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Saxophones Lupifaro another new sax to think about

still on the look out for any reference to this “ Lupifaro”, supposed mythical animal and still finding only the Swiss saxophone.

Perhaps this would be like the phoenix mentioned in Mozart’s opera “ Così fan tutte” ( an Opera dear to me for a number of coincidences since it is set to be in Naples where I was born, and which libretto was written by an ancestor of an ex girl-friend of mine, Lorenzo da Ponte ).

There Don Alfonso sings ( scherzando): “È la fede(ltà) delle femmine è come l’Araba fenice.: che ci sia, ciascun lo dice, dove sia nessun lo sa!”

Don Alfonso sings (joking) “ The faith(fulness) of the female is like the Arab Phoenix: that there is one, everyone says so, where it is, nobody knows! “

So I suppose that in many ways, of this “ Lupifaro” we can say that everyone says that there is one or some but no one knows where it or they would be !

 
I had the absolute pleasure of meeting Pete Scaddan of Lupifaro UK today and have been playing a Platinum tenor all afternoon. I'm one of the most sceptical folks around concerning manufacturing of horns and where they're supposed to be made etc. The body of this one I'm told is made in Italy and some of the key work is Taiwanese. Fair enough, using bought in key work seems practical and I appreciate tooling up a factory for key work would be incredibly expensive. Over the last 20 years I've sold around 150-200 saxes per year and serviced/ repaired a similar ammount. I think I can say I've played pretty much everything out there vintage and modern. This is the first horn in years that's made me want to buy one! Absolutely terrific for me. Obviously, it's a very specific tool and really lends itself to the Jazz genre. I guess I find it to be a lovely cross between an older Borgani and Selmer Super Balanced Action - perfect combo for me. Lush from altissimo to sub tones and without doubt the best intonation I've ever experienced. Going to see if I can find some spare dollars for one of these. Thanks again Pete
 
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grubby has been beautiful to some people for a long time now.

the most incredible thing I saw lately is a pre worn NEW digital Leica camera as thought by Lenny Kravitz ( of all people)


Mind you this is a new DIGITAL camera and it is sold under the motto

“...The surface of the new camera and the two lenses have been artificially aged, entirely by hand, to suggest “many years of constant use.”...” ( no sense of ridicule in writing that they have been aging a camera entirely by hand )

Many years of constant use that it could not ( and won’t have) because it is a digital camera destine to be replaced by a new model before it could even have the “many years of constant use.”.

One thing is for sure that Leica, as Lupifaro, sells this at a pretty penny.

The camera and two lenses and a case cost only $24,500 ( a bargain!)

case.jpg
 
curlybob said:
I had the absolute pleasure of meeting Pete Scaddan of Lupifaro UK today and have been playing a Platinum tenor all afternoon. I'm one of the most sceptical folks around concerning manufacturing of horns and where they're supposed to be made etc. The body of this one I'm told is made in Italy and some of the key work is Taiwanese. Fair enough, using bought in key work seems practical and I appreciate tooling up a factory for key work would be incredibly expensive. Over the last 20 years I've sold around 150-200 saxes per year and serviced/ repaired a similar ammount. I think I can say I've played pretty much everything out there vintage and modern. This is the first horn in years that's made me want to buy one! Absolutely terrific for me. Obviously, it's a very specific tool and really lends itself to the Jazz genre. I guess I find it to be a lovely cross between an older Borgani and Selmer Super Balanced Action - perfect combo for me. Lush from altissimo to sub tones and without doubt the best intonation I've ever experienced. Going to see if I can find some spare dollars for one of these. Thanks again Pete
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Bob. what did you think of it overall? Compare it to... say... a TJ SC Raw, and then to a TJ Horn88 (no, seriously!). How much better than either of them?
Thanks.
 
DavidUK said:
Bob. what did you think of it overall? Compare it to... say... a TJ SC Raw, and then to a TJ Horn88 (no, seriously!). How much better than either of them?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Overall I think this is the best modern horn I've played in years - simple. The most important thing to me is sound - how the sax reacts to my airflow, how I can shape the sound and how easy it is for me to get that natural sound. A close second is intonation - I don't want to be wasting energy when I'm playing worrying about pitch. Ergonomics aren't that important to me - I can get used to anything pretty much but it is a bonus if it feels right. How a sax looks is not important particularly to me. So the Lupifaro Platinum has the sound and presence of a great Selmer SBA in my opinion with a little more power and a little less sweetness - playability is excellent - response is amazing it just follows you instantly. Intonation is the best I've experienced - altissimo was great and even low B/Bb traditionally a little flat for me was spot on. Ergonomics was all there - weirdly this is the only modern sax I've tried that actually feels old. There have been lots of modern saxes trying to recreate that vintage feel and sound and many have come close but as soon as you pick up a real vintage horn you realise there's that elusive magical feeling missing. I don't think it's just the set up - sure you can balance springs light and adjust pad heights etc but there's something about the metal and key positions of a vintage horn that's different. Looks wise it's ok - it looks metal . Comparing it to a T J Raw is a bit tricky. I think the Raw is a great value sax and is certainly more versatile. I would compare a Raw more to a Selmer reference 54 - it has some MKVIsh qualities but is still very modern. It's unfair to compare the Horn '88 to the Lupifaro Platinum - the '88 is a great intermediate instrument, surprisingly better than past "upgrade" saxes T James have offered and certainly punches above it's weight but is nowhere near the Lupifaro Platinum concept. Again these are only my humble thoughts and I have a very specific sound concept in my mind which could well be different to yours. I only play modern jazz, no longer any commercial music so the tool I need to do my job may not be right for you. However, any serious players that have been searching for that missing link between vintage and modern that we've been promised over and over again might want to take a look at the Platinum - a good original SBA tenor will set you back £6-7000ish so I think these are certainly not cheap (and I would been concerned if they were) but are considerably cheaper than vintage selmers, modern selmers, borganis etc. I understand the gold series which are priced around £15-1800 are standard Taiwanese made - I should imagine similar to Mauriats et al. The Platinum is hand made (body and neck) in Italy - some of the mechanism is Taiwanese - I think mainly posts etc. the chap who makes them used to work for Borgani and he has gone into partnership with a Swiss company who appear to have invested in the project. I'm sure Pete Scaddan can furnish everyone with more accurate details regarding the manufacturing and so on. I haven't bought a new sax for over 5 years - I have ordered one
 
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curlybob said:
Overall I think this is the best modern horn I've played in years - simple. The most important thing to me is sound - how the sax reacts to my airflow, how I can shape the sound and how easy it is for me to get that natural sound. A close second is intonation - I don't want to be wasting energy when I'm playing worrying about pitch. Ergonomics aren't that important to me - I can get used to anything pretty much but it is a bonus if it feels right. How a sax looks is not important particularly to me. So the Lupifaro Platinum has the sound and presence of a great Selmer SBA in my opinion with a little more power and a little less sweetness - playability is excellent - response is amazing it just follows you instantly. Intonation is the best I've experienced - altissimo was great and even low B/Bb traditionally a little flat for me was spot on. Ergonomics was all there - weirdly this is the only modern sax I've tried that actually feels old. There have been lots of modern saxes trying to recreate that vintage feel and sound and many have come close but as soon as you pick up a real vintage horn you realise there's that elusive magical feeling missing. I don't think it's just the set up - sure you can balance springs light and adjust pad heights etc but there's something about the metal and key positions of a vintage horn that's different. Looks wise it's ok - it looks metal . Comparing it to a T J Raw is a bit tricky. I think the Raw is a great value sax and is certainly more versatile. I would compare a Raw more to a Selmer reference 54 - it has some MKVIsh qualities but is still very modern. It's unfair to compare the Horn '88 to the Lupifaro Platinum - the '88 is a great intermediate instrument, surprisingly better than past "upgrade" saxes T James have offered and certainly punches above it's weight but is nowhere near the Lupifaro Platinum concept. Again these are only my humble thoughts and I have a very specific sound concept in my mind which could well be different to yours. I only play modern jazz, no longer any commercial music so the tool I need to do my job may not be right for you. However, any serious players that have been searching for that missing link between vintage and modern that we've been promised over and over again might want to take a look at the Platinum - a good original SBA tenor will set you back £6-7000ish so I think these are certainly not cheap (and I would been concerned if they were) but are considerably cheaper than vintage selmers, modern selmers, borganis etc. I understand the gold series which are priced around £15-1800 are standard Taiwanese made - I should imagine similar to Mauriats et al. The Platinum is hand made (body and neck) in Italy - some of the mechanism is Taiwanese - I think mainly posts etc. the chap who makes them used to work for Borgani and he has gone into partnership with a Swiss company who appear to have invested in the project. I'm sure Pete Scaddan can furnish everyone with more accurate details regarding the manufacturing and so on. I haven't bought a new sax for over 5 years - I have ordered one
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Nice review Bob,i never thought i would say this but i would miss the lack of the high F#
 
This horn needs a comparison review with Borgani and R&C , I think it`ll be a major league runner along with the big 3 from what I`ve heard from it and a chat with Pete Scaddan over a year ago before he`d managed to sort the importing . Pete`s not someone who buys the newest thing and moves on, it`s taken some horn to make him want to put his BA away. glad to see he`s able to make them available to the UK. far out of my price bracket to even consider but if I had the cash, it`d be top of the list to try .
 

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