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AaronTMartin78
Member
I have been meaning to share my thoughts regarding this horn for both the Cafe community and for @JVSamuelMusic, who requested I write a review (Joe, I'm sorry that this took me a week longer than anticipated, and I hope that it helps!).
Let me preface this review by saying that before purchasing the Kessler & Sons soprano, I had (about one or two months prior) purchased a Kessler Custom Handmade tenor; I briefly wrote about this in the thread located here: Saxophones - Kessler Saxophones. At the time I'd thought that this horn might replace my Yamaha YTS-62iii to become my primary tenor; this turned out to not be the case (the Yamaha's action and key work was just too familiar and comfortable compared to the Kessler's). Indeed, I have since given the Kessler tenor to my nephew, who just started playing the saxophone and has fallen in love with the larger horn. Forgive me; I digress. I was pretty impressed with the fact that the horn came out of the box more ready to play than my YTS-62 (which was purchased from WWBW), and this, along with the unbeatable value, made Kessler & Sons my first stop when shopping for a soprano saxophone.
I've now had the Custom "Handmade One" soprano for about three to four months. No surprise: it is a lot of horn for an extremely reasonable price. Kessler & Sons has excellent mouthpiece upgrade options, but in the end, I went with their in-house mouthpiece in the smaller tip opening option (5) since it had been 23 years since I'd touched the small horn. The case is functional (I'm not a huge fan of the large screen-printed "Kessler & Sons" logo on the exterior pouch...mostly because it is so "in your face"), it has both backpack straps and a shoulder strap, and the zippers are sturdy. The lining is brown (I do wish it was black, but oh well), there is ample storage space, and it is adequately protective.
The horn itself is gorgeous, and it is well-built and with a smooth action. The key layout feels great. Intonation initially seemed solid, especially at the low end. However, in short order I found that the middle range (starting at Bb through C#) was a half-step flat, and crossing "the break" was extremely difficult. At the time I was using Legere Signature 3.25 reeds (I'm now on cane reeds), and, per Dave Kessler's well-written blog post on modern sopranos, had the mouthpiece pushed in as far as it could go (so I thought; there was about 8 mm of exposed neck cork). I was finding that I was even experimenting with alternate fingerings for pitch adjustment, and at times even fingering the note a half step above of the desired note! Meanwhile, the break was even more of a frustration: though I could easily play notes when starting in the second octave (octave key D or higher), crossing the break (B to octave key D, C to D, C# to D, etc.) was extremely hit or miss at best, and nearly impossible at worst. I was hoping that it was the player (me!) rather than the horn, so I kept at it for another week or so in the hopes that it would work itself out in time. No luck. I contacted Dave Kessler, and though he addressed the intonation issues by stating I probably (still) had too much neck cork exposed and that I should continue to try to push in, he did not address the troubles I was experiencing crossing the break. [Side note: I ended up pushing the mouthpiece in so far that I split the neck cork a bit 🙁...see the attached photo). Dave suggested that I might also experiment with other reeds, stating, "I do not find the Legere reeds as forgiving in their dynamic control range and that might not be helping." His responses were usually quite slow in coming, and I found the quality of them to be a bit lacking, especially considering I'd purchased two horns from Kessler & Sons in less than three months.
I kept at it for another week or so, during which time I tried a switch in mouthpieces (going to a Vandoren V16 S6...gotta love GAS😛), and though this felt a bit better and seemed to help with intonation (it's physically shorter than the Kessler stock mouthpiece, which brought the pitch up a bit overall), it did not help with crossing the break. By this point, I was starting to get quite frustrated, to the point of a) having some buyer's remorse (should I have just waited to purchase a Yamaha YSS-475?), and b) almost wanting to set the soprano aside entirely.
I contacted a college classmate who is now a full professor of saxophone at a fairly well-known university in the eastern US; he generously offered to meet up with me (he lives only 35 minutes away, though he commutes 400 miles once a week for his job and is a father of two; needless to say his weekends are very busy!), play the horn to offer his thoughts and possibly assist with any mechanical issues, and also to let me play his Yamaha YSS-675 as a comparison. Unfortunately, he forgot to bring his Yamaha home with him, but he did play the Kessler horn extensively. Though he's not a repair tech, he is very competent with the mechanics of the saxophone. In a matter of minutes, he figured out the cause for both problems: for the mid-range intonation issues, he made a few turns to the two "left hand stack" adjustment screws (see the attached photo), and voilà! My mid-range notes notes were in tune! He told me that this is a really nice feature that many high-end horns do not even have. For the break, he quickly deduced that the upper octave key (the one near the neck cork) was not fully closing, and made a small bend to ensure that it was sealing properly. Again, voilà...I could cross the break with ease! My friend then spent 3-5 minutes effortlessly burning throughout the entire range of the horn, including entrance into the altissimo range. He handed the horn back to me, saying, "That is a VERY nice horn, and the fact that you only spent $1,800 on it makes it even more impressive." There you have it: sometimes the little things truly make all the difference.
I now play a Morgan Classical soprano mouthpiece (it's a 3C; 0.50 tip opening) and use cane reeds (Java red 3 1/2, with a possible upcoming switch to Java red 4s, since the 3 1/2s seem just a bit too soft), and I couldn't be happier. Intonation is sound (at least, for a novice soprano player and one who took 16 years off from playing the saxophone!) and I am having lots of fun. The cracked neck cork (at the base of the cork, as shown in the attached photo) does not seem to cause any issues; there is now about 3-5 mm of exposed neck.
What bothers me is this: how could this saxophone have passed Kessler & Sons' in-house play test and initial set-up before being shipped out? I suppose that something could have happened in transit, but given how well it was packed (with shipping corks in all the necessary places), I doubt it. My Kessler tenor was not perfect: the neck tenon was not tight enough, and there was a slight leak at the G# pad, which gave me trouble with the lower register. Sure, these were quick fixes by my local repair technician for less than $50, but for a horn from a company that emphasizes its pre-shipment setup, I find this somewhat disappointing. But for the soprano, this was something that caused me multiple weeks of frustration, and one that could have led to my giving up on the small horn entirely. Dave Kessler's email responses were not that helpful, as I've mentioned, and in the end, I opted to not continue our email discussion.
I did, however, decide to write an in-depth review. To make an already very long story (just) a bit shorter😀, I gave the horn "three stars out of five as received and five stars after the adjustments were made, for an overall four stars out of five." I made sure to accentuate the positive and remained fair throughout, and still recommended the horn in the summary of my review (and still do). With regards to Kessler's setup, I basically said that "your mileage may vary," and that in my case, "the soprano's was a bit suspect and the tenor's a bit less than perfect." Dave did not publish my review (he did publish my review for the tenor, which was more glowing, within a day of receiving it, so I do not think that this was because he did not receive notification of my review having been submitted). For this reason, I will not be spending any more of my hard-earned money at Kessler & Sons. A repeat customer giving honest, polite, and firm-but-fair feedback should never be censored. I am a small business owner myself, and I would most definitely want to know if one of my clients was (even slightly) disappointed in my services; nor would I attempt to prevent a review being posted if it was not to my liking (though I would intervene if the reviewer was rude, incorrect, or slanderous).
Finally (sorry for being so long-winded!), and to sum up: the Kessler Custom Handmade One soprano is a very nice horn at an excellent price, and I really recommend it for a potential soprano doubler or for someone wanting to purchase a solid soprano saxophone without breaking the bank. Though there are times when I wonder how I'd feel had I waited and purchased a Yamaha YSS-475, those times are few and far between. This is a really nice instrument that is lots of fun to play. I look forward to trying to transcribe some Branford Marsalis solos and to continue to improve.
Best regards,
Aaron
Let me preface this review by saying that before purchasing the Kessler & Sons soprano, I had (about one or two months prior) purchased a Kessler Custom Handmade tenor; I briefly wrote about this in the thread located here: Saxophones - Kessler Saxophones. At the time I'd thought that this horn might replace my Yamaha YTS-62iii to become my primary tenor; this turned out to not be the case (the Yamaha's action and key work was just too familiar and comfortable compared to the Kessler's). Indeed, I have since given the Kessler tenor to my nephew, who just started playing the saxophone and has fallen in love with the larger horn. Forgive me; I digress. I was pretty impressed with the fact that the horn came out of the box more ready to play than my YTS-62 (which was purchased from WWBW), and this, along with the unbeatable value, made Kessler & Sons my first stop when shopping for a soprano saxophone.
I've now had the Custom "Handmade One" soprano for about three to four months. No surprise: it is a lot of horn for an extremely reasonable price. Kessler & Sons has excellent mouthpiece upgrade options, but in the end, I went with their in-house mouthpiece in the smaller tip opening option (5) since it had been 23 years since I'd touched the small horn. The case is functional (I'm not a huge fan of the large screen-printed "Kessler & Sons" logo on the exterior pouch...mostly because it is so "in your face"), it has both backpack straps and a shoulder strap, and the zippers are sturdy. The lining is brown (I do wish it was black, but oh well), there is ample storage space, and it is adequately protective.
The horn itself is gorgeous, and it is well-built and with a smooth action. The key layout feels great. Intonation initially seemed solid, especially at the low end. However, in short order I found that the middle range (starting at Bb through C#) was a half-step flat, and crossing "the break" was extremely difficult. At the time I was using Legere Signature 3.25 reeds (I'm now on cane reeds), and, per Dave Kessler's well-written blog post on modern sopranos, had the mouthpiece pushed in as far as it could go (so I thought; there was about 8 mm of exposed neck cork). I was finding that I was even experimenting with alternate fingerings for pitch adjustment, and at times even fingering the note a half step above of the desired note! Meanwhile, the break was even more of a frustration: though I could easily play notes when starting in the second octave (octave key D or higher), crossing the break (B to octave key D, C to D, C# to D, etc.) was extremely hit or miss at best, and nearly impossible at worst. I was hoping that it was the player (me!) rather than the horn, so I kept at it for another week or so in the hopes that it would work itself out in time. No luck. I contacted Dave Kessler, and though he addressed the intonation issues by stating I probably (still) had too much neck cork exposed and that I should continue to try to push in, he did not address the troubles I was experiencing crossing the break. [Side note: I ended up pushing the mouthpiece in so far that I split the neck cork a bit 🙁...see the attached photo). Dave suggested that I might also experiment with other reeds, stating, "I do not find the Legere reeds as forgiving in their dynamic control range and that might not be helping." His responses were usually quite slow in coming, and I found the quality of them to be a bit lacking, especially considering I'd purchased two horns from Kessler & Sons in less than three months.
I kept at it for another week or so, during which time I tried a switch in mouthpieces (going to a Vandoren V16 S6...gotta love GAS😛), and though this felt a bit better and seemed to help with intonation (it's physically shorter than the Kessler stock mouthpiece, which brought the pitch up a bit overall), it did not help with crossing the break. By this point, I was starting to get quite frustrated, to the point of a) having some buyer's remorse (should I have just waited to purchase a Yamaha YSS-475?), and b) almost wanting to set the soprano aside entirely.
I contacted a college classmate who is now a full professor of saxophone at a fairly well-known university in the eastern US; he generously offered to meet up with me (he lives only 35 minutes away, though he commutes 400 miles once a week for his job and is a father of two; needless to say his weekends are very busy!), play the horn to offer his thoughts and possibly assist with any mechanical issues, and also to let me play his Yamaha YSS-675 as a comparison. Unfortunately, he forgot to bring his Yamaha home with him, but he did play the Kessler horn extensively. Though he's not a repair tech, he is very competent with the mechanics of the saxophone. In a matter of minutes, he figured out the cause for both problems: for the mid-range intonation issues, he made a few turns to the two "left hand stack" adjustment screws (see the attached photo), and voilà! My mid-range notes notes were in tune! He told me that this is a really nice feature that many high-end horns do not even have. For the break, he quickly deduced that the upper octave key (the one near the neck cork) was not fully closing, and made a small bend to ensure that it was sealing properly. Again, voilà...I could cross the break with ease! My friend then spent 3-5 minutes effortlessly burning throughout the entire range of the horn, including entrance into the altissimo range. He handed the horn back to me, saying, "That is a VERY nice horn, and the fact that you only spent $1,800 on it makes it even more impressive." There you have it: sometimes the little things truly make all the difference.
I now play a Morgan Classical soprano mouthpiece (it's a 3C; 0.50 tip opening) and use cane reeds (Java red 3 1/2, with a possible upcoming switch to Java red 4s, since the 3 1/2s seem just a bit too soft), and I couldn't be happier. Intonation is sound (at least, for a novice soprano player and one who took 16 years off from playing the saxophone!) and I am having lots of fun. The cracked neck cork (at the base of the cork, as shown in the attached photo) does not seem to cause any issues; there is now about 3-5 mm of exposed neck.
What bothers me is this: how could this saxophone have passed Kessler & Sons' in-house play test and initial set-up before being shipped out? I suppose that something could have happened in transit, but given how well it was packed (with shipping corks in all the necessary places), I doubt it. My Kessler tenor was not perfect: the neck tenon was not tight enough, and there was a slight leak at the G# pad, which gave me trouble with the lower register. Sure, these were quick fixes by my local repair technician for less than $50, but for a horn from a company that emphasizes its pre-shipment setup, I find this somewhat disappointing. But for the soprano, this was something that caused me multiple weeks of frustration, and one that could have led to my giving up on the small horn entirely. Dave Kessler's email responses were not that helpful, as I've mentioned, and in the end, I opted to not continue our email discussion.
I did, however, decide to write an in-depth review. To make an already very long story (just) a bit shorter😀, I gave the horn "three stars out of five as received and five stars after the adjustments were made, for an overall four stars out of five." I made sure to accentuate the positive and remained fair throughout, and still recommended the horn in the summary of my review (and still do). With regards to Kessler's setup, I basically said that "your mileage may vary," and that in my case, "the soprano's was a bit suspect and the tenor's a bit less than perfect." Dave did not publish my review (he did publish my review for the tenor, which was more glowing, within a day of receiving it, so I do not think that this was because he did not receive notification of my review having been submitted). For this reason, I will not be spending any more of my hard-earned money at Kessler & Sons. A repeat customer giving honest, polite, and firm-but-fair feedback should never be censored. I am a small business owner myself, and I would most definitely want to know if one of my clients was (even slightly) disappointed in my services; nor would I attempt to prevent a review being posted if it was not to my liking (though I would intervene if the reviewer was rude, incorrect, or slanderous).
Finally (sorry for being so long-winded!), and to sum up: the Kessler Custom Handmade One soprano is a very nice horn at an excellent price, and I really recommend it for a potential soprano doubler or for someone wanting to purchase a solid soprano saxophone without breaking the bank. Though there are times when I wonder how I'd feel had I waited and purchased a Yamaha YSS-475, those times are few and far between. This is a really nice instrument that is lots of fun to play. I look forward to trying to transcribe some Branford Marsalis solos and to continue to improve.
Best regards,
Aaron
