Saxophones Saxophone Recommendations New or Used Under $1500?

[wakyct]

I admit I am being cranky here, sorry)

As far as I'm concerned no apology necessary, I think it's good to get this kind of perspective.

For what it's worth I often recommend your shop to people, though now I hope I'm not sending you too many tire kickers!😛

 

[turf3]

I admit it's a slightly irrational preference but I prefer to buy horns where the manufacturer's name is actually on the horn. Essentially fungible Chinese products with "whatever" stamped on them don't draw me.

When it says "Selmer Paris" or "C.G.Conn, Ltd, Elkhart Ind." or "Yamaha" I feel a lot better about it than when it says "Bill's Transmission Repair and Saxophones, made in China by the lowest bidder".

That's just me, you know.

 

[ghostler]

I feel a lot better about it than when it says "Bill's Transmission Repair and Saxophones, made in China by the lowest bidder".

I dunno, I kind of like "Beast Mode Yamaha RV". (Was Clovis Cycle & RV before owner sold,) 😉

 

[Dr G]

I've never owned a vintage horn but I'm sure it's easy to produce a bad tone on one, in the wrong hands. Equally, it's quit possible to produce great tone on a modern instrument...
... The "right hands" are ones which have spent many many hours wrapped around a brass tube while the right face blows wind down it!
Maybe spend your waiting time practicing on a reliable instrument?

A vintage horn in good fettle is a reliable instrument.

 

[ghostler]

This biz can be fun and rewarding at times, for me particularly in two ways:

1) taking an old horn which has been either neglected or simply ignored, or maybe even played half to death...and resuscitating it back to top playing form then getting it back out into player curculation. Emotionally, nothing better than giving a refurbed horn its first playtest after I am 80% done with it and hearing it sing, and feeling its abilities returned to it.

Recently I had Tarpley Music of Lubbock, TX's tech work on my 1980's Selmer Bundy II alto, cost $152. Now plays like a different horn, sweet. A good tech is truly worth their salts. Even though a "beginner" horn, it does play quite decent.

I was reluctant to have my saxes worked on for a long time, did my own COA, because in rural parts they are hard to find. (In some schools, the band teacher became the tech for the same reason.)

today has a pretty solid reputation as a wise buy (Conn 16M, Martin Indiana, Beaugnier-made horns, Holtons just a few off the top of my head which have achieved the respect they did not once garner, or discovering that most Jupiters can go 15 rounds with most Yamahas,

@PigSquealer has also pointed out new pro quality saxes, might be considered underdogs by others that are less cost than brand name beginner instruments.
This is why I am so happy to own early 1950's Model 37 Beaugnier Vito alto and low Bb Bari. The bari is one of the easiest to break into altissimo.

My early 1990's? La Blanc Vito 7133T (Jupiter 689? - closest match I could find) is rather stout, has a beautiful tone. Got it back from Tarpley, now lives in a new hard contour case.

A number of my saxes lack the high F#, but find an altissimo fingering fills the bill easily. Should not be a reason for a player to reject a sax without.

On the flip side, there are things which sorta suck the energy out of me in this biz...but they are part of the biz. The first is

1) Tire-kickers...people who inquire , seemingly seriously, but are only gathering info with no intention, from the get-go of proceeding with any purchase.

In my comments I try not to waste anyone's time by immediately clarifying my position.

Being a pensioner and not making money playing music, I have made do with good performing cost effective instruments. Thus I want inexperienced saxists to not focus on the humbleness of their sax particularly if it is in a good state of repair.

Unless it is otherwise got a manufacturing quality problem, to continue to practise.

but I gotta say it has become way more prevalent than it was like 8 or 9 years ago. He alone is not guilty of this, as I said, it has become pretty common these days...where used to be people would asterisk their messages with "just to let you know, I am just starting to gather info" or the like.

We live in a changing world. Other day in a big hospital, asked the security guard filling in at a help desk usually staffed by others, for department direction.

He was polite, even walked us to the right hall so we could see the way.

He was thankful, mentioned some people he's encountered weren't so kind, very rude. I just told him, "I guess it takes all types to make a world."

Also noticed on the way to the hospital during start of rush hour, encountered a merge on the on ramp. Some joker in a pickup floored it and cut me off. No reason for it, just meanness. It didn't happen once, but multiple times. I've driven in heavy LA traffic so know what to expect, but in US it is common everywhere in the cities.

I think it I'd just the type of world we live in today, @JayeNM . Came across a nasty supervisor in Walmart several months ago. We are not alone.

Everyone tosses Jupiters (foolishly) so that wasn't a big surprise (albeit not a wise dismissal).

I hope in this forum we can turn this around. I am certainly happy with mine.

 

[progger]

Once again, I am blown away at just how many New Mexicans there are on this UK-based forum... every time I see you gentlemen post, I regret forfeiting my 505 area code when I moved away for college. (I'm just old enough to have gone off to school pre-cell-phone-ubiquity. So I'll have a North Dallas area code for the rest of my career, I wager, regardless of where I "end up.")

From what I've learned over years of reading posts from @JayeNM and recommending his shop to students, friends, and internet randos, I've come to the conclusion that you ignore his advice at your own peril. The saxophone is normally a relatively expensive instrument to get into (compared to, say, guitar or electric bass). I have enormous respect for people who have the inclination and expertise to connect professionally serviceable instruments to working-class budgets. I've played with some of the most famous artists in the world and it wasn't long ago that a working-class budget was what afforded the gear that paid all my bills. The music business is tough, and quality working-class tools are essential.

 

[JayeNM]

Recently I had Tarpley Music of Lubbock, TX's tech work on my 1980's Selmer Bundy II alto, cost $152. Now plays like a different horn, sweet. A good tech is truly worth their salts. Even though a "beginner" horn, it does play quite decent.

I was reluctant to have my saxes worked on for a long time, did my own COA, because in rural parts they are hard to find. (In some schools, the band teacher became the tech for the same reason.)

@PigSquealer has also pointed out new pro quality saxes, might be considered underdogs by others that are less cost than brand name beginner instruments.
This is why I am so happy to own early 1950's Model 37 Beaugnier Vito alto and low Bb Bari. The bari is one of the easiest to break into altissimo.

My early 1990's? La Blanc Vito 7133T (Jupiter 689? - closest match I could find) is rather stout, has a beautiful tone. Got it back from Tarpley, now lives in a new hard contour case.

A number of my saxes lack the high F#, but find an altissimo fingering fills the bill easily. Should not be a reason for a player to reject a sax without.

In my comments I try not to waste anyone's time by immediately clarifying my position.

Being a pensioner and not making money playing music, I have made do with good performing cost effective instruments. Thus I want inexperienced saxists to not focus on the humbleness of their sax particularly if it is in a good state of repair.

Unless it is otherwise got a manufacturing quality problem, to continue to practise.

We live in a changing world. Other day in a big hospital, asked the security guard filling in at a help desk usually staffed by others, for department direction.

He was polite, even walked us to the right hall so we could see the way.

He was thankful, mentioned some people he's encountered weren't so kind, very rude. I just told him, "I guess it takes all types to make a world."

Also noticed on the way to the hospital during start of rush hour, encountered a merge on the on ramp. Some joker in a pickup floored it and cut me off. No reason for it, just meanness. It didn't happen once, but multiple times. I've driven in heavy LA traffic so know what to expect, but in US it is common everywhere in the cities.

I think it I'd just the type of world we live in today, @JayeNM . Came across a nasty supervisor in Walmart several months ago. We are not alone.

I hope in this forum we can turn this around. I am certainly happy with mine.

Once again, I am blown away at just how many New Mexicans there are on this UK-based forum... every time I see you gentlemen post, I regret forfeiting my 505 area code when I moved away for college. (I'm just old enough to have gone off to school pre-cell-phone-ubiquity. So I'll have a North Dallas area code for the rest of my career, I wager, regardless of where I "end up.")

From what I've learned over years of reading posts from @JayeNM and recommending his shop to students, friends, and internet randos, I've come to the conclusion that you ignore his advice at your own peril. The saxophone is normally a relatively expensive instrument to get into (compared to, say, guitar or electric bass). I have enormous respect for people who have the inclination and expertise to connect professionally serviceable instruments to working-class budgets. I've played with some of the most famous artists in the world and it wasn't long ago that a working-class budget was what afforded the gear that paid all my bills. The music business is tough, and quality working-class tools are essential.

I appreciate the kind words, and the context as well, gents.

FWIW, Jupe's reputation has risen over the past 5 years...some. Not enough but some.

MY advice is my advice, I understand that some folks are gonna believe "this guy is pushing this model on me because he wants to sell that particular one"...others will simply NOT waver from choosing a Yamaha just because they are such a widespread suggestion....things like that. Likewise, the whole " don't buy vintage, they require more work to upkeep and if you have to replace a part, you are screwed" or whatever.

Those are the three most common things which are almost ingrained in some folks. I honestly just try to mine what someone's context is, what their budget is, whether they wanna dip their toes into an older horn, and then go to my storage space and pull out what I think would be a good fit.

When people start moving the goalposts, tho....that is almost always a flag. Maybe just a yellow flag, but more often than not when they do that things are gonna start getting iffy, lol. They start an inquiry for a mid-priced intermediate model horn, then they stumble across an American vintage classic and they get enamored with that, or they say their budget is $XXX then in between our convos they find a model with a value of $XXX +700 and they wanna know if I got one of those...etc...etc.....

(BTW...for a young person to move afield from NM is always a good idea. I like NM and W. Texas, I can see them as good places to come back to someday, or settle for someone my age who has lived in some hotspot cities but now just wants to wind it down and connect to an interestingly spare, spiritual environ...

..... but I think those from here should leave to see other cities/areas. Most of my bandmates (there's around 30 in all, lol, in a rotation) are well under 32 years old, most grew up in El Paso or Southern NM or even Juarez, MX.... and they often say to me "I thought you liked my playing, why do you keep trying to get me to leave ?") 😀

 

[ghostler]

You're welcome, @JayeNM .

others will simply NOT waver from choosing a Yamaha just because they are such a widespread suggestion

Yes, amazing how sometimes something becomes a must jump onto bandwagon without much thought.

When one is on a modest budget, there is no reason to reject other saxes that are excellent players, even though they don't have the top brand names.

There was a time that Yamaha was the budget go to brand, but now there are other suitable choices.

My Taiwanese made Antigua Winds alto plays as well as my 1971 Yamaha YAS-61 pro. Brought it used around 2014 for around $350. Just got a call it is back from the Lubbock shop at my local Tarpley's, $152 COA.

My Antigua Winds low A Bari I bought in 2021 as new unsold stock on clearance for around $2,200 tax and shipping included is a joy to play. Musician's Friend was selling it for $4,400 in 2014. So there are bargains available, and Antigua Winds is a decent brand.