The best make of saxophone, ever.

Moz · Aug 4, 2008

So what is it, the best make of sax ever?

If money was no object which company/individual makes the best saxes?

Tone is so subjective so I'm asking the question as relevant only to build quality, longetivity, materials, ease of play, etc.

Is it a modern sax or are the old Conns and their ilk the best for everyday, professional use?

Does more money only buy you a shinier sax with more esoteric metals or does it buy you spacecraft-quality precision?

Is there an amount of money above which there is no point in going?

Analyze and discuss............

Cheers

Moz

My opinion?...collies are the best dogs. About saxes?...not a clue.

TomMapfumo · Aug 4, 2008

Inderbinen - no question!

Kind regards
Tom

Thaumaturge · Aug 4, 2008

With respect, this is the sort of question which has already been asked many times in different forms on SOTW.

Colin

old_git · Aug 4, 2008

The Schmidt Composite Carbon with the semitone fingering system.
After learning Mr. Sax's adaptation of Mr B?hm's fingering system, don't think I'll bother. Two further reasons, ten grand sterling and at least three years waiting, not sure I'll last that long. >:)

post script:-His Norton bits are really good.

PaulyT · Aug 4, 2008

Thaumaturge wrote:
With respect, this is the sort of question which has already been asked many times in different forms on SOTW.

Colin

And with equal respect Colin, not all of us go on SOTW.
The topic is still valid even if it has been debated before elsewhere.
Paul

Pjonah · Aug 4, 2008

Surely its the Jollysun!

Kidding of course.....honestly!

Simon

Col9 · Aug 4, 2008

Thaumaturge wrote:
With respect, this is the sort of question which has already been asked many times in different forms on SOTW.

Colin

Sax on the web Boooooooo!!!!!! 😛

Jollysun :laugh: :laugh: nice one. I haven't played enough sax's to be able to join in on this one with anything usefull.

Col.

thomsax · Aug 4, 2008

I think the best sax was/is the early Selmer MkVI. From sopranino to bassax the Selmer Mk VI was outstanding. MkVI sat the standard for the modern saxsound and design. An allround saxophone.

I think the best allround sax of today is the Yamaha 62.

But there are other great horns as well; King Super 20 (tenor and alto): American jazz! Fullbody. The Martins: for the blues, R&B and Rock 'n' Roll. Buescher 400: A real rocker. A screamer, cuts trough everything. Conns 6M, 10 M &12 M: The horn for smokey slow blues. Big Band saxes!!

I can't say anything about saxes like Mauriat, Walstein, Hanson ... simply because I havn't tried them.

Pete Thomas has SAXOPHONE COMPARISONS on his website. It would be intersting if he could compare some new horns. Keilwerths, Rampone, Borgani, Yamaha, Mauriat. Useful for saxplayers that are going to buy a new horn.

If I had ?3500-4000 to spend on a new sax I would buy a Jessen Tenor. A player and a looker. Handbuilt (except the keys) by Peter Jessen in central Copenhagen. You can talk to the producer yourself! http://synonym.dk/mall/shop.asp?shop_id=3347&vare_id=421374

Thomas

mfox · Aug 4, 2008

mk6 no question..no other sax comes close, still being copied

Jules · Aug 5, 2008

please lets not go down this route.... There is no such thing as the best sax ever!!
Only the best sax for a specific player (in a a specific context- and even that's a bit debatable). Selmer MkVI- I know a fair few players who swear the super balanced action was better......
Personally i feel no desire to swap my Mauriat 66R for anything else I've played in the last two years, but I'm not going to claim that makes it "the" best sax.....

Saxoholic · Aug 5, 2008

I agree with nachoman, for me the best sax ever is my 1927 conn "chu berry". Theres no other sax in the world that i would want to trade it for simply because for me it is everything i want in a sax. It has depth in my opinion. But again thats just it, its my own opinion somebody elses will be completely different so there can never be a "perfect sax".

thomsax · Aug 5, 2008

Okay, you're right. The best make.... ever ...... it's too personal.

Thomas

Moz · Aug 6, 2008

With respect, I apparently stupidly made the mistake of opening a discussion as part of my message when the real question was buried. How silly am I?

My real query is this extract:

Does more money only buy you a shinier sax with more esoteric metals or does it buy you spacecraft-quality precision? So, is there an amount of money above which there is no point in going except for appearance?

My apologies if SOTW has covered this question but I do have a life and it's difficult to assign time to trawl all the sax-related websites!

Moz

Moz wrote:
So what is it, the best make of sax ever?

If money was no object which company/individual makes the best saxes?

Tone is so subjective so I'm asking the question as relevant only to build quality, longetivity, materials, ease of play, etc.

Is it a modern sax or are the old Conns and their ilk the best for everyday, professional use?

Does more money only buy you a shinier sax with more esoteric metals or does it buy you spacecraft-quality precision?

Is there an amount of money above which there is no point in going?

Analyze and discuss............

Cheers

Moz

My opinion?...collies are the best dogs. About saxes?...not a clue.

Jules · Aug 6, 2008

There are distinct 'levels' within sax building.... Very roughly cheap rubbish, student, intemediate and great... pretty much determined by precission of design and build quality, most certainly.
Basically, the more effort that gets put into building the thing the better the end result. By better we're talking reliability, ease of playing- especially at the extremes of range and volumes- both loud and quiet, richness/complexity of tone, ability to fine tune/adjust the sax.
A Selmer Reference or Top end Yaangisawa is certainly going to give you a different playing experience to something like and Earlham (or a JollySun!).

Greywolf · Aug 27, 2008

The best sax is the one you like playing, that gives you sound you want at a price you can afford.

My Yani T991 is fab. I love it.

I wanted a curved soprano and was in Johnny Roadhouse a few years ago where they had a 2nd hand A901 I think or something like it.

I jumped at it and played it for about 20 minutes. I just couldn't get on with it. It felt all wrong and I was so disappointed. I thought it was going tobe great after the Tenor. Saved me a wedge though.

I tried a lot of sopranos and in the end bought a second hand Paris Artiste from Promenade music, just along the road from me. It is fantastic and the intonation is really quite good. I don't struggle too much.

I don't often play it in public but have started taking it down to the jam session on Sundays. My friend played it and was really impressed.

jonf · Aug 27, 2008

nachoman wrote:
Only the best sax for a specific player (in a a specific context- and even that's a bit debatable).

I'm with you on this Jules, but for me it's even more variable. For me it also depends on mood, what I feel like playing, what sort of music, etc. Last night it was a mid-1920's Buescher True Tone Alto. Such great tone, power, and flexibility I forgot all about the dodgy ergonomics. Another day, the best might be my Yani T992, or Conn C Mel. It's all about context, and how all the other variables like reeds, mouthpieces and so on come together. It's a bit like drinking great wine on holiday. It's the very best in the world, but take it out of context (i.e. home) and it loses something.

Or am I just talking cobblers here? :laugh:

PaulyT · Aug 28, 2008

OK - I've had a good think about this and the best Saxophone ever is the one I'm playing at the time I'm playing well. The worst saxophone ever is the one I'm playing when I'm playing badly.
I chop and change between my Prelude AS700 and my Earlham Chicago series alto and it really is that simple IMHO!
PaulyT