Saxophones Renewing an old friendship

[jonf]

I've got two altos (at the moment.....), a Yanagisawa and a Buescher True Tone. The Yani is fantastic, a bargain which plays great (thanks to Griff), so I play it most of the time. In fact, I haven't played the Buescher for over a year. On a whim I got it out last night and had a blow on it. I really enjoyed playing it. The action was lovely and light, intonation with my Yani 7 metal mouthpiece was spot on and the tone was lovely and creamy, although I could also make it blare out loud, and even get up into the altissimo range. Bottom notes absolutely belt out. Screaming it out felt a bit unseemly for a 1920s alto, but it did it just fine. Lovely thick tone for ballads too.

Downsides? Ergonomics are crap, left thumb piece far too small, palm keys ridiculously low and the G# key requires a crazy amout of force. Can all be worked around with a combination of strong hands and key risers.

Great sax, lovely to play. I wouldn't recommend it for a beginner, but sounds great. Looks lovely, too. I don't think I'll ever sell it.

Jon

 

[Pyrografix]

This is good to hear, especially since I recently acquired a True Tone myself from the dreaded eBay....... I wasn't sure what to expect when it arrived, but after a quick clean and oil it plays beautifully and sounds great.

Enjoy!

Cheers,
Amanda

 

[Sue]

The lad who I play alto with in Swing Band plays a True Tone - it has a wonderful tone and looks great. Quite envious sometimes

 

[jonf]

But then.......what a tart I am........I played the Yanagisawa last night. Oh my, it's a great sax, complex tone, easy ergonomics and loads of character. It's an A6 model, bought as a wreck with no neck for £80 and transformed into a player by Griff for a snip. Looks a bit battered still, and the shiny underslung neck doesn't match the patina of the rest of it, but it really flatters my mediocre playing. So the Buescher's back in its box.

A good job I don't anthropomorphise the things or I'd be feeeling guilty.))

Does sax have a soul? Well I don't so how could my saxes?