Saxophones Is an upgrade necessarily a Selmer or Yamaha?

[a_professional_musician]

DEFAMATORY AND INACCURATE MESSAGE REMOVED BY ADMIN

 

[Linky Lee]

EDIT: now unrelated message, though maybe you can extract some useful information.

Having spent a good 6 hours in their factory on wednesday I can tell you this;
The keywork comes from China.
The body comes from Germany.
They are assembled here and set up and can therefore be sold as English made.

I actually saw several of these 'Buffet B13' clarinets, prototype keywork from china and the original German keywork and the Chinese keywork is better IMO, it appeared to be better finished, stronger and had of a better alloy.

There has been a lot of ownership movement etc. recently with buffet, Keilworth, what was Boosey and Hawkes and all the other companies than were owned by one large company. there have been several buyouts, and of various different parts and many bits have been sold of etc. for land and production has moved to different factories, different countries and all sorts.

They currently produce bits for many different companies. Even as far as Patrik Eggle guitars, which are rather tasty. Keilworth and Buffet.

The 3, 5 and 8 series are all based on the Selmer Series II and the 6 series upon the Selmer Mk VI.
The clarinets as you have said are based again upon Buffet, being the leading clarinet in the market at the moment.

I don't think it says anywhere on the website that they are made in the UK? I couldn't find anywhere where it said that anyway. Please point out where it does.

I think Alistair is selling lower production cost saxophones as something a bit special, and I think they are.
My SA-8 compares favorably to my Martin Handcraft, I'd go as far as to say it's better because it's more versatile and has modern keywork. Though you can't beat the charm of the Martin.

I think Pete would agree that Hanson saxophones aren't a rip off and are not making our pupils suffer. I can think of a lot worse you can get for the money.

Have you ever played a Hanson saxophone?

 

[philthd]

the trouble with cheap chinese saxophones is not that they are all bad, just that the quality control is lacking and there is no way of knowing what is good or bad.

even if all hanson are doing is providing a quality control process (and even though many people have complained of problems they rave about the aftersales) and a level of accountablility then surely thats worthwhile


as for copying of instruments - didnt yamaha and yani both start off by reverse engineering pro horns? havent instrument manufacturers been ripping off each others ideas forever?


i dont own a hanson, and have only played a one briefly - but if i were about to blow a few grand on a shiny new horn i would certainly want to see for myself how well the hansons hold up in comparison

 

[Rogerb]

Post removed... now irrelevant

 

[Rogerb]

Edited to remove now irrelevant remarks.

Like Lee, I am unable to find any false claims about Hanson saxes' origin on their website.


The saxophones are not, IMO, misleadingly described in any way.

 

[Linky Lee]

I can remember when I bought my Hanson, over two years ago now that the website they had then said they were made in Germany and assembled in the UK. At that point they were and I remember noting that I couldn't see anything saying where they were made on the new website, then I found out keywork was being manufactured in China.

As far as I'm aware, they've always been very frank about where their bits are made and why.

I don't want to be rude or try to be 'moderator-like' but I think this thread has run it's course and isn't of any benefit anymore, maybe that will change but it should probably be left to disappear.

 

[old_git]

I would pay more attention to 'a professional Musician' if he had the guts to publish his name and e-mail address. To cower behind anonymity whilst making untrue statements suggests he/she is an unfortunate, lonely person who probably sniggered excitedly whilst posting. A further clue to his/her ability is the lack of upper case except for 'Musician', which might suggest a disabled left pinky. Would you trust your child or yourself with a tutor unable to demonstrate G#, C#, B or Bb?
Alastair Hanson has been absolutely straight with me and like most musical businessmen, seems far more interested in customer satisfaction than being a millionaire. Pity this is not the ethics of all businesses.

 

[alastair_hanson]

Thanks to all who have said nice things about us, sorry to anyone who has ever had any problem at all with any of our things. If anyone ever has a problem with any of our items please do contact me personally and I will be pleased to help. My personal contact details are on this posting.

Should anyone wonder about buying one of our instruments I do hope that they will at least contact us and try one then make up their own mind.

Finally, please find below one of three more letters that we received today from happy customers.

Alastair Hanson
e: [email protected]
t: 07801 818378



Date: Mon, 4 Jun 2007 13:01:03 +0100
To: <[email protected]>
Subject: Yet another Thank you letter


Hi,


So - I didn't know when I got it what a "star" I had. While I was excited to get the Sax when I got it - as I play it more and compare it with other Sax's .. well, it just gets better.

Here are a few things from my last 18 months experience with the SA-5

It has a great mellow sound. I haven't even got to changing mouthpieces yet - it just sounds great.

2. I am now playing Sax in a couple of bands (I play piano and keyboards). And on band I'm in now has a little brass section.
My SA-5, with one trumpet, another (Yamaha) Alto Sax and a (Yamaha) Tenor Sax.
My SA-5 is easily the best sounding instrument of the three Sax's

3. I have been given an antique Martin Tenor, which I have had restored.
Yes this sounds great - has lots of character .. but it's much more difficult to play than the SA-5 (which you'd expect). And while the Martin does have a bigger range of sound (expressively), I still prefer my SA-5
I guess a better player may get more out of the Martin - who knows, these things are so subjective.

4. A chap at work has Yamaha Tenor and Alto. He's green with envy of my SA-5; both for tone and looks.

So - there we are. 18 months late - but thank you very much.

Regards,

Robin Breslin.

 

[Pete Thomas]

Linky_Lee wrote:
I think Pete would agree that Hanson saxophones aren't a rip off and are not making our pupils suffer. I can think of a lot worse you can get for the money.

Of course they are not a rip off. There is a 14 day no quibble money back guarantee I believe, so if you (or your teacher) don't like it send it back for a refund.

I have seen and played a few Hansons, one of them ( SA 8 ) on a professional TV recording session and another one ( ST 8 ) on a session for BMG publishing, which will probably be on my next album. These are pro quality horns and from a company that offers better set up and after sales service than most.

The falsehoods in the post in question lead me to believe there may be some malicious intent, although I'd prefer to think it might just be ignorance. However I'm not going to speculate any further than that. It saddens me that this forum can be used in such a way.

I have met Alastair Hanson as well as Maria (sales) and Chris (technical) when I visited their factory.

Although I don't have any prejudice against Chinese made saxophones, I think its worth pointing out that the Hansons we are talking about in this thread are assembled from German manufactured bodies with other parts made elsewhere from Japanese or German brass. (I can't remember now whether its Taiwan or China - both countries have excellent manufacturing skills).

Nowhere on the Hanson website does it claim that their saxophones are "Made in England".

Just in case anybody is wondering, I have no commercial connection or endorsement arrangement with Hanson (or any other) saxophones.

 

[Pete Thomas]

old git wrote:
I would pay more attention to 'a professional Musician' if he had the guts to publish his name and e-mail address.

If you click on her suername you will get her actual name in the profile. There is also a website URL, but it doesn't seem to exist.

 

[Rogerb]

I like the typo, Pete! ...very appropriate.

 

[jonf]

I've googled that name, and she certainly doesn't exist as a musician using it. It's just somebody engaging in an irritiating activity called trolling. All message boards get it at some point. 😡

 

[Linky Lee]

I'll jump to her defense and say:
Just because she doesn't turn up on Google doesn't mean she isn't a musician under that name.
Though if you are a musician under that name you really 'need' a website and turn up as a result on Google. Where's your marketing?

 

[frankb]

Actually, if you search on the non-diminutive version of the forename phrase-combined with the surname there is a reference to a music student at an establishment fairly close to the town the person gives as their home. Given that the page may be old, the person may have graduated and indeed be "a professional musician" (if it is indeed the same person). There are three landlines in the phone book with that surname in that town.

The website URL Pete refers actually looks more like an email address with the wrong type associated with it.

However, I'd suggest that the person takes legal advice before making claims that they cannot *fully* substantiate. The apparent anonymity of the internet is largely illusory (even if forums don't log IP addresses) and UK law on "libel" and "defamation of character" applies to statements made on the internet just like anywhere else.

 

[Pete Thomas]

FrankB wrote:
(even if forums don't log IP addresses)

Oh yes they do. Also users need to register an email address to use this forum. Anyone posting defamatory material is easily traced and proven to be responsible.

 

[frankb]

I thought you might Pete, hence the phrasing! 😉

 

[jonf]

Linky_Lee wrote:
I'll jump to her defense and say:
Just because she doesn't turn up on Google doesn't mean she isn't a musician under that name.
Though if you are a musician under that name you really 'need' a website and turn up as a result on Google. Where's your marketing?

Linky, you don't need to have a web site to come up on google. Far from it, you only need to be mentioned on one. Anyone who's actually gigging, doing sessions, getting credits, etc would crop up on web sites with listings, billboards, etc. I crop up all over the place despite never having had a web site.

Jon

 

[philthd]

though if you gig exclusively with one group whose personnel isnt listed...

 

[Linky Lee]

Fair enough, I didn't realise you'd turn up on Google if you were just mentioned on a web page.

... off to Google myself...

...I'm not famous enough to appear on Google it seems.

 

[Jules]

Hm- just tried the same and found all kind of bits of my presence on the net including a dirty great magazine article I wrote that I didn't even know was there!

Linky_Lee wrote:
Fair enough, I didn't realise you'd turn up on Google if you were just mentioned on a web page.

... off to Google myself...

...I'm not famous enough to appear on Google it seems.