Walstein vs Yamaha

[TomMapfumo]

It was a Tenor, and probably still is, though what do I know?! 8)

Kind regards
Tom

 

[tommy_ng]

Peter Fitton wrote:

What happened to your Selmer Prelude, Tommy? Or was that a tenor?

Peter

I have a Prelude tenor and an Earlham Alto now.

I usually play sax in the church... the notes for most songs are between lower A to upper D. I still have the problem to play a nice low B with a tenor. As the results, i got to play the upper register all the time... i don't fancy touching the upper E all the time....

Alto seems to be more suitable in this case (lower E to middle B).. i find it much easier to play low notes with an alto.



:cry:

 

[peedee]

here's my 'hapence worth;
I googled Walstein and found a website all about it. It seems a very good instrument, but two things worry me a little.
1 being phosphur bronze it's heavier than the usual brass sax.
I already get a little achy around the neck with my brass tenor,
and the thought of something heavier.....
2 there is no adjustment for wear and tear, so it's only good until
it wears out, and the cost of having it re-padded would be more
than it's worth second hand.
Anyway, just wondered if that had been considered.

PD

 

[mfox]

tommy i think there is a good sax shop in leeds or bradford can't remember. not to far from donny
also the music cellar in preston do good deals.

 

[tommy_ng]

Peter Fitton wrote:

What happened to your Selmer Prelude, Tommy? Or was that a tenor?

Peter

Ya, my prelude is a Tenor....



8)

 

[greg_strange]

Tommy Ng wrote:- surprise that you bought 2 Bb saxes at the same time.... Why not fancy having an Eb sax?

Hi Tommy,
Good question! And the answer is I already play a Yamaha 62 series alto from 1986 which I bought brand new (and I believe one of the best modern altos ever manufactured), I nearly bought a brand new Yani sopranino sax several years ago because it was half price (and then I thought what will I do with this thing?) and I can't afford the chiropractic bills associated with playing the baritone sax, and if I purchased a contra bass sax I would need to buy a Kenworth truck (lorry) to transport the horn around. :laugh:
Regards,
Greg Strange.

P.S. I hope your new Walstein alto sax works well for you.

 

[tommy_ng]

Received my Walstein Alto yesterday. Excellent condition. Even tone and the low notes are perfect down to Bb...

The case looks a bit cheap and i expect the colour to be more redish 🙁

The position of keys is a bit different from my Earlham. C and Eb keys are higher. The palm keys (high D, Eb, F) are quite low...

The sound is not as warm as i would expect.. probably i need more time to get used to it.

I expect it to be heavier than my earlham... but.... if i am not mistaken, my Earlham is heavier (not 100% sure).. There is no apparent difference in weight.

My Yamaha 4C is a bit tight on the new cork... i don't quite like it because pushing the 4C into the cork might dislocate the ligature.


In general, i am quite satisfy with Walstein



😉

 

[TomMapfumo]

Hi Tommy!

Congratulations on your new alto. You may find it easier to put the mouthpiece on the neck first, then add reed and ligature, and then put the neck on the rest of the sax - works well in the situation you describe.

Have a nice day!
Kind regards
Tom

 

[tommy_ng]

TomMapfumo wrote:
Hi Tommy!

Congratulations on your new alto. You may find it easier to put the mouthpiece on the neck first, then add reed and ligature, and then put the neck on the rest of the sax - works well in the situation you describe.

Have a nice day!
Kind regards
Tom

I still prefer to fix the reed on the mpc before pushing the mpc onto the neck. In this way, i can leave the reed on the mouthpiece.....

Do you guys remove the reed everytime after playing?

 

[sharon]

Hurrah for you Tommy, glad you made your mind up in the end. Hope you're enjoying it. I'm still getting to grips with my Walstein Tenor (made the jump from alto to tenor).

I found the mouthpiece very hard to get on the new cork also, but I always put it all together first and then put on the reed last. Mind you the cork has already "given" a little after just about 5 days, so it is not so bad.

Sharon

 

[tommy_ng]

Yamaha mpc has a comparatively small hole...... It is meant for Yamaha sax probably.... 8|

 

[old_git]

Glad you are happy with your acquisition Young Tommy. You are using cork grease aren't you? Selmer, MKVl obviously. If that doesn't work or you are already using grease, rub down lightly with fine sand paper checking frequently and stop with it still tightish.
Aren't you worried about strange things growing between reed and mouthpiece? Good growing ground for bugs and removing gives you a chance to try various positions for the ligature and the reed.
Enjoy.

 

[tommy_ng]

old git wrote:
Glad you are happy with your acquisition Young Tommy. You are using cork grease aren't you? Selmer, MKVl obviously. If that doesn't work or you are already using grease, rub down lightly with fine sand paper checking frequently and stop with it still tightish.
Aren't you worried about strange things growing between reed and mouthpiece? Good growing ground for bugs and removing gives you a chance to try various positions for the ligature and the reed.
Enjoy.

I do clean it once a while though



It is still not too bad. Probably i need to squeeze it hard deep into the cork a couple of times.. that should help....

 

[TomMapfumo]

Hi Tommy!

I think it is always useful to look at the routines we have about care of sax/accessories. Leaving mouthpieces fully assembled with reed etc. is not necessarily a sensible thing, and putting a fully assembled mouthpiece set up onto a very tight cork can be risky, with possible slippage, broken reeds and the like. Things that you put in your mouth do need cleaning and bugs can grow on moist reeds, and it is useful to rotate reeds, rather than play them to death, which can happen quite quickly in this situation.

Occasionally washing reeds and mouthpieces in antibacterial solutions of one sort or another can be useful - I use Listerine and a mouthpiece brush frequently.

Enjoy the rest of your day.
Kind regards
Tom

 

[tommy_ng]

Good idea to wash them with Listerine... something new to me..