Saxophones Vibratosax

[Mamos]

What ever happened the the vibrato sax polymer saxophone?

Did it ever make it to market?

mamos

 

[Pete Thomas]

No, not yet.

 

[AlanB]

According to our information from Thailand these are being made and sold in Thailand. They are selling for about USD 230 or about GBP 150. We have contacted the makers and awaiting a reply to a few questions we asked.

There has been a lot of derogatory remarks made about these plastic saxes on other forums, mainly in the States. Personally I think they are a great idea! There are thousands of school aged-kids throughout Africa and Asia, and in other developing countries that would love to play the sax. In Africa it has a huge draw as a jazz and Afro-beat instrument made famous by cultural icons such as Fela and Femi Kuti. In Thailand the King himself plays saxophone, making it an exciting instrument for young players to learn.

The trouble is even a student-grade saxophone can cost as much as a years salary for many kids parents, making it a very inaccessible instrument, as opposed to a guitar or keyboard or traditional instrument which can be picked up for USD 20-30 dollars.

So as far as I am concerned anything that makes playing the saxophone more accessible to more kids and beginners around the world is a great thing. When I play in Laos, everyone is always fascinated by this strange and beautiful instrument. In this way less-well-off schools could buy in a few saxophones for their students to learn. They are probably in better tune than the cheaper Chinese saxes.

The sax-forums I have read have some really offensive posts about this new sax, with some really foul language. I guess not everyone is lucky enough to live in a country where their daddies can earn the same as an entire town in many part of the world.

I say, go-for-it Vibrato Sax and good luck. By the way Koh Mr.Saxman (a famous Thai Player) plays it, I think it sounds pretty good.

I also think it will be fun to have one to take to the beach and travelling.

Also it would be great if the company made it with a detachable neck and bell, then to install some electronics to the keys and be able to play on headphones. This would be great for practicing scales, excersises and finger speed on planes, trains, automobiles, in your hotel room and so on.
Cheers
Al

 

[rhysonsax]

According to our information from Thailand these are being made and sold in Thailand. They are selling for about USD 230 or about GBP 150. We have contacted the makers and awaiting a reply to a few questions we asked.

As far as I know (and that's not far !), the Vibratosax website has been advertising these saxes at this price for quite a while (a couple of years), well in advance of production models being available.

They must have had some prototypes made and it's quite a promising idea, but I think they have got well ahead of themselves in advertsing a product that is still in development.

There was immense interest on SOTW ( an international but largely American sax discussion forum), but some of the interest has turned to secpticism after the company have repeatedly failed to meet their promisied production and sales dates.

I'd love to get one to go with my collection of weird and wonderful saxes and I wish the company well. It is much harder creating a brand new product than many people appreciate.

Any more concrete news would be much appreciated.

Rhys

 

[AlanB]

Thanks for this info Rhys. I wasn't aware of how long their website had stayed static. In fact I only started doing research after I saw the post from Mamos. It seems actually the wait continues, because we recieved this e-mail today.

"We are now in final stage of production run. When the A1 is ready we will update on our web
Tenor is now in designing stage

Piyapat Thanyakij
President
Vibrato Co.,Ltd.
www.vibratosax.com"

Cheers,
Alan

 

[AlanB]

Update e-mail from VibratoSax (Thailand)

""Vibrato Co.,Ltd." <info@vibratosax.com> wrote:
Hello,

Thank you for interested in Vibrato saxophone. Now we've only Alto. We
hope our sax will ready to sell around June 2009 but we don't have exact
date and price to tell you at this moment due to tax & distribution cost.

Now we're still working on distributor in Europe. In Thailand, you can buy
it at Sax Society 02-965-9149. We will inform you by e-mail when it's
ready (few months from now)or please check our website.

Best Regards,
Piengjai W.
Vibrato Co.,Ltd."


Cheers,
Al

 

[reginr]

Sorry for the bump, but for the sake of people who are 'googleling' A1 Vibrato Sax, its now available, I will try to give an update when my order arrives. Also you can email them directly (email is above this post) to know payment and shipping information.
Good luck!

 

[Clivey]

I don`t know what it is about this horn but I really feel the need to buy one. " I should really be concentrating on my current Tenor and Sop project".

I can`t help also thinking that it would be a great format for a bari or even bass or contra-bass simply because the thing would be soooo light in weight.


I don`t suppose there will be enough demand for larger saxes though. does anybody know for example if Grafton produced any alternative to their Alto "And if not why not".


Oh in addition. I recently read at the "other place" that Vibrato are shipping their new Alto saxes with a white polycarbonate MPC ... Nice.

 

[milandro]

I am still waiting for mine, it should be shipped to me this coming week. I have paid it already through Paypal 2 weeks ago. The price and postal shipping of one unit of a A1S (more expensive than the A1) comes to around 300€ but that doesn't include a case which is still in the making (so when it will be available the combo price will be higher) and no custom clearance which will be in the region of 60€. All things considered is still very cheap. I was considering becoming a distributor for this product , but we shall see. If they sell to anybody who orders direct, at this price, the margin would be only the difference between single sale and whole sale which is not high enough to justify the investment.

The white mouthpiece is a nice touch but I wouldn't necessarily expect too much from it.

 

[johnboy]

I don`t know what it is about this horn but I really feel the need to buy one. " I should really be concentrating on my current Tenor and Sop project".

I can`t help also thinking that it would be a great format for a bari or even bass or contra-bass simply because the thing would be soooo light in weight.


I don`t suppose there will be enough demand for larger saxes though. does anybody know for example if Grafton produced any alternative to their Alto "And if not why not".


Oh in addition. I recently read at the "other place" that Vibrato are shipping their new Alto saxes with a white polycarbonate MPC ... Nice.

The bad news about polycarbonate is, that you have to be very careful as to which cleaning agent you use. Alkali cleaners release bisphenol A (as does water) from the material (not good apparently for female mice. It enlarges their reproductive organs) and ammonia cleaners disolve it.
The good news is that ALCAHOL'S FINE. YIPEE!!!!

 

[kevgermany]

Other hydrocarbons such as petrol can cause polycarbonate to become brittle, which it does over time anyway.

Don't let me put you off. Polycarbonate is used for motorcycle crash helmets because of it's strength and flexibility. Soapy cloth is favourite for cleaning.

 

[Clivey]

@ Milandro. All seems very quiet. have you received your horn yet?? . I want one too

 

[milandro]

the A1S horn has been sent to me the 23rd and since then has been travelling towards the Netherlands, this morning the EMS tracking site says that it has arrived to the central post office in the Netherlands (NLAMSA) which probably means that it will be staying at the customs for a couple of days. I'll keep you posted here as I will on SOTW

 

[milandro]

I can`t help also thinking that it would be a great format for a bari or even bass or contra-bass simply because the thing would be soooo light in weight.


I don`t suppose there will be enough demand for larger saxes though. does anybody know for example if Grafton produced any alternative to their Alto "And if not why not".

.

The Grafton project, perhaps unlike the Vibratosax project, was, all in all, a limited succes if not an entire a failure. the Grafton never succeeded to offer an alternative which the market considered viable and , although cheaper than most saxophones at the time, it was more expensive (and better!) than other instruments on the market. This due to the notorious fragility and the service difficulties made the project a very limited success which died a slow death.

In view of this, the Grafton attempts to make a tenor (there was , in fact, a tenor prototype) were very short lived. How could Grafton afford investing in the development and making of the tenor (or the improvement of the alto) if the product wan't cutting the mustard as it was? ).

We all hope that the Vibratosax project will have a different destiny from the one which the Grafton, unfortunately, experienced.
This will be the product of the marketing and sales which would have to take the project further than the simple introduction fling which, due to the novelty value of the product , is bound to generate much interest and many initial sales.

We all expect the heir of the Grafton and Vibratosax has capitalised on the major popularity and legend of the Grafton alto. To continue and expand this initial momentum there will be some good marketing needed.

 

[johnboy]

The EU has today banned the use of bisphenol A in the manufacture of baby bottles, because BPA leaches out of them.

Saxlicker had better not go near one of these saxes!!!!!

Sorry Trev, I couldn't resist it.

 

[Saxlicker]

Is that an age related compliment? :thankyou:

 

[johnboy]

Would it be anything else ;-)

It does raise questions about m'pieces made from the stuff though.

It's all gorn quiet over this way. Thinking of travelling down Rogerbs way for a look. I've had the heads up on a couple of bars down there (Rogerb if you see this, any feedback on "The Kasbah" or the "Ebony and Ivory" at Playa Flamenca).
I'm suffering withdrawl symptoms - HELP!!

John.

 

[milandro]

I don't know if we know EXACTLY the material that they are making their things from at Vibratosax so speculating that if wouldn't be food grade, at this point, is not fair. They always told be that the plastic comes from Bayer® which is a reputable source

 

[johnboy]

Yep, sorry milandro, I'm sure they'll take great care in their selection of materials. I was just keen to get the joke in for Trev.
You're absolutely right, I was out of order :>(

Thinking about it though, I was talking about m'pieces and think we should err on the side of caution!! (ref. Wikipedia).

John.

 

[milandro]

I didn't meant to rebuff you or your comment, just being cautious because you never know who reads these things, cheers!