Saxophone Brands

[Jazzin'D92]

What brand of saxes do you think are the best? I was looking at Cannonball I love them b/c they are nicely designed but was wondering if they were actually good?

[JSngry]

Top-line is Selmer is still the shit, afaic. But "vintage" is even moreso. But - $$$$

Below that, I'm not qualified to comment on. I've played older Selmers most of my life, except for a few King Super 20s here and there. They've been "good", but not great.

Duke City, where are ya'?

[J Larsen]

What is the famous French brand? I was staying right across the street from their store last time I was in Paris.

[Chuck Nessa]

Branding is for cattle, not saxophones. It will damage the finish.

[JSngry]

What is the famous French brand? I was staying right across the street from their store last time I was in Paris.

Probably Selmer.

[Jim Alfredson]

Heard good things about Keilwerth. Also, for lower budgets, the Yamaha's are decent... especially for students.

[JSngry]

Branding is for cattle, not saxophones.

True enough. You can find individual horns from any brand that will have that "magic" to them. And you can find "duds" in even the best lines. But most "reputations" of certain brands will hold up over the long haul. Those reputations are based in reality.

Also, it's amazing what "tweaking" by a top-shelf repairman (and there's but a handfull of those in the world) can do to even the most mundane horn. I've seen one of them (cat named Ken Beesom) take old pawn-shop horns and make them into true instruments. That guy's a freakin' artist. He's got original facory specs, and his own machine shop to tool parts. He can take a total piece of shit horn and turn it into something special. But he's one of the few, and he works neither fastly nor cheaply.

Danielle, you gotta realize that when you're talking top-quality instruments & top-shelf instrument maintanence/repair, it's not gonna come cheap (unless you luck into a freaky kind of deal, and that certainly does happen. Just can't count on it.). But if you're serious about this being your life's work, it's time to start thinking of that as a "fact of life" and getting used to the idea. It might not be possible to start at the top when it comes to this stuff, but you should definitely aim for that level of equipment/performance. Start thinking about themost you can afford right now, add what you can get if you make some sacrifices, and go with that as your final answer. Repeat as necessary.

Again, Chuck's right, it's not just about the brand, it's about haveing your instrument - any instrument - in the best condition it can possibly be in. When you get "well-seasoned", you learn how to work around shit when it gets funky. But it's a helluva lot easier when you don't have to, and at your stage of developemant, you want to experience the full potential of the possibilities before you fall into the rut of having your first line of attack being "compensation". That breeds bad habits, which, like weight, are far easier to obtain than to lose.

[7/4]

Great advice for anyone buying their first good instrument.

[Jazz Kat]

Forget sax. Play bass.

[Jazzin'D92]

Thanks Jsngry that really helped out a lot. To all of you thanks too!

Right now I have a Jupiter Sax...it actually works pretty well it plays like my friend's Yamaha custom. But I'm saving up money to buy what I need and want to have in the near future. So I guess I can manage for now since my mom recently got into two car accidents so she has to take off work, which means no pay. One I was actually in and had to take 5 days off cause my arm was badly bruised. Anyways.... I just wanted to hear all of your opinions so I know.

[Jazzin'D92]

Jazzkat is bass easy to learn? I was actually thinking about it last week. I wanna learn somethin like that...haha.

[Jim Alfredson]

Stick with sax. You only have to worry about one note at a time.

Sorry to hear about your mum. Hope everyone is ok.

[Jazzin'D92]

Lol. OK.

Thanks for the support. She's doing a lot better!

[JSngry]

Sorry to hear about your mom. Hope things get better.

[Jazzin'D92]

Thanks JSngry! She's fine, it's just temporary so I kinda just have to get used not getting as much for a couple months or so. Not that I was spoiled. This year/last yr (b/c I started highschool), everything changed b/c I finally realized music is something I want to do. So every money I get is mostly spent on something dealing w/ band. But thanks again for the support!

[JSngry]

If you're really serious about making money from music, start learning arranging, keyboards, and midi/sequencing. Can't have too many tools these days. That stuff kinda passed my by, and now what used to take lots of players to make can be done by one person, and I ain't one of 'em. You might as well start thinking about becoming one of those ones.

I don't know about Arizona, but in Texas, there's still money to be made writing arrangements (either for "real" bands or else in digital form) for churches, demo sessions, and things like that. In fact, it's church gigs that are keeping many people around here afloat. We got all these big mega-churches that hire 10-15 piece orchestras, and they pay them $300 & up for 2-3 services on Sunday plus one rehearsal. And they do pay for arrangements! I played one service for one mega-church and felt so dirty that I put the word out not to ever call me for another gig like that again. I can, have, and will whore myself out for many things, but god ain't one of 'em. But plenty of my peers don't feel that way, and are actually networking thru these church gigs to get a lot of what little work is left elsewhere. So if you got no issues with doing that type gig, start early. If you can read halfway decent and get in w/a good gig, there's definitely money to be had.

Just one thing - don't let anybody vibe you because you're a chick. There's still a lot of sexism in this business when it comes to "non-glamor" positions like horn playing, arranging, conducting, etc. Much better now than it used to be, but be ready anyways. Old habits die hard...

[Jim Alfredson]

Yep. It's good to see a young woman interested in music beyond being another cliche vocalist. And I echo Jim's statements about learning arranging, sequencing, MIDI, etc.

Go get 'em!

[Jazzin'D92]

I was thinking of playing for and orchestra or jazz group. It' doesn't matter to me. And I was actually thinking of composing music. Which is why I wanted to buy the program Finale just to have a feel for it.

But I like your suggestions. We have quite a few big churches out here I was gonna play for my church on Sundays just for the hell of it...get some more practice with my instruments.

Oh yeah I've heard of that kind of stuff and have noticed it to about sexism. Trust me it will not bother me though, I've gone through it before...haha.

[Jazz Kat]

Jazzkat is bass easy to learn? I was actually thinking about it last week. I wanna learn somethin like that...haha.

If you're thinking about making money with music, I know people who couldn't make it playing instruments like guitar and sax, then picked up bass and made a living. There are practically NO bass players out there! I'm a drummer, and I still have trouble gigging. It's tough. But all in all, play whatever you want. Making a lot of money doing something you don't want to do is worse than Playing an instrument you like and not working.

[flat5]

The horn you have now should be good for a few years.

The Selmer M6 just does not wear out. Every repairman sees them all the time and knows how to fix them. What pads, etc. Their resale value is very high. Take your time and wait for a good deal on a GOOD used M6.

For now, you might want to try lots of mouthpieces.

As you get more experience and stronger your needs may change.

Try used ones. They are cheaper.

[DukeCity]

JSngry (and others) and Jim Alfredson are right, Selmer and Keilwerth are two of the most highly regarded saxophone names. I played both of those for many years, but last year I tried some Cannonball horns, really liked 'em, and that's what I've been playing since. They're good, solid horns that play great, and they're not as wildly over-priced as lots of other horns.

However, before you rush out to buy a new horn, realize that you can probably hang for awhile just by making sure that your Jupiter is in good adjustment (lots of moving parts on a sax), making sure that your mouthpiece is straight (level table, even side-rails, good tip), and having good reeds that seal and respond the way you want. Cover all those variables, and you'll probably be way ahead (equipment wise) of most other players in your school band. Plus, you can take the money you would have spent on the new horn and buy a bunch of CDs and hook up with a good teacher in your area.

Apparently you're in Arizona, so you might want to contact Tim McAllister. He's the (classical) saxophone teacher at U of AZ, and he is an incredible world-class player and teacher. He'll probably have some good suggestions for sax teachers (jazz or classical) in your area, and he would be a great resource for advice (besides all the friendly folks here).

[king ubu]

I've been playing sax non-professional for about ten or eleven years now, I've got a Super Action II tenor and a Mark VII alto from Selmer, and both are great.

I never felt compelled to look for one of those mythical Mark VI tenors, as I've been very happy with the horn I have - so much to the point that you have to find "your" horn... no need to spend way too much and go for myths (sure, there's some kind of reality behind all myths, I wouldn't dare saying that Mark VI aren't better, but I just don't care, since I have a horn I like and don't feel a need for another).

Then about the mouthpice and reeds thing: that's yet another story... I settled with an Otto Link metal medium one and use hard V16 reeds (4), but in the end, if you get into playing, you'll get the very same sound with any kind of mouthpiece, if your chops are good enough to handle it... there are those stories about sax players constantly searching and trying out new mouthpieces, working and damaging them, checking out any kind of reeds (Coltrane), and there are the other stories about sax players picking up another player's horn with a totally different mouthpiece/reed setup and still sounding just the way they sound on their own horn with their own setup... so don't buy all the bullshit, just look for something that suits you, and then occasionally look for something else again, to see if that might suit you better, but don't get lost in trying out too many different things and loosing what you had!

Oh, and as an aside there are those mythical handmade reeds, can't remember what they're called, they have a very good reputation, far better than Vandoren or LaVoz (forget Rico, I say, but again that's just one man's opinion)... anyway, I check the web for some info where to get them in Switzerland (they're not in retail), sent those a$$holes a whole bunch of $$ and never heard anything again, and of course never got any reeds... so I stick to my V16 reeds, which still are perfect for what I need!

[AllenLowe]

check out the local liquor store - cash register is usually un-guarded -

per saxophones, I like Conns for alto, Martins for tenor, but they gotta be pre-war. Sound great, and the action is quite decent -

[Niko]

Thanks Jsngry that really helped out a lot. To all of you thanks too!

Right now I have a Jupiter Sax...it actually works pretty well it plays like my friend's Yamaha custom. But I'm saving up money to buy what I need and want to have in the near future.

did that, too... especially after my pretty decent 900$ tenor had fallen to the floor and repairing it would have cost 700$ so i had to play on other people's instruments and played a lot... when i was 20 and had the money for the Selmer together it was pretty clear that i wouldn't get to playing anymore workwise... so i spent 400 $ on a really old saxophone (B&S is the brand, its from the GDR and i think vintage is not exactly the right word it looks great though) think i have played a total of 5 hours on it in the last 4 years (not too sad about it as i never became especially good)