milandro
Well-Known Member
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I wrote this on SOTW too.........pasting it here
Ok, I have received the Vibratosax yesterday. I can't attempt to play it yet, so I gave it a " dry" run and my best observation.
The box is very light indeed and perhaps this fact convinced the packers that would have been enough to protect it with just one thin sheet of (neatly folded around the package) bubble wrap and a sheet of thick wrapping paper around the polystyrene case.
Removing the paper, the case does show a few bumps on the outside, more than it wouldn't have shown if there would have been a few more meters of bubble wrap wrapped around it adding little to cost and weight anyway and offering way more safety.
Also, the saxophone inside and the other bits and pieces are all nicely wrapped in plastic bags but there was nothing (in the manner of soft material cushioning the saxophone) to prevent that the unavoidable shakes rattle and roll of the trip would have dangerously shaken the contents during this long journey from Thailand to Holland. All in all , in site of this, it appears to be not visibly damaged but I found two small loose pieces of plastic in the case and I still have to work out where they belong (or if they belong anywhere).
Several pads are not closing properly , the worst is the low C# which stays wide open and only if you give a quick push to the key it sorts of bounces back, to close as it should, it looks and feels like something is in the way of a smooth movement as if the rod is slightly out of position or tighten it too much. The associated spring has a weak feel.
I also guess that the Bayer warning against the use of oils on this horn has to do with the fact that some of us will want to try to ease the action with some grease of some sort......which we have been just told is not a good idea? I wonder!
The springs are the most puzzling part. There is a combination of blue steel needle springs and blue steel coil springs . The " feel" of the horn is very uneven indeed Throughout the horn. Besides many keys, even if lightly activated are simply bending (plastic is, after all elastic) under any (even light) pressure and as they did it with the rods (made of aluminium) the longer or wider keys should have been made out of aluminium to prevent this bending or , at the very least, have some sort of metal reinforcing inside or underneath. The bendiness of the keys gives a spongy feeling to this horn and this is way more annoying than the forecasted sponginess of pads that , instead, are adequate to do what they are supposed to be doing.
The octave mechanism of the neck is very delicate indeed and I can see how this would easily be a weak point in the construction that can easily break. It slots in a rather secure way turning the neck from right (where you insert it) to the left where you see there is a ridge in both neck and body to be aligned) there is some possibility to adapt the angle of the neck but it is very minimal. Also the octave activator by the thumb rest is very much raised compared to the resting position of the thumb, this makes the octave transition awkward and sliding, between the two positions next to impossible, this is something which absolutely needs addressing and could easily be solved by simply raising the thumbrest to the height of the octave activator.
The lower stack has regulation screws (plenty of regulating screws anywhere on this horn......... all to be operated with an hexagonal tipped screwdriver which would have been a nice and thoughtful touch if we would have found one in the maintenance kit which only has swabs) while surprisingly, the upper stack has no regulation screws at all.........I have yet to understand why and how, not having corks to be filed , would one regulate the height of the upper stack. Mysterious.
There is no serial number anywhere but is says the US patent and that is made in Thailand.
I will give it a try later on. I doubt it plays as it is, it most definitely needs some adjustments. At this stage, this is not a saxophone that one can pick out of the box and play.
The invoice was neatly inside the package while it would have been needed to be in the EMS bag which normally contains the custom documents, because it wasn't there (but it was inside the closed case!) Custom didn't find it and this delayed the delivery for at least a week.
The Dutch custom charged me another 60€ and TNT post charged 15€ for the " handling" through customs (whatever that is) . I don't know if this qualifies as a " cheap" horn Curt, I appreciate innovation and novelty has its price but we can buy a saxophone, in Holland priced to the public at 250 euros.
Ok, I have received the Vibratosax yesterday. I can't attempt to play it yet, so I gave it a " dry" run and my best observation.
The box is very light indeed and perhaps this fact convinced the packers that would have been enough to protect it with just one thin sheet of (neatly folded around the package) bubble wrap and a sheet of thick wrapping paper around the polystyrene case.
Removing the paper, the case does show a few bumps on the outside, more than it wouldn't have shown if there would have been a few more meters of bubble wrap wrapped around it adding little to cost and weight anyway and offering way more safety.
Also, the saxophone inside and the other bits and pieces are all nicely wrapped in plastic bags but there was nothing (in the manner of soft material cushioning the saxophone) to prevent that the unavoidable shakes rattle and roll of the trip would have dangerously shaken the contents during this long journey from Thailand to Holland. All in all , in site of this, it appears to be not visibly damaged but I found two small loose pieces of plastic in the case and I still have to work out where they belong (or if they belong anywhere).
Several pads are not closing properly , the worst is the low C# which stays wide open and only if you give a quick push to the key it sorts of bounces back, to close as it should, it looks and feels like something is in the way of a smooth movement as if the rod is slightly out of position or tighten it too much. The associated spring has a weak feel.
I also guess that the Bayer warning against the use of oils on this horn has to do with the fact that some of us will want to try to ease the action with some grease of some sort......which we have been just told is not a good idea? I wonder!
The springs are the most puzzling part. There is a combination of blue steel needle springs and blue steel coil springs . The " feel" of the horn is very uneven indeed Throughout the horn. Besides many keys, even if lightly activated are simply bending (plastic is, after all elastic) under any (even light) pressure and as they did it with the rods (made of aluminium) the longer or wider keys should have been made out of aluminium to prevent this bending or , at the very least, have some sort of metal reinforcing inside or underneath. The bendiness of the keys gives a spongy feeling to this horn and this is way more annoying than the forecasted sponginess of pads that , instead, are adequate to do what they are supposed to be doing.
The octave mechanism of the neck is very delicate indeed and I can see how this would easily be a weak point in the construction that can easily break. It slots in a rather secure way turning the neck from right (where you insert it) to the left where you see there is a ridge in both neck and body to be aligned) there is some possibility to adapt the angle of the neck but it is very minimal. Also the octave activator by the thumb rest is very much raised compared to the resting position of the thumb, this makes the octave transition awkward and sliding, between the two positions next to impossible, this is something which absolutely needs addressing and could easily be solved by simply raising the thumbrest to the height of the octave activator.
The lower stack has regulation screws (plenty of regulating screws anywhere on this horn......... all to be operated with an hexagonal tipped screwdriver which would have been a nice and thoughtful touch if we would have found one in the maintenance kit which only has swabs) while surprisingly, the upper stack has no regulation screws at all.........I have yet to understand why and how, not having corks to be filed , would one regulate the height of the upper stack. Mysterious.
There is no serial number anywhere but is says the US patent and that is made in Thailand.
I will give it a try later on. I doubt it plays as it is, it most definitely needs some adjustments. At this stage, this is not a saxophone that one can pick out of the box and play.
The invoice was neatly inside the package while it would have been needed to be in the EMS bag which normally contains the custom documents, because it wasn't there (but it was inside the closed case!) Custom didn't find it and this delayed the delivery for at least a week.
The Dutch custom charged me another 60€ and TNT post charged 15€ for the " handling" through customs (whatever that is) . I don't know if this qualifies as a " cheap" horn Curt, I appreciate innovation and novelty has its price but we can buy a saxophone, in Holland priced to the public at 250 euros.