Y.A.S. - how about a 32?

jools · Apr 28, 2008

Having parted with the Martin Alto, and recently developed a taste for Yamahas, I was wondering about the value of swapping my 23 for a 32 (which is all brass, not half and half, and has the Fsharp facility) - anyone got any thoughts on the value of doing this? or are they "much of a muchness"? All the things I read describe the 23 as a 'student' horn and the 32 as a 'pro' horn (whatever that might mean)

philthd · Apr 28, 2008

32 was always marketed as an intermediate horn i believe - whatever that means

my 25 is a 23 with a top f# if thats the only difference youre after.

jools · Apr 28, 2008

hmm. not convincing is it? -an extra key. Is that all? no difference in sound or handling?

I'm just curious to understand how these model numbers were 'improvements' on previous ones.

And yes, what does this 'beginner', 'intermediate' and 'pro' business 'actually' mean? in Yamaha's world.

Kinda · Apr 28, 2008

Hi Jools

I have a Yas32 (they look great) and my music teacher said I had a good sound but can't really help (perhaps they all say that as opposed to the squeeks but I want to believe her anyway).

I'm not sufficiently knowledgeable to comment as to its sound qualities.

I do know when it hums (not sure of the technical name for this) which I just know its making a nice sound then.

If you are local to me North Hampshire you are welcome to come and blow it.

philthd · Apr 28, 2008

i think

the 21 was the revolutionary quality student instrument. this was superceded by the 23.
the almost the same 25 got replaced by the 275 which is pretty much the same horn only less well made.

then there was 32 as intermediate (they still make this for bari but that might be it)

forty something used to be the pro horn then they brought in a fity something and and 62 above that and the 82 and 875 above that as artist level models. the forty something is now the 475 which is an intermediate horn.

more than happy to be corrected on any of this, but thats pretty much how it was explained to me in things i pieced together.

jools · Apr 28, 2008

I suppose that chronology is slightly more 'logical' than Selmer's frustrating habit of having small changes made, within a production run. Like the Mark 6's which had all kinds of early transitional elements of previous models... there wasn't a 'cut-off' point where the new one just 'arrived', -and then they tended to meddle with little features over the next twenty-odd years.

greg_strange · Apr 29, 2008

The 32 series horns are Yamaha's semi-pro or intermediate horns which I believe are now superseded by the 475 series. In the US the 32 series was called the 52 series (I think they may have been made/assembled/built at Yamaha's Grand Rapids, Michigan complex). Prior to the 32 series was the fairly rare 31 series horns.
I have never heard of the 40 or fity (50?) series horns. Early Yamaha pro horns were the 61 series which become the 62 series, and then in the late 1980s, early 1990s the Custom 855 (alto only) and Custom 875 (alto, soprano and tenor) were added to the range and now the more recent Custom 82Z, and the variants of the 875 range.
The 21, 23 and 25 series horns were student horns now superseded by the 275 series; 31 and 32 semi-pro horns now superseded by the 475 series; 61 and 62 series now superseded by the 62II series; and the more flashier pro horns Custom 855 (alto only now discontinued) Custom 875 with various suffix EX, ET, EZ, EY? and the Custom 82Z.
And to top it all off in NZ we have the Q series horns and the AS100 and TS100 series which are another range of student Yamahas.
Gets very confusing.
Regards,
Greg Strange.

P.S. The first issue of Saxophone Journal magazine I ever purchased was from Tower Records (Regent Street/Picadilly area) in London in the early 1990s, one of interviews was with UK classical sax player Paul Harvey (Kneller Hall, London Philharmonic) and his tenor sax of choice was a Yamaha YTS32.