Saxophones Has the Soprano gone out of fashion?

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wol916

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I think it's the weather I always get depressed when it's hot, still this is England so it can't last. 🙁
I am wondering is "has the Soprano gone out of fashion" I ask this because it would seem you just can't sell them, I won't say at any price as the dealer I got it from offered me £500 if I bought something else. I bought the sax thinking as an ex clarinet player it would make a nice addition to the set, I soon discovered that the Soprano is just not for me so it's been in the case ever since. I decided to let it go and offered it around the local sax community at a very good price resulting in no takers. So I contacted several dealers with details and pictures they did not even come back to say not interested. I won't offer it on this forum as I do not have enough posts and if I put it on as soon as I hit the 50 that would just be bad show and a little crass of me.
So back to the original question is the Soprano just not popular?
Was I taken to the cleaners by the dealer who assured me that I should go for the highest quality model as it would hold it's value?
Should I just go back to using it as a door stop?
Or if the weather does not break soon should I dig out the welding torch and hammer and turn it into a garden ornament?

This weather is making me just want to break something luckily I'm at work so I can not damage anything of my own.:w00t:


Warren
 
wol916 said:
I think it's the weather I always get depressed when it's hot, still this is England so it can't last. 🙁
I am wondering is "has the Soprano gone out of fashion" I ask this because it would seem you just can't sell them, I won't say at any price as the dealer I got it from offered me £500 if I bought something else. I bought the sax thinking as an ex clarinet player it would make a nice addition to the set, I soon discovered that the Soprano is just not for me so it's been in the case ever since. I decided to let it go and offered it around the local sax community at a very good price resulting in no takers. So I contacted several dealers with details and pictures they did not even come back to say not interested. I won't offer it on this forum as I do not have enough posts and if I put it on as soon as I hit the 50 that would just be bad show and a little crass of me.
So back to the original question is the Soprano just not popular?
Was I taken to the cleaners by the dealer who assured me that I should go for the highest quality model as it would hold it's value?
Should I just go back to using it as a door stop?
Or if the weather does not break soon should I dig out the welding torch and hammer and turn it into a garden ornament?

This weather is making me just want to break something luckily I'm at work so I can not damage anything of my own.:w00t:


Warren
Click to expand...

Hi Warren,
I take it we are taking about the Yani 991 in your signature,if so you have imo what is one of the best sop's around,and the answer to your question is i don't think its gone out of fashion but it is difficult to sell any type of sax in this current climate (and no i don't mean the heat lol)the resession has mean't a lot of people and dealers are cutting back.
If you can hold onto it you may want to play it at a later date and also might sell it easer when and if the recession ends.
 
No It hasn't but I don't think it has ever been as popular as a tenor or alto.

and it wouldn't be crass to offer it on here.

It could be something to do with the economy or perhaps you paid too much in the first place what make is it??

Jx
 
£500 is a very low price if it is the 991, I'd pay you more than that for it, in a heartbeat.

Sop isn't unfashionable, it's actually really cool, but like lots of cool things, a bit niche.

I also don't think it would be crass to offer it for sale here once you've made 50 posts. However, this is a relatively small market, and you might still not be selling at just the right time for a willing purchaser.
 
It's a Yanagisawa 991, I was assured it was one of the best out there and others who have played it say as much. I just can not take to it, every time I go to pick it up I come back with the clarinet, It may be the tinnitus but I find the upper register painful - not just my playing. 😀 I paid a little over 2K for it but would have thought I could raise 11 hundred, I just hope this is not a situation that will be repeated as I intend to reduce my collection to just the one instrument and give it the attention it deserves - trouble is I can't decide between the tenor or alto probably try to sell both and see what's left.
 
I've sent you a personal message. Your saxes are, by the way, all superb. I also play a T992. You'll find the alto and tenor easier to sell if you need to, but I'd say keep them both if you can, they're gorgeous.
 
Get a Bari Esprit soprano mouthpiece - so much better than the Otto Link for £14, and the Alexander Superials are potentially too bright for the soprano - try DC's, or better still some Marca Jazz reeds.

The price of £500 is very cheap for said sax but there are a lot of cheaper priced sopranos around these days, such as the Bauhaus Walstein, which a number of us prefer to the Yani.

Good luck selling it!
 
Thanks for the feed back all, what I really started the thread for was a serious question. I know one local player who plays Soprano and will not touch anything else, and I seem to remember from days long ago that whenever I went to the local circus as a child, there was a white clown who played the Soprano (I thought it was a metal clarinet but I was only little). Then there was the whole Kenny G phase 80 million record sold so must be doing something right. You just don't seem to see them on tv etc any more, or if you do it's always classical related. I could just be looking in the wrong place.
 
Sales - the 50 posts ruling is to sell without contacting admin first. It's not a prohibition. If you want to sell here, send one of us a pm (Pete, Chris or myself). We'll consider it, and let the others know, so they don't go deleting things...

As for tinnitus/sop. It takes a lot of work to get the higher notes sounding good. Mouthpieces make a huge difference as well. I was only really interested in the tenor. I tried a couple of sops, kept at it cos I wanted to be able to play one. Finding a mouthpiece that worked for me made a big difference. Then started the hard work, getting it to sound good and in tune. Now it's the instrument I pick up first. Light. Simple, can play it sitting down. BUt it took a while.

So rather than lose a lot of money on it, I'd suggest you put it away for a while. Blow the tenor, get that going well. Then add the alto. Then the sop.
 
Thanks again for the good advice, selling is not a financial thing I just did not like the idea of a quality instrument sitting in a dark corner unloved when somebody could be enjoying it. Having said that I have not had my Les Paul out of the case for years but I'm taking that to the grave >:)
 
There are a few soprano players out there, I really like the guy in the portico quartet, and there are several who double on soprano (although doubling on baritone seems more common), but I think the market for a higher end sop may be a bit limited. Possibly if you had a cheaper sop, like what I have, it might be easier to shift it as I would think there may be a few people who might fancy increasing their arsenal of horns (or just buying one for the fun of it, and it can be fun playing sop)to include a soprano but don't want to splash out too much.

Talking of which, I have been considering letting my sopranos go as I am now really getting into the tenor, and if I was to do so it would be on here, but now I think I'd be treading on wol916's toes if I did that..... maybe soon, though, I'll have a little think about it...... and that Dolnet alto isn't doing anything either......:confused:
 
Sorry for the misleading signature. I use the Otto links and Superials on the Tenor and Alto, I'm using a Yamaha and different reeds on the Sop I like the sound of the Yanni mouthpiece it came with but just don't have what it takes to get the full range with that one. I tried a PPT on the tenor good as it is I think my muscles are not up to the task and I get quite a harsh sound but boy is it loud. I use an Italian crystal mouthpiece on the clarinet which is great but being able to watch the saliva pass by is not so great. ;}
 
Mouthpiece for sop has been a journey for me. I bought my first sop last summer and have had varying success. I tried the yam easy to play but not a great sound for me. The graftonite was not good but the metalite was better. I'm currently using a Chinese delacore which is fine so far up but the top is thin. I have a bari esprit coming soon. Apparently it's the business. I'll let you know.
 
wol916 said:
...every time I go to pick it up I come back with the clarinet...
Click to expand...

I know what you mean.

I like soprano a lot - and for a good couple of years I played it to the exclusion of anything else (other than bari) - but now that I´m a considerably better clarinet player than I was 5 years ago, my soprano doesn´t come out much. I think the trouble is that playing sop and clarinet side-by-side, sop can sound a bit coarse. The high register is a bit of a labour of love on either, mind you!

Beauty being in the eye of the beholder, and all that, everyone will have their own opinions as to which is more attractive - but I go with the misery stick on this one. The chalumeau register is what decides it for me - no sax can compete with those low, soft flutterings that are possible on the clarinet.

In any event, Yani metal mouthpieces are very good for helping out with the high register. Nobody´s mentioned Branford Marsalis, he´s great on soprano - better than on tenor, I think.
 
The Bari esprit II came today and I'm seriously impressed. Free blowing top to bottom. Intonation is good and a good tone already which should get better as I get used to it. A good range of volume too from breathy subtones to full Bechet howl. £14.22 including cap and ligature. I put the delacore metal back on to make sure I wasn't kidding myself and it felt stuffy in comparison. I'm still struggling with anything higher than palm Eb but I think that's more about me.

I bought a curvy sop to avoid any emotional conflict with the clarinet. The clarinet is so versatile. Alto and sop in one instrument. I think I'd need to specialise to get good on it though. I like my saxes too much for that.
 
Glad you like it - it is not an Esprit II, which is only available on Alto. It is the original Esprit, and is a very good mouthpiece!
Hope you enjoy playing it in the coming weeks and months.

Kind regards
Tom
 
Yes. Sorry for the confusion. Just checked. The box is marked EspritII square chamber but the mp itself is marked esprit and has a round chamber.

I may have a look at an alto piece mmmm. lol
 
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