I need to buy a new alto sax for my son. He's working on Grade 6 (jazz) and is using the same, now rapidly becoming clapped-out sax he's had since he was 9 (ahem).
His teacher is trying to get us to buy a vintage French sax called a 'Couesmon Monopole' for £1000. I took it round to someone (a reputable sax teacher) today and they said it was OK but didn't think it was worth a grand - more like £600-£800. He's never heard of themn, but we did look them up online and found some good reviews of them.
He reckons I should get a good brand new Yamaha, or a Keilworth, a Guardala (hard to find, apparently) or a Yanagisawa. Semers are out of our price-range.
Does anybody here have any good advice to give me - I'm flummoxed as I know nothing about saxophones. I just did an internet search and found a forum with someone saying they thought the Weril was very good - 'even better than the Couesmon'. He did say you'd kill your grandmother for a Couesmon, so perhaps we should get it after all...
Anyway, I desperately need advice!!!
Thanks
Violinia
Full Version: Sax - What To Buy?
Yanagisawa
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if you can afford it definitely!
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if you can afford it definitely!
Yeah I agree. Yanagisawas are the best.
I don't know that much about saxophones but have read that the best ones are old selmers.
Violinia,
Couesmon?
Couesnon is a VERY old french company that used to make woodwind and brass instruments. These days, they make only brass. Well, at least I think so. To be honest I had no idea they made saxophones!
They are a very respected brand and any instrument is likely to play very well. I have a Couesnon Monopole Conservatoire clarinet that is the equal of any professional model made by Buffet - one of Couesnon's competitors many years ago! I'd go so far to say it may even be an investment of sorts. If the sax has no obvious defects and is in good condition, then you'll never have a problem selling it in the future for the same price. It's the same story for most 2nd hand professional instruments.
However, I wonder if it's the right instrument for a young player?
Have you seen the UK based Hanson range? They have good reviews. Failing that, Yamahas are always good.
There are sax forums that may help:
http://www.saxophoneforum.com/
http://www.8notes.com/f/forum43.asp (mainly american kids!!)
and the most famous:
http://www.saxontheweb.net/
There's also the brass-forum.co.uk which, despite the sax being officially woodwind, are a great bunch and extremely friendly.
Oh and don't forget the ear-plugs!
Steve
Couesmon?
Couesnon is a VERY old french company that used to make woodwind and brass instruments. These days, they make only brass. Well, at least I think so. To be honest I had no idea they made saxophones!
They are a very respected brand and any instrument is likely to play very well. I have a Couesnon Monopole Conservatoire clarinet that is the equal of any professional model made by Buffet - one of Couesnon's competitors many years ago! I'd go so far to say it may even be an investment of sorts. If the sax has no obvious defects and is in good condition, then you'll never have a problem selling it in the future for the same price. It's the same story for most 2nd hand professional instruments.
However, I wonder if it's the right instrument for a young player?
Have you seen the UK based Hanson range? They have good reviews. Failing that, Yamahas are always good.
There are sax forums that may help:
http://www.saxophoneforum.com/
http://www.8notes.com/f/forum43.asp (mainly american kids!!)
and the most famous:
http://www.saxontheweb.net/
There's also the brass-forum.co.uk which, despite the sax being officially woodwind, are a great bunch and extremely friendly.
Oh and don't forget the ear-plugs!
Steve
my teacher said yamaha sax is very good and always in tune
QUOTE(Violinia @ May 30 2006, 02:37 PM) 
He's working on Grade 6 (jazz)
His teacher is trying to get us to buy a vintage French sax called a 'Couesmon Monopole' for £1000.
He reckons I should get a good brand new Yamaha, or a Keilworth, a Guardala (hard to find, apparently) or a Yanagisawa.
Does anybody here have any good advice to give me - I'm flummoxed as I know nothing about saxophones.
ABRSM only goes up to grade 5 for jazz.
His teacher is trying to get us to buy a vintage French sax called a 'Couesmon Monopole' for £1000.
They are about $1200 in the USA = £637. His teacher probably owns it and now wants rid! Don't forget that the lefthand spatula keys are the old fashioned system of 3 in a row. Not easy to get used to.
He reckons I should get a good brand new Yamaha, or a Keilworth, a Guardala (hard to find, apparently) or a Yanagisawa.
Yamahas are basically copies of Selmer MK VI's in respect to their keywork. I find they are a heavier gauge metal body. A good all-rounder, well made too. I had a 62R Tenor & Alto before I went to Selmer MK VI's for better quality! Keilwerth are well thought of. Grover Washington Jnr played on a set of black ones. And 'H. Couf' is a stencil by Keilwerth, which G.W. Jnr also played on. Keilwerth now also look after the 'Evette' student range and I was very surprised how well they played considering how cheap they are, under £300. Mouthpieces need binning though as they don't even fit the reed shape!
Dave Guardala was the best handmade mouthpiece maker of the 1980's from the USA who then put his name to saxophones. You ain't gonna find any Guardala stuff cheap. His new altos start off at £1875 But by God his original handmade mouthpieces are something else when it comes to power
Does anybody here have any good advice to give me - I'm flummoxed as I know nothing about saxophones.
Really you need to ask your son what he wants next from his music. If he is just going down the route of more exams for exams sake then I wouldn't be too bothered about buying a vintage horn. A good Yamaha or Yani would be fine. If he has professional aspirations then that's something he ought to pay for later on!! Personally I would go for the Yamaha. You could even find a secondhand one because there are so many of them out there. Just don't get a student model if you can help it. Try a mid to high end model. Pointless going for a Custom one because it's knocking on the door pricewise of the Selmers. And more importantly get a mouthpiece that works well, such as a Selmer Soloist C* 1960's version if possible (£75ish) or if not then one of the new Selmer Soloist mouthpieces, same design, but shiney (£95ish)! It has scrolls around the base of it. A great mouthpiece can make a truly crapp sax sound OK. So don't settle for just the Yamaha 4C which is dire. So too is the Selmer S80 mouthpiece BTW.
You really ought to take your son to a specialist like Myatts or Don Mackrills and spend a good day on a few saxes and mouthpieces. Try some secondhand mouthpieces too. It is a quest to find the right sax/mouthpiece/reed setup and what one player says is right for them, won't necessarily be the right answer for someone else. If you do buy new, go via your school to save on the VAT.
Hope that helps a bit
When I bought my tenor I tried out Yamahas, Yanagisawas and Selmers. I finally settled on a Selmer series III but it was a close run thing with a Yani 991. To be perfectly honest I would probably have been equally happy with any of them - they're all good horns. I formed the opinion that the feel of the saxophone was a bit like a car - when you buy a new car it takes a little while to get used to the layout of the controls, dashboard etc but after a couple of weeks of driving it it's as though you've never driven anything different. Even knowing that, you still find yourself drawn to a more familiar layout - and I think that was what sold me on the Yani or Selmer over the Yamaha, they just felt more comfortable in my hands.
I've visited the shops sofabed recommends. When I visited Myatt's the sax specialist was out and I was disappointed with the variety they had in stock in terms of reeds and mouthpieces. I've heard good things about Myatt's though and this may have been an off day. I went up to Don Mackrills on the sax search as well. At that time, about 6 years ago, I found that although they listed lots of horns on their website the only new horns they had in stock were the basic student models. They could order the others if you wanted to purchase them. I also went to Howarth's in Central London, they had a reasonable selection (although the horns weren't well set-up for play testing) and were very helpful - I've since spent several hours there trying out mouthpieces, but at that time they just weren't competitive on price. Looking at their website they seem to be much more so now. I ended up buying my saxophone from sax.co.uk (via a personal visit, rather than online). They've gone from strength to strength, have new premises with what looks to be huge stock levels, competitive prices and I've always found them extremely helpful with adivice and no hard sell.
I've visited the shops sofabed recommends. When I visited Myatt's the sax specialist was out and I was disappointed with the variety they had in stock in terms of reeds and mouthpieces. I've heard good things about Myatt's though and this may have been an off day. I went up to Don Mackrills on the sax search as well. At that time, about 6 years ago, I found that although they listed lots of horns on their website the only new horns they had in stock were the basic student models. They could order the others if you wanted to purchase them. I also went to Howarth's in Central London, they had a reasonable selection (although the horns weren't well set-up for play testing) and were very helpful - I've since spent several hours there trying out mouthpieces, but at that time they just weren't competitive on price. Looking at their website they seem to be much more so now. I ended up buying my saxophone from sax.co.uk (via a personal visit, rather than online). They've gone from strength to strength, have new premises with what looks to be huge stock levels, competitive prices and I've always found them extremely helpful with adivice and no hard sell.
If a selmer is out of your price range, definatley go for a yani. They are quite amazing and im my (not very knowledgeable) opinion, second only to selmer
I note that you posted the same topic under the Jazz forum too!! I feel a bit left out of the main conversation, as I posted there!! I guess it was best to get multiple replies.
Thanks for all replies so far - you've all been very helpful. I posted the request here first, and then thought: why not post it in the jazz section too, as some sax players might read there but not here.
The prognosis from all of you seems to be a Yanagisawa or a second-hand good Yamaha, plus a good, compatible mouthpiece. The Cousenon would be an investment but I'm really not sure I want to spend as much as that on a rather battered old instrument, however good it might sound. The guy who looked at it for me the other day said it was OK, but just that - OK. He wasn't completely knocked out, and for £1000 - well, I'd like someone to be knocked out!
He's doing Grade 6 Trinity Guildhall.
As for getting him (my son) involved in the decision, it just aint gonna happen. At the moment his mind is very much on things other than saxophones, although he does still enjoy his lessons and does a little bit of practice - but no more. He needs a new instrument because the other one has had its day and has become virually unplayable - unless we spend a lot of money on it. His teacher recommends he has a new, much better instrument for the level he's reached, rather than spend a lot on repairs.
For the record, he plays very well, scoring 100% for every one of his 3 pieces at Grade 5 when he was 15. He's certainly not 'ploughing from grade to grade' - Grade 5 was his first and only exam so far, and taking Grade 6 seemed a good way to keep him motivated and on-task. He's just not into playing live at the moment but he's adamant he doesn't want to give up just now, seeing saxophone as something he'll probably do more of when he's older. I was the same when I was his age, funnily enough, and am now a violin teacher and professional violinist - something I had no intention doing when I was his age.
Basically, he needs a better instrument than the one he has now, and we just want to get it right!
Violinia
The prognosis from all of you seems to be a Yanagisawa or a second-hand good Yamaha, plus a good, compatible mouthpiece. The Cousenon would be an investment but I'm really not sure I want to spend as much as that on a rather battered old instrument, however good it might sound. The guy who looked at it for me the other day said it was OK, but just that - OK. He wasn't completely knocked out, and for £1000 - well, I'd like someone to be knocked out!
He's doing Grade 6 Trinity Guildhall.
As for getting him (my son) involved in the decision, it just aint gonna happen. At the moment his mind is very much on things other than saxophones, although he does still enjoy his lessons and does a little bit of practice - but no more. He needs a new instrument because the other one has had its day and has become virually unplayable - unless we spend a lot of money on it. His teacher recommends he has a new, much better instrument for the level he's reached, rather than spend a lot on repairs.
For the record, he plays very well, scoring 100% for every one of his 3 pieces at Grade 5 when he was 15. He's certainly not 'ploughing from grade to grade' - Grade 5 was his first and only exam so far, and taking Grade 6 seemed a good way to keep him motivated and on-task. He's just not into playing live at the moment but he's adamant he doesn't want to give up just now, seeing saxophone as something he'll probably do more of when he's older. I was the same when I was his age, funnily enough, and am now a violin teacher and professional violinist - something I had no intention doing when I was his age.
Basically, he needs a better instrument than the one he has now, and we just want to get it right!
Violinia
In that case I'd definitely go for a new or decent second-hand Yamaha or Yani. For all their charm vintage horns do have their quirks and are generally more difficult to play. if your son isn't putting so much time and effort into it he wants to spend the time he is putting in on developing his musical understanding, not on getting to grips with the quirks of his individual horn. If the old one really is as bad as you say you might find that getting the new horn rekindles that interest, and if not at the moment then it will still be there for him in a few (or more) years time when he feels like coming back to it.
Edit: If you go the second-hand route be a bit careful with the older Yanis, although the current models (901, 902, 991 and 992) are very good I've read occasionally that some of the previous models weren't so hot. I think the Yamaha you'd be looking at would be the YAS62. That's been around for years and has a reputation for being a good, solid horn.
Edit: If you go the second-hand route be a bit careful with the older Yanis, although the current models (901, 902, 991 and 992) are very good I've read occasionally that some of the previous models weren't so hot. I think the Yamaha you'd be looking at would be the YAS62. That's been around for years and has a reputation for being a good, solid horn.
You should look at a top of the range Hanson - and no we don't sell them.
Liz
Liz
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