Saxophones Ebay bargain?

[Di in France]

A few weeks ago, browsing ebay, I came across a tenor sax advertised as a Lucette. I've never heard the name before, but when I looked, certain things looked familiar.
It had a bell brace, key guards and top f sharp key that looked like those on my alto.
My alto is a Yani A8833, and I think that this sax is a Yani stencil from the 800 range.
I took a chance and bought it. It was sent to a friend in the UK who brought it out to France for me today.

The seller said that it was in good condition with no dings or dents, and played straight out of the box and it does, it looks, feels and plays great.
A few pics;


It cost me £160 - an ebay bargain?

 

[sushidushi]

£160 certainly seems like an amazing bargain! :thumbup:

 

[trimmy]

Damn it I must have missed that one great find and a bargain

 

[kevgermany]

Looks good, looks like a bargain to me. Yani made mostly (all?) stencils before putting their own name on their products.

Would be great to see pics of any markings. May be something inscribed on the plinth that the thumb hook's screwed into, but it means removing the thumb hook.

 

[jonf]

My guess wouldbe that it is a copy of a Yanagisawa design, rather than a Yani made stencil. Yanagisawa did make loads of stencils on the earlier A series (got one, name's Astro, and it's great) but by the 800 series they were using their own name more, and the main stencils they did were the Vito ones for the Leblanc group. What you do tend to find on the Yanagisawa stencils is a small Yanagisawa logo and the word 'Japan' on the back of the sax, below the right hand thumb rest. If this is there, it's genuinely made by Yanagisawa. If not, I think you should assume it's a Yanagisawa copy.

None of this really matters much, though. If you've got a good playing tenor for £160 that's a bargain in anyone's language.

 

[Sue]

Certainly looks like you've got yourself a £160 gem. Look forward to hearing it

 

[ProfJames]

An absolute bargain! Well done!

 

[thomsax]

The Yanagisawa stencils I've seen have the Yani logo on the octave key on the neck and below the rh thumbrest. There use to be a number as well wich indicate which model it is. And sometimes also a letter; A5, T5 ..... . And they are often stamped with "........... by Yanagisawa" on the bell.

 

[Di in France]

Thanks guys, I'm going to take the thumb hook off after to have a look.
I think it's a stencil rather than a copy becuase of the bell brace, it's typical of the 800 series and I'm not sure that there were as many (any) tiawanese/chinese copies made back then, and it's identical to the one on my alto. It's certainly not a new tiawanese/chinese copy. I'll check for other signs when I play it later.

 

[Di in France]

Had a good look at it, and there is a small stamp next to the number- looks lyre shaped like a small 'u', not sure if it's the yani logo or not, but been playing it today and I like it. I'm going to continue to play it and see how it goes.
Put a couple of little tunes on soundcloud to test.
http://snd.sc/ZlLrXP

http://snd.sc/ZlLva9

 

[sushidushi]

Nice

 

[Greg Strange]

This may be of some assistance...

http://www.saxpics.com/?v=man&manID=21

Greg S.

 

[MMM]

Don't think it is a stencil for the simple fact that the keywork is more reminiscent of later Yanis (900): look at the shape of the low Eb/C and the top F#. by which time Yanagisawa was well past stencils. However the bell to body brace and the keyguard look like the older models... to be certain, if the yanagisawa Lyre logo is not on it, I'd say it is a copy.
Cheers,
M.

 

[kevgermany]

Di, I think you're going to have to give us a reasonable pic of the logo. Logo sounds like Yani to me.

Maybe it's a transitional, reading MMM's post.

 

[daveysaxboy]

Its a Yanni for sure.

 

[milandro]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but there are (or have been recently) many Lucette saxophones for sale in the UK they all seem to look like something else and go for small amounts of money

this one was sold by a shop recently

http://shop.musical-money.co.uk/woodwind-brass/1999-lucette-tenor-saxophone-outfit.html

it vaguely looks Yanagisawa-ish but I am pretty sure it is a Chinese copy.In any case.........if it plays well, who cares?

Enjoy it anyway!

 

[Di in France]

I think you may be right milandro. I've had a good look at the u shaped stamp, and it's just that, a vaque 'u' shape, but not a lyre. I wonder if it'll play as well now that I think that it's not a yani stencil? ;}

 

[sushidushi]

It sounded good when you thought it was a Yani stencil. Whatever its provenance, you got a bargain.

 

[Di in France]

Hehe, yes it still sounds good. It's strange because it's an old sax, so if it's a copy, it's not one of the new crop. How long have Taiwan/China been making copies?
Like you say, whatever it is, I do like it.

 

[milandro]

a very long time .........this is not Taiwanese though