Saxophones No end to GAS - some suggestions for a remedy...

[DavidUK]

:shocked:

Interim GAS report, 11 months from picking up my first sax....

OK, well I started out "collecting" cheapies as some of you will know, but now I'm spending more and more on each fix. Ultimately I want just one of each sop, alto, and tenor.

I have one sop, Elkhart 300, and that'll do me as sop is not really my current thing (but I still had to have one).

I have 5 altos here at the moment, the ones in the frame as the "keeper" are my old faithful Buffet 400, being chased by a Vito (YAS-23), and Buffet SDA.

I have 2 Tenors, plus a YTS-62 Pruple Logo coming next Thursday. The Carmichael is hopefully going to one of my tutor's students as it's definitely not as good as the freshly overhauled Grassi 2000 Professional.

So, Alto-wise... the 1973 SDA is a lovely thing but the l/h pinky table isn't the easiest to play, having its bell rods on the outside rather than the better leverage inside rods give. The Vito feels really good under the fingers and is so simple to play. The Buffet is the one I'm used to playing the most and is a great, very solid, horn.
The "play-off" for alto will be between these two then, unless anyone thinks I should persevere with the SDA as one of the sax "greats"? Thoughts?

Tenor-wise... the YTS-62 will take a trip to the tech next week before I try comparing it to the Grassi, just to see if it needs anything. Most would expect the Pruple to beat the Grassi as that's what's written in folk lore.
This will be the Tenor "play-off."

Should I involve anyone else in the play-offs? Maybe my tutor, or a volunteer member close by?
Or is this an entirely personal thing where I just have to keep going back and forth between them until I make a decision?

I'm not so bothered about keeping both of the altos a while longer but the two tenors' value is such I need to recoup that of one of them fairly quickly (before SWMBO clobbers me). On the one hand I'm hoping the YTS-62 loses, as it'll bring back in the most cash (just couldn't resist it), but then again I'm hoping it's all they say it is and I'll be bowled over! Would be a shame to see the Grassi go though as it's become a kind of love child of mine, having seen it re-born.

Of course whatever I choose, unless I get urgent madical help, this situation will repeat itself as I find I want to try higher and higher end horns. And I'm still just a beginner!

Crazy... but I just can't help myself.

:ashamed

 

[sushidushi]

(before SWMBO clobbers me)

Therein lies the ultimate cure for GAS.

I wish I was so spoiled for choice! As for which you end up keeping, I think that you're going to decide by yourself, based on which ones you'd be happy to sell and which would bring a lump to your throat and a tear to your eye if you saw them go. It doesn't matter much what other people think (even about the pruple) unless, perhaps, there are possible mechanical issues that mean you don't consider yourself to be competent to judge whether a particular horn would be worth hanging on to...

 

[Ads]

Whatever wins the Tenor playoff will be whichever you play the best regardless of which is actually the better horn . it could be a MkVI, 10M or Super-20 but if you`re not settled in with how the horn plays and handles they could lose out to the dreaded Carmichael (which you are familiar with) too .....

also I`ve found that Yams and Yanis (Pruple or otherwise) tend Not to be less "Instant Gratification" instruments than the big Yanks or French horns, on first blow you may think "that`s bland/brash/thin/stuffy/unimpressive" (delete as applicable) and only after spending time with them do you find they`re in fact better than many of the "Blow your socks off in the first 5 mins" horns .

This could be why you`ve rated every Alto you`ve played higher than that Yam 61 Mk1 you tried - you`ve got used to them, have evolved as a player since then so the poor Mk1 didn`t stand a chance .. the YTS62 Purple you`re getting is on a handicap already due to your familiarity with the Carmichael and the sheer money (and emotional connection) you`ve thrown at the Grassi .

Just my thoughts anyway

 

[Fraser Jarvis]

:shocked:




a YTS-62 Pruple Logo


the Pruple to beat








:ashamed

Could they be Purple by any chance?

 

[Chris]

Perhaps if one was limited to one horn, regardless of make or ergo's one would just learn to play it. Yes all horns are different, but it normally takes experience to decide if those differences are good or bad.

Ads post above sums things up quite nicely.

 

[DavidUK]

Whatever wins the Tenor playoff will be whichever you play the best regardless of which is actually the better horn . it could be a MkVI, 10M or Super-20 but if you`re not settled in with how the horn plays and handles they could lose out to the dreaded Carmichael (which you are familiar with) too ..... also I`ve found that Yams and Yanis (Pruple or otherwise) tend Not to be less "Instant Gratification" instruments than the big Yanks or French horns, on first blow you may think "that`s bland/brash/thin/stuffy/unimpressive" (delete as applicable) and only after spending time with them do you find they`re in fact better than many of the "Blow your socks off in the first 5 mins" horns . This could be why you`ve rated every Alto you`ve played higher than that Yam 61 Mk1 you tried - you`ve got used to them, have evolved as a player since then so the poor Mk1 didn`t stand a chance .. the YTS62 Purple you`re getting is on a handicap already due to your familiarity with the Carmichael and the sheer money (and emotional connection) you`ve thrown at the Grassi .Just my thoughts anyway

No, the Carmichael is going. It's very slightly better than the BW tenor, but miles behind the Grassi. Bering in mind Charlie Connolly spent 2 1/2 days overhauling the naked Grassi with all new pads, springs, felts, corks, levelling toneholes et al, it is effectively a brand new horn so the YTS starts at a disadvantage. The Grassi forced out the YTS-23 easily, so we'll see how its big brother copes.I think I've only rated the Buffet 400 and YAS-23/Vito more highly than the 62 MkI I tried? The trouble with the Buffet vs. Vito is they're equally unputdownable and I suspect the same may happen with the YTS-62 once it's here. As has been said, I perhaps don't have the skill to spot the fine nuances which would lean me toward one or the other more easily. That's why an experienced player may help to show me what each is truly capable of, even if that's a few years away for me.

 

[jonf]

There is one cure for GAS, and one only. Poverty. For years I was skint, and had a tenor my parents bought me when I was 15, and a sop I bought for a ridiculously low price in 1985. That was it until affluenza struck. Now I'm surrounded by the things, I think there're 11 at the moment, and that's having just sold four.

Give all your money away and you will have cured yourself. Otherwise the addiction will continue.

 

[aldevis]

There is one cure for GAS, and one only. Poverty. For years I was skint, and had a tenor my parents bought me when I was 15, and a sop I bought for a ridiculously low price in 1985. That was it until affluenza struck. Now I'm surrounded by the things, I think there're 11 at the moment, and that's having just sold four.

Give all your money away and you will have cured yourself. Otherwise the addiction will continue.

True.
I volunteer to take the money.

I may add that unless you stick with one instrument and one mouthpiece for at least 11 months, your sound will not improve.
Have you matching mouthpieces for each instrument, BTW?

 

[Fraser Jarvis]

Maybe I should send my Selmer to David for appraisal, just to see how it stands up against the Grassi?

 

[thomsax]

It's nice to own saxes, so keep them if you can. I have a whole room+"walk-in-clothes-closet" full of saxstuff. It's just me that knows whats in the room. I don't let anybody into my room.
I just play two tenors and one baritone. All Martins. So I just use two mouthpieces. But I'm looking for a more contemporary Rocksax. Nothing wrong with my Martins.

 

[DavidUK]

Maybe I should send my Selmer to David for appraisal, just to see how it stands up against the Grassi?

I'm up your way next week.....

 

[Fraser Jarvis]

I'm up your way next week.....

Yes David, but you'd probably condemn it, then how would I feel?

 

[Ads]

It doesn`t matter if he did - it wouldn`t even if an Experienced player condemned it. Lets face it, I played a horn which was almost universally condemned for decades and only now are people waking up to the fact that it`s actually a superb and hideously underrated Sax . the MKVII .

I`ve said it before, I`d suggest leaving reviewing to experienced reviewers unless reviewing instruments on an individual basis from a learner or newbie point of view like my Lyons clarinet one (Learner) and the Elkhart Sop reports (Newbie to sop, cheap horns) ..

I`m not likely to do a Hanson SE series versus Yamaha, Buffet etc clarinet review as I`m just not good enough , posting personal opinion from a learner POV on Claris of that higher level is pretty worthless too as I`ve not the experience to benefit from the differences or make the most of the flexibility of the better ones (where the benefit comes in higher end stuff) .

 

[altissimo]

Should I involve anyone else in the play-offs? Maybe my tutor, or a volunteer member close by?
Or is this an entirely personal thing where I just have to keep going back and forth between them until I make a decision?

well, you could always drop all your horns off at my house for a few months while I carry out a thorough and exhaustive evaluation - my fees are modest... ;}

 

[Colin the Bear]

Perhaps taking up music as a hobby might help with the GAS. You can collect songs and arrangements and meet other musicians to share and enjoy.

 

[DavidUK]

Yes David, but you'd probably condemn it, then how would I feel?

Why do you say that? Do I have a habit of condemning universally praised models? In any case, who am I to say!?

 

[DavidUK]

It doesn`t matter if he did - it wouldn`t even if an Experienced player condemned it. Lets face it, I played a horn which was almost universally condemned for decades and only now are people waking up to the fact that it`s actually a superb and hideously underrated Sax . the MKVII .

I`ve said it before, I`d suggest leaving reviewing to experienced reviewers unless reviewing instruments on an individual basis from a learner or newbie point of view like my Lyons clarinet one (Learner) and the Elkhart Sop reports (Newbie to sop, cheap horns) ..

I`m not likely to do a Hanson SE series versus Yamaha, Buffet etc clarinet review as I`m just not good enough , posting personal opinion from a learner POV on Claris of that higher level is pretty worthless too as I`ve not the experience to benefit from the differences or make the most of the flexibility of the better ones (where the benefit comes in higher end stuff) .

Any reviews I've done have pointed out my beginner status and have either been student models or my own ramblings as to which of two to keep.

 

[DavidUK]

Perhaps taking up music as a hobby might help with the GAS. You can collect songs and arrangements and meet other musicians to share and enjoy.

I'm not sure if I detect an element of sarcasm here....?

 

[DavidUK]

Just tried Buffet 400 vs. Vito (YAS-23) vs. Buffet SDA and I think the SDA is winning.
I realised I hadn't played the SDA since Paul Carrington re-corked the neck, and lightened the l/h pinky table action, so now the MP actually fits well and the pinky table is suddenly as easy as the others.
The r/h pinky keys are actually easier to play than the Chinese and Japanese horns. Can this be so?

 

[Fraser Jarvis]

Lets see how you rate that YTS 62 next Thursday.....