Saxophones Pruple in my boot

[DavidUK]

Couldn't resist an hour's comparison of Pruple and Grassi tonight with Soloist F, Windcraft Étude, and Windcraft Student.
I must be getting better as the Student MP sounds not so good now, and I don't struggle with the Étude at all any more. Marca Jazz 2 1/2 and Rico Royal 2.
Nothing in it! Struggled with the 62 with some combinations but the Grassi takes all in its stride. R/H pinkies a little closer on the 62 but L/H heavier than the Grassi. These are two seriously flexible, lovely sounding horns. Even with me blowing into them! If I had to choose tonight, I really couldn't.
I'll wait now until the 62 has been to the tech Friday and see what he can find.....

 

[Ads]

Don`t muck about - Get that 62 off to Stephen Howard, he`ll have that Action sweet as nut and so well sealed it`ll need almost no air . he totally transformed my 62 MkIII Alto (and that`s a Brand new horn, not a half worn out one which has been kicked about for 25 years) , lets face it, when it comes to setting up, there`s no one pickier than Steve.

 

[kevgermany]

Don`t muck about - Get that 62 off to Stephen Howard, he`ll have that Action sweet as nut and so well sealed it`ll need almost no air . he totally transformed my 62 MkIII Alto (and that`s a Brand new horn, not a half worn out one which has been kicked about for 25 years) , lets face it, when it comes to setting up, there`s no one pickier than Steve.

I think you'll find Griff's as good - I've never used him, but the feedback here has always been first rate.

 

[Ads]

I don`t think that David takes his stuff to Griff either though ....... we could do with a notice board for recommendations of top workmanship so people know. I guess Steve is at an advantage because everyone can see how picky he is about build and setup and doing things right from his reviews

 

[Fraser Jarvis]

He's taking it to Paul Carrington over at Flintham, absolutely brilliant tech who I pointed David towards when he first started and got bitten by that idiot up the road, with hindsight David is a beginner as I was when I was bitten by him so easy prey really...

 

[DavidUK]

He's taking it to Paul Carrington over at Flintham, absolutely brilliant tech who I pointed David towards when he first started and got bitten by that idiot up the road, with hindsight David is a beginner as I was when I was bitten by him so easy prey really...

Yes... but don't forget the idiot already had the horn when you pointed out he was an idiot!

My tutor, Dave Plummer, who recommended him has recently also used Paul Carrington after my recommendation. The big difference is the idiot is a clarinet player and Paul is a Sax player. Paul's also a really nice chap never too busy for a chat and to help. He sorted a leaky pad on the Carmichael and a strange rattle on the SDA while I waited a week ago. I couldn't find the cause of the rattle but it took him about 5 seconds to diagnose a missing felt in a rod cup atop a post - sorted!

There's another bigger idiot I've come across but it's not easy to "out" someone for fear of being done for defamation however much evidence I have... emails, partial refund, etc. This guy is NAMIR registered, on their website, but works as a tech part time I discovered, also having a full time job nothing to do with musical instruments. It's equally important to warn others of the naff techs as well as the good guys but how?

Charlie and Matt at Connolly-MIR also know their stuff, with reasonable prices, and Matt's dent work is brilliant.
As Adam says, we could do with a Tech-Recs section where we add a brief description of what was done and why we're happy (or sad?) as a new post under each tech's named thread.

 

[Ads]

I`ll second Matt`s brass straightening skills and would send anything there brasswise which needs kicking back into shape, I think my 146yr old Higham Peashooter bone is beyond even Matt`s skills however - LOL .. they seem a good place to send clarinets too and their full re-pad, stripdown and service charge is very reasonable - sadly my Buescher isn`t worth enough to have it done... Connollys also are a mine of info on what`s good and what`s dud Brass instrument wise so now I know what NOT to get herself for Xmas french-horn wise and got a tip of "Just because they make very good saxes doesn`t mean they make good brass" ..

So it`s Steve howard for sax setups and Connollys for the rest for my recommendations.

 

[Fraser Jarvis]

Yes... but don't forget the idiot already had the horn when you pointed out he was an idiot!

.

Yeah, he's still an idiot though, haha, I'd actually go so far as to say I would be quite prepared to miss a gig and let everyone down rather than risk taking an instrument back there! funny thing was I saw him in Loughborough a few weeks later, he walked past me and completely blanked me! nice bloke..`

 

[altissimo]

Yeah, he's still an idiot though, haha, I'd actually go so far as to say I would be quite prepared to miss a gig and let everyone down rather than risk taking an instrument back there! funny thing was I saw him in Loughborough a few weeks later, he walked past me and completely blanked me! nice bloke..`

is this the man who gives Syston a bad name? I'm told by the staff in Sheehan's that he does their repairs - think I'll be taking the train to Connolly's in West Bromwich instead.
mind you, I'm so used to all the leaks by now, I might actually miss them..

 

[Ads]

you certainly get used to leaks and how to play around them and other deficiencies .

 

[DavidUK]

Took the 62 to Paul this morning. He checked it over and did a quick tweak to the G# mechanism and low Bb and that's all it needed. Everything else fine, could just do with a light key oiling which I can do. (yes, I know, needle... small drop... etc).

Paul had a good tootle on the 62 and I then asked him to have a blow of the Grassi. After a few minutes he went back to blowing the 62 again, after which. "I think I prefer the Grassi" he said. He then asked his glamourous assistant, busy repairing a flute which sound she thought was better. "I prefer the previous one" she said.

I asked Paul if the 62 would be better from a repair/maintenance point of view and he said the Grassi was well built and there should be no problems from that perspective.

Once I've oiled the 62 and they're both "up to speed" I'll continue my own comparisons. No rush to sell either, they both seem like classics albeit the Grassi is rather the rarer.