, fully equipped mini-studios (sax.co.uk) to the space under the stairs where they sling all the spare cases (not saying, but I did wind up buying the 875 from them!), during which time I tried;
Some of these were always going to be outside of my budget, but it's great how sax dealers enthuse you into trying the next model up - great example of "upselling" - but thanks anyway - a £5,000 Mk 6 was never going to get on the shortlist but the opportunity to play it was appreciated.
Anyway, I came away with a very simplistic view of saxophone brands, and I appreciate that this will be controversial and will probably lead to scorn being poured on my head by far more experienced players than me.
So, my very tongue-in-cheek theory of saxophones; basically, all Taiwanese saxes are essentially the same. Honest, between the dozen or so Taiwanese saxes I tried and my (Taiwanese) Cannonball, I could not find sufficient difference to make me change. On some the tone/playability/flexibility was better, on some it was not as good, but there was no cosmic "oh my God" moment.
However when it came to the "Big 4" brands, each had their own clear identity.
Yamahas feel like a piece of precision engineering - beautiful action, staggering intonation, reliable, stable, effortless.
Selmers feel like a temperamental artiste - sometimes just good, sometimes mind-blowingly brilliant.
Keilwerths are like the Panzer tank division of saxophony, powerful brutes, low on subtlety but high on devastation.
Which leaves Yanigasawas. I can only think that because so many Taiwanese brands are copies of Yanis, they just didn't have an individual identity for me - beautifully made instruments, but nothing that stood out.
To those that disagree, I am sure you are right - you almost certainly have a greater breadth of knowledge and experience than me. To those who agree, you probably have no idea what you are talking about. A bit like me then......
🙂
PS apologies to the manufacturers of Rampone and Cazzani, Borgani, Barone, Antigua, Vibratosax and the many others who did not feature in this review. Better luck next time.......
Up till then, I hadn't played many saxes at all apart from the B&M, Conn 10M and Cannonball that had been my previous tenors. Day after day (someone has to do it) of intensive blowing in rooms that varied from luxurious, carpeted, fully equipped mini-studios (sax.co.uk) to the space under the stairs where they sling all the spare cases (not saying, but I did wind up buying the 875 from them!), during which time I tried;
Yamaha 62
Yamaha 82Z
Yamaha 875
Selmer Series II (about 7 or 8 of them)
Selmer Mk6
Yanagisawa 991
Yanagisawa 901
Keilwerth SX90R
Mauriat 66 (in a bewildering variety of finishes)
TJ Raw
System 54
BW M2
Some of these were always going to be outside of my budget, but it's great how sax dealers enthuse you into trying the next model up - great example of "upselling" - but thanks anyway - a £5,000 Mk 6 was never going to get on the shortlist but the opportunity to play it was appreciated.
Anyway, I came away with a very simplistic view of saxophone brands, and I appreciate that this will be controversial and will probably lead to scorn being poured on my head by far more experienced players than me.
So, my very tongue-in-cheek theory of saxophones; basically, all Taiwanese saxes are essentially the same. Honest, between the dozen or so Taiwanese saxes I tried and my (Taiwanese) Cannonball, I could not find sufficient difference to make me change. On some the tone/playability/flexibility was better, on some it was not as good, but there was no cosmic "oh my God" moment.
However when it came to the "Big 4" brands, each had their own clear identity.
Yamahas feel like a piece of precision engineering - beautiful action, staggering intonation, reliable, stable, effortless.
Selmers feel like a temperamental artiste - sometimes just good, sometimes mind-blowingly brilliant.
Keilwerths are like the Panzer tank division of saxophony, powerful brutes, low on subtlety but high on devastation.
Which leaves Yanigasawas. I can only think that because so many Taiwanese brands are copies of Yanis, they just didn't have an individual identity for me - beautifully made instruments, but nothing that stood out.
To those that disagree, I am sure you are right - you almost certainly have a greater breadth of knowledge and experience than me. To those who agree, you probably have no idea what you are talking about. A bit like me then......
🙂
PS apologies to the manufacturers of Rampone and Cazzani, Borgani, Barone, Antigua, Vibratosax and the many others who did not feature in this review. Better luck next time.......
