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Earlier, a friend of mine brought in a Barrington alto saxophone he was testing out for another friend. I've never before had experience with a Barrington, but I instantly recognized it as a Selmer Fake.
We put the horn up next to my Selmer Series II, and everything about the horns were almost identical. The Selmer had considerably more adjustment screws and that sort of thing, but overall, these were very very close. Even the octave key on the neck was shaped exactly the same, just missing the big "S."
I got a chance to play the horn with a Selmer C* mouthpiece, 3.5 Vandoren Classic reed. I was blown away. The horn wasn't better than my alto, not by a long shot, but it played considerably better than I expected. The low range was excellent, although the high range was a little thin. I was able to reach altissimo fairly easy, however. I didn't have a tuner with me, but tuning felt pretty consistent too (I've got a good ear) I'd say that if my horn equals 100%, overall the Barrington sat pretty soundly around 70%. That's pretty good for a horn that sells under $400.
Build quality seemed fairly sound too, although it's hard to say. The horn was slightly heavier than my alto, and the keys didn't immediately bend when I applied some pressure, unlike a lot of fakes I've seen.
Overall, my review is pretty positive. I felt like the overall playing performance was pretty satisfactory, and although only time and the repairman's torch can truly tell on build quality (part of me is really hoping that this thing would melt under a sodering iron), that seemed pretty darn fair too. If I were a Selmer Exec, I'd be concerned. For 1/10 the price of my Series II, straight out of Vietnam (that's what both the sax and case were marked as. We joked that it was made out of crushed "GI Beer Cans," but in reality, it was well built), the fakes are getting pretty good.
What has your experience been with "fake" saxes?
We put the horn up next to my Selmer Series II, and everything about the horns were almost identical. The Selmer had considerably more adjustment screws and that sort of thing, but overall, these were very very close. Even the octave key on the neck was shaped exactly the same, just missing the big "S."
I got a chance to play the horn with a Selmer C* mouthpiece, 3.5 Vandoren Classic reed. I was blown away. The horn wasn't better than my alto, not by a long shot, but it played considerably better than I expected. The low range was excellent, although the high range was a little thin. I was able to reach altissimo fairly easy, however. I didn't have a tuner with me, but tuning felt pretty consistent too (I've got a good ear) I'd say that if my horn equals 100%, overall the Barrington sat pretty soundly around 70%. That's pretty good for a horn that sells under $400.
Build quality seemed fairly sound too, although it's hard to say. The horn was slightly heavier than my alto, and the keys didn't immediately bend when I applied some pressure, unlike a lot of fakes I've seen.
Overall, my review is pretty positive. I felt like the overall playing performance was pretty satisfactory, and although only time and the repairman's torch can truly tell on build quality (part of me is really hoping that this thing would melt under a sodering iron), that seemed pretty darn fair too. If I were a Selmer Exec, I'd be concerned. For 1/10 the price of my Series II, straight out of Vietnam (that's what both the sax and case were marked as. We joked that it was made out of crushed "GI Beer Cans," but in reality, it was well built), the fakes are getting pretty good.
What has your experience been with "fake" saxes?
