achrn
New Member
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- London, UK
I know nothing about saxophones (OK, I think I can recognise one) and am very non-musical, but am looking for some advice. I've tried looking round the web and the previous threads, but I know so little I'm not confident I've understood what I'm reading. It's also pretty much guaranteed I'm going to use the wrong terminology:
My daughter has been having lessons and playing the clarinet since she was 8. Obviously, we've had spells when she practised only when nagged, but last few years she plays it for fun too. She's now 17 and in the final year of school. For the last couple of years she has been running and leading a small student wind group (eight of them in the band this year, I think), and because the school wanted another tenor sax in the jazz band they lent her a tenor saxophone. She now plays clarinet and saxophone in the school jazz band (it’s about 20 piece) and also at church each week (typically a band of six or so). She’s never had lessons on the saxophone (but I understand the keying is the same?, and her clarinet teacher also teaches saxophone and they sometimes go ‘off topic’ on that, I think).
She likes the saxophone more than the clarinet. She plays the saxophone more than the clarinet at home for no particular reason. However, she’s going to have to give the saxophone back.
I’d like to buy her a saxophone, but I’d like to know what’s a similar quality instrument to the one she’s been playing. I want to know what expenditure is necessary so it’s not a step down in quality. With the spend I anticipate, I’ll need to do some planning.
On the saxophone she has, the side (between the largest of the ports and the trumpet mouth) is engraved 'Prelude' in cursive script about 15mm high (the P being 20mm high) then new line 'by Selmer USA' the Selmer being in a plainish gothic font, then 'TS700' in a modern-style sans serif font about 5mm high. On the other side of the trumpet is a plant design, about 170mm high, seemingly part engraved, part inscribed into the metal with something like a narrow knurling wheel. On the back (facing the player) just above the bottom bend it says '17904' and 'AD002TS'. This is less clear, may not be engraved - it actually shows as outlines where the plating has eroded - the rest of the plating being pretty much intact round here.
I think I’ve determined that Selmer is a premium brand name, but this is their extreme budget model / range.
The saxophone seems to have had a relatively hard life – presumably as you’d expect for a school instrument. It was said to have had a full service immediately before she got it, but I don't know what that entailed, The plating is pockmarked throughout, and mostly gone entirely from the neck piece and mechanical linkages. There are three or four minor dents scattered around, up to about 6mm across, probably less than 1mm deep but they are visible when a reflection falls across them.
Is it possible to tell me what a comparable saxophone costs new and likely cost in decent condition second-hand? If we tried buying privately, I don’t think I know anyone else that plays saxophone, though we have a friend that plays various other brass and wind instruments who would probably be able to help and must know more about it than me. From what I’ve said of my daughter’s experience would she be able to tell if there was something wrong with a saxophone on the sort of brief try she’d get if we went to see a private seller? If there’s too much risk we’d end up with a lemon, I’ll try bracing myself for new prices, though I haven’t done much more than note they are even scarier than clarinet pricing (her clarinet is mid-student-range Buffet Crampon we bought new when she was about 10, I remember that price-tag alarmed me then, and it seems I can stick an extra digit on for saxophone prices, though it's less scary handing that over to a 17-year-old than a 10-yr-old).
Thanks for any advice, when offering it, please assume I don’t know any terminology!
My daughter has been having lessons and playing the clarinet since she was 8. Obviously, we've had spells when she practised only when nagged, but last few years she plays it for fun too. She's now 17 and in the final year of school. For the last couple of years she has been running and leading a small student wind group (eight of them in the band this year, I think), and because the school wanted another tenor sax in the jazz band they lent her a tenor saxophone. She now plays clarinet and saxophone in the school jazz band (it’s about 20 piece) and also at church each week (typically a band of six or so). She’s never had lessons on the saxophone (but I understand the keying is the same?, and her clarinet teacher also teaches saxophone and they sometimes go ‘off topic’ on that, I think).
She likes the saxophone more than the clarinet. She plays the saxophone more than the clarinet at home for no particular reason. However, she’s going to have to give the saxophone back.
I’d like to buy her a saxophone, but I’d like to know what’s a similar quality instrument to the one she’s been playing. I want to know what expenditure is necessary so it’s not a step down in quality. With the spend I anticipate, I’ll need to do some planning.
On the saxophone she has, the side (between the largest of the ports and the trumpet mouth) is engraved 'Prelude' in cursive script about 15mm high (the P being 20mm high) then new line 'by Selmer USA' the Selmer being in a plainish gothic font, then 'TS700' in a modern-style sans serif font about 5mm high. On the other side of the trumpet is a plant design, about 170mm high, seemingly part engraved, part inscribed into the metal with something like a narrow knurling wheel. On the back (facing the player) just above the bottom bend it says '17904' and 'AD002TS'. This is less clear, may not be engraved - it actually shows as outlines where the plating has eroded - the rest of the plating being pretty much intact round here.
I think I’ve determined that Selmer is a premium brand name, but this is their extreme budget model / range.
The saxophone seems to have had a relatively hard life – presumably as you’d expect for a school instrument. It was said to have had a full service immediately before she got it, but I don't know what that entailed, The plating is pockmarked throughout, and mostly gone entirely from the neck piece and mechanical linkages. There are three or four minor dents scattered around, up to about 6mm across, probably less than 1mm deep but they are visible when a reflection falls across them.
Is it possible to tell me what a comparable saxophone costs new and likely cost in decent condition second-hand? If we tried buying privately, I don’t think I know anyone else that plays saxophone, though we have a friend that plays various other brass and wind instruments who would probably be able to help and must know more about it than me. From what I’ve said of my daughter’s experience would she be able to tell if there was something wrong with a saxophone on the sort of brief try she’d get if we went to see a private seller? If there’s too much risk we’d end up with a lemon, I’ll try bracing myself for new prices, though I haven’t done much more than note they are even scarier than clarinet pricing (her clarinet is mid-student-range Buffet Crampon we bought new when she was about 10, I remember that price-tag alarmed me then, and it seems I can stick an extra digit on for saxophone prices, though it's less scary handing that over to a 17-year-old than a 10-yr-old).
Thanks for any advice, when offering it, please assume I don’t know any terminology!
