Beginner Saxes Tell me about your first sax

[mizmar]

My first is a bog standard YAS280.
Being in a really fed up mood, I got off the bus at the only wind instrument shop in town and bought it with zero research and very little thought. No regrets.
My second is a very scruffy Vito/YTS23(or such). Which is great and useful for leaning basic sax maintenance and adjustment.
There is a badger that comes out of the forest and does its duty, around the neighborhood, on reducing the slug population everey couple of years. I think it's got a young appreciate now. There is also a fabulous, Norwegian, song featuring a badger.

 

[Jimmymack]

Saw New York, New York in 1977 and went out to buy a saxophone. I bought a BM alto in a shop in Shaftesbury Avenue and took it from there. I played the BM for quite a few years and didn't know any better. Never had it serviced and it just kept on playing and there weren't places like this to feed my insecurity but I did start to see Yamahas that seemed to be easier to play; I did upgrade my mouthpiece at some point. Eventually I traded it in against a Buescher, it was in competition with a Yamaha but my love of American horns was born then in Lewington's try out room. The BM's probably still going strong somewhere.

 

[nigeld]

What's a BM?

 

[Jimmymack]

B&M Champion. Barnes and Mullins own brand I think. Czechoslovakian/East German made horn. I suspect I got lucky as nothing fell off.

 

[Ghr9204]

First sax I owned was Yamaha YAS-61 pro alto. Prior I was using a school loaner. It was near end of my junior year in high school, around May 1971.

Our band instructor, Mr. Tamanaha told us students during band class, the Yamaha distributor in Honolulu had an overabundance of pro model band instruments they were clearing to make room for a new shipment from Japan.

It was first come, first serve at half price.

After telling me father and showing him the price list, he gave me a cheque for $240 US, which I passed onto my band teacher. (Yamaha, then new to the islands had the reputation of say, "Cecelio Mendini, Lade, Glory, etc." Most were buying Selmer, Le Blanc, Buescher, etc.)

Two weeks later, he called me into his office and handed me a brand new sax.

 

[eb424]

My daughter asked me to order (not pay for) a saxophone as she wanted to play ‘ Pink Panther Theme ‘. She still can’t and hasn’t progressed far but still has the sax. I gave it a blow and was hooked. I bought the same one @Targa ,a Trevor James Artemis with a Yamaha mouthpiece. It didn’t keep it for long as it was purchased on approval and I returned it and received the cost minus a rental fee. I had meanwhile bought a Leblanc Rationel which I still have.
I have played my daughter’s sax several times since purchase and as it is still almost unplayed would be quite happy if it were the only one available To me. As the say the best sax is is the one you’re playing at the moment.

Try buying the book by Mark Archer called Blowout sax..The pink panther intro is in it and its a quick way of playing..sometimes a tunes all you need to know you have the ability to play the sax..enthusiasm kicks in from there

 

[Pete Thomas]

What was your first sax, and in retrospect, was the sax you picked or acquired a good choice for you?

Mine was a Grafton. It was a good choice because (at the time) they were very affordable used.

 

[skeller047]

What was your first sax, and in retrospect, was the sax you picked or acquired a good choice for you?

I got a Holton alto at the age of 13. It was a rental, but after a few months, my folks bought it for me (the store had a rent-to-own policy). I had already been playing clarinet, so quickly progressed. I played that horn through high school, until my wonderful dad bought me a Mark VI as a graduation present.

I guess it was a good choice - I loved playing sax, still do, so that counts as good I suppose. I don’t think I would enjoy playing it now, though.

 

[thomsax]

My first sax was a used Conn Director "Shooting Star" from 1963-1965. I started to play/blow just before Christmas in 1968 and I continued to play. Still honking. So I guess it was ok?

 

[Targa]

My first sax was a used Conn Director "Shooting Star" from 1963-1965. I started to play/blow just before Christmas in 1868 and I continued to play. Still honking. So I guess it was ok?

I think you and it just qualified for oldest on cafe.

 

[Ghr9204]

My first sax was a used Conn Director "Shooting Star" from 1963-1965. I started to play/blow just before Christmas in 1868 and I continued to play. Still honking. So I guess it was ok?

I see why not. You've played it enough to be thoroughly familiar with it.

I still have my LeBlanc Vito I ebonite clarinet, my first instrument (new) when I started in 1965. It has been overhauled several times, is about a quarter tone sharp in the throat register, but I can still play it and play it in tune.

 

[Pete Effamy]

I started playing on my dad’s clarinet, a B&H Albert system aged 7.
Got an alto aged 15 I think, a Yam 62.

 

[ESJohn]

I've mentioned it before, but since you asked:
After using a rental sax during junior high, I wanted to continue playing so my parents took me to a local music store. The owner brought out a King Cleveland 613 and had me try it out. I remember saying "Oh, wow!" because it sounded so much better than the rental. It became mine that day and I carried it all the way through high school. It even got to take a plane ride at the end of my senior year to Toronto's Ontario Place, where we marched in a parade and then enjoyed the park. It got put away for a long time after that. The case had to be pitched a number of years ago as it had molded sitting in a dark corner of the basement. My son did play the horn for a year when he was in junior high, but didn't get the bug.
For some reason, I hung on to it and still own it today, even though it gets little use currently. I'm hoping that one of my grandkids will want to pick it up.

 

[Digger2054]

I was using the school horn, which kind of played. Rather than spend money fixing up their horn, my parents bought me an Earlham Pro II Alto, from Johnny Roadhouse.

I still have it, although it mostly lives in it's case as the thing weighs a ton.

 

[Trigger]

My first sax was a vito (Yamaha) alto purchased from Don Mackrill , Don was that nice he asked who my favorite player was I told him David Sanborn and he threw in a used Dukoff D7 mpc , yes a Miami one but this was back in 1991 , I remember getting the sax putting on the dukoff ( my first time with a metal mpc , plus I was new to the sax had a rental for a month before ) and trying to get a sound out of it that didn’t sound like a fox on heat
This was a great sax which after 6 month I traded in for a yas62 cause my local sax(MIR) store had a used at a great price

 

[Nervous_Fingers]

Elementary school, 10 years old, a rented alto Vito. I had it for nearly a year until the octave mechanism came apart. My parents took it back to the music store and they swapped it for a Conn shooting star. Had that until sophomore year in high school when my grandfather financed a SA80.