[Poll] What is most important to you ?

[Saxlicker]

When buying a sax we all consider many factors. I have listed some obvious ones. What is most important to you?
For me, I really have been put off beutiful looking horns with a nice sound on the strength of ergonomics. Obviously sound and looks are in there somewhere but whats top of the list?.....

 

[Bobby G]

Blimey that's a hard one. If there was an option 'I go for Yamahas', I'd vote for that 😉

Let's see.... sound, whatever I play it seems to sound like me. Ergonomics, yup it has to be comfortable to play. Intonation, obviously a must. Good mechanics, yes. Cosmetics, don't really care if it's a bit beat up, scratched or worn-looking, and don't have a real preference for fancy/plain so... umm... option 1 I reckon as that's closest to the Yamaha option.

 

[Mikec]

No matter how good it looks or sounds, if your fingers won't work it it's useless!

 

[jools]

That's a tough call. Sound is everything, but if the beggar is hard to handle it's just not fun. Couldn't care less what it looks like.

 

[Jules]

Pretty much with Jools on this one... sound is everything (hence my old Conns & Mauriats), by and large intonation... well... you can either owrk with it or you can't, it's pretty cut and dried, I'll deny that how good a sax looks effects my liking of it (but I suspect I might be lying).... I've found horns that are ergonomically annoying but with the vast majority it's just am atter of getting used to their specific design philosophy (you wouldn't not buy a car just because it feels different).

 

[Linky Lee]

In my search for an alto I changed my opinion on this question.

Originally I was thinking Sound & Intonation as the two most important factors. What use is it if you can play fantastically well but sound a bit dull and aren't quite in tune?

I started to realise that I could get any saxophone to sound like me and that the mouthpiece had a greater effect upon the sound. So I decided to get rid of 'sound' from the top priorities and bought in 'ergonomics'. Through playing the Martin I have I realised that it had the best sound, but that was useless because I couldn't get my fingers around it easily enough to be confidant with faster passages or up tempo tunes.

In the end I bought an old Yamaha 62. The best ergos I've ever come across. plays bang in tune, and takes any mouthpiece so I can alter the sound however I like that way. It just so happens to have a quality natural sound to it anyway.