Saxophones Stephanhouser Saxophones

[Der Wikinger]

has anyone heard of them? What I have read says The horns are being made in Taiwan by (I think) Kinstar, and the owner of the company whose name escapes me worked for Antigua and went out on his own. They loudly tout the pivot screw mechanism but I fail to see any advantage and would be concerned that if you ever lost one most repair shops would not have a replacement and the one piece bow. I honestly couldn't tell any difference in the lower end that could be attributed to the bow. It looks like they have done a lot of advertising but actually have very very few dealers, so maybe that tells us something. A local dealer foists them upon unsuspecting young children. Opinions, anyone?

 

[Luluna]

I found an alto listed as "used" on Musician's Friend. The retail price was $1800 - I got it for just under $500. Apparently someone ordered it for a grandson and returned it untouched. My gain. I prefer my Buescher True Tone, but use the Stephanhouser as a back up. I read criticisms regarding intonation, but have not encountered those issues. It is a solid student/intermediate horn and I will say that I can positively SCREAM up and down the chromatic scale from top to bottom as the mechanisms and placement of the keys facilitate finger speed. The sound doesn't have as much personality as my old Buescher, but it is so reliable and the upper register is easy to keep in tune - I use it for Concert Band rehearsals exclusively.

Other than that - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephanhöuser_Saxophones -