Taking the plunge - alto

[dooce]

I've been playing around with a Jupiter alto on approval for a couple of months; nice enough but it doesn't seem to me to be worth the 400-plus quid it will cost me to keep, so have been looking for a cheapie on eBay, none of which really appeal (apart from Jools's Martin...) so have just ordered a 190-quid nickel plated alto from Gear4music, having read several very nice things about them, not least from our very own Pete Thomas. It will arrive tomorrow and the Jupiter will go back to the shop on Saturday! It looks pretty enough to hang on the wall even if I don't get on with it!
http://www.gear4music.com/image_popup.php?jpgpic=nickelsax

 

[Taz]

Looks nice Bill, you'll have to let us know how you get on. I started on alto, it's en Elkhart series II. A real beginners horn. Nice enough but I'm still using the original mpc which is quite restrictive. I did think about looking for a Runyon for it, but I'm not so sure. I just cant make my mind up as to what sort of sound I'm really after. Oh well, I suppose I'll just have to keep listening to other people 😉
Enjoy the alto

 

[dooce]

I don't hear great things about the mpc that comes as standard, but at that price you wouldn't expect much. I have a Runyon for the tenor that I've never used since I bought my Lawton, so I'll flog that and head for the shops with the dosh to try a few out.

Except I won't be going along to my usual shop, Allegro in Oxford. I couldn't stand the sarcasm if I turned up there with a 190-quid Chinese horn 🙁

 

[phil_edwards]

Very nice looking sax, enjoy!

Phil

 

[old_git]

Dooce,
How is Allegro to know that they will not be selling you a mouthpiece because of previous sarcasm?

If the guy is losing trade, tell him why, you might get a discount and more respect in future. He probably think he is just being amusing and not realise that he is overdoing it.

Try anyway, you can always leave, explaining that you will also warn all your friends and acquaintances.

 

[dooce]

old git wrote:
Dooce,
How is Allegro to know that they will not be selling you a mouthpiece because of previous sarcasm?

If the guy is losing trade, tell him why, you might get a discount and more respect in future. He probably think he is just being amusing and not realise that he is overdoing it.

Try anyway, you can always leave, explaining that you will also warn all your friends and acquaintances.

I'm guessing you haven't met Roger. He couldn't give a monkeys if he sold me a mouthpiece or not and would probably have a good laugh if I threatened to tell all my friends that he had been horrible to me!

I'm not thin-skinned - I've put up with several years of his banter, and it's quite survivable if you've got a 50-year-old Conn in your hands - especially one he sold you. But I don't need the grief he would undoubtedly give me if I go in there with a Chinese alto, nor would I get his interest and advise - which has always been very useful in the past.

Anyway, it's about time I spread my custom around a bit. 😉

 

[daveysaxboy]

Hi, can you share your thought's on ya new sax when it come's.I nearly got a gear4music alto but ending up with a secondhand selmer prelude ,good little blower for the cash i spent.Nice darkish sound,it's only for little bit's of alto work so a good deal.
Cheer's david. 8|

 

[losaavedra]

I've got a Chinese alto ... the only things wrong with it are a) it's still all shiny and new-looking and b) the ham-fisted idiot learning to play it (me!). I hate any kind of 'instrument' snobbery ... same applies to guitars which is more my field. There's always someone who smirks at my home-made axe as they peer over the top of their shiny Gibson Les Paul something-or-other. My through-neck home-made oddity has been with me for over forty years and undergone countless mods. It was once a short scale bass until I took several millimetres of wood off the neck and re-fretted it. Now I've got an alto. Yes it was cheap ... but it works. It would be interesting to know whether it's really possible to know its pedigree just from its sound, similarly with other people's instruments. Room for a bit of a competition there maybe!

 

[dooce]

Well, I just got into the office (I get stuff deleivered here as there's no-one at home during the day) and gave my somewhat startled colleagues an impromtu recital of "Blowing In The Reed". Which I have to say was not entirely successful :cry:

The reed is sourced from mature oak, rather than bamboo I suspect. I'll have to wait to get it home and get the Yamaha mpc and Java reed from the Jupiter on it to give you any serious thoughts on it - but it's well made and engineered, no play in the action, chunky, but the ergonomics are different to the Jupiter and I will have to get used to them.

Anyway, it's very pretty in its nickel finish. People here were staggered when I told them it was ?190 - but then, they don't play sax, so what would they know? 😉

 

[dooce]

Ah, it turns out not to be a Yamaha, but a Jupiter own-brand mouthpiece, but no matter - it delivers a 5000% improvement on the original. OK, I'm no expert, it's only the second alto I've ever played, and I wouldn't claim to be anything special on the tenor, but it plays really sweetly - apart from a slight "fluffiness" in the lower notes which I reckon a real quality mpc will sort out. Lovely little instrument, and so pretty even the wife loves it! Currently sitting on a stand in the living room showing off - the alto, not the wife........