Look at saxophones.co.uk - they have P Mauriat saxes and I have read a report of how good they are.

I wonder if anyone here has one, or knows what they are like?

Hi Saxfan,

I have seen and heard reviews about these and the folk spoke VERY highly of them. They look nice too with lots of choices in appearance. Haven't tried one myself yet but would like to.

hillyb

The reviews are good for these saxes and the prices start from about £1,200.
Unfortunately, I have only tried Yamaha saxes and one 'dodgy' Earlham, so can't really judge how good the P Mauriat saxes are.

One of the reviews:
"Today's music demands a saxophone that can do it all. Built with quality French materials, the P. Mauriat Saxophones have fantastic response, a big, full, sound, precise intonation and outstanding key action. Line them up against the best, and at a significantly lower cost, the P. Mauriat Custom Class Saxophones will take them all on. These are great saxophones!" -Roger Greenberg (Professor of Saxophone, Emeritus University of Northern Colorado.)

I've seen the reviews too, and agree they look very nice but I'm not (no, really I'm not!) in the market for another sax at the moment. However, I have a trip to sax.co.uk with a friend, mouthpiece shopping, planned in a couple of weeks time so could take the opportunity to have a little play - any particular type you're interested in?

thanks TSax.
I suppose I am not really in the market either, but it's always nice to know a bit more, or to have a blow.

I guess it would be tenor that would interest me most IF .... if you do try one, I'd love to hear from you.

As you know, I haven't played one either!

But if you go to Sax UK to try one, may I come too?

OK - I'll give a tenor a blow and let you know what I think. My taste in tenors tends to run Selmer, Yani a close second, Yamaha a little way down in 3rd and didn't like the Kielwerth I tried.

That shop is great, I got my Selmer Alto from there a few months back.

what model of Selmer Alto is it?


and TSax, thanks.
I haven't tried Selmer or Yani tenors, but mine is a Yamaha 62. I like it, but I could be persuaded possibly

S80 MkII

and do you like it?
did you try the Series 3?

I bought my tenor from them about 6.5 years ago. It was a different place then, though quite close to where they are now. It was much smaller and not really set up for people visiting although they were happy for you to come along if you gave them a call first. I ended up spending quite a bit of time in a room full of boxed up saxes, with people popping in to give me advice and a cup of tea from time to time before deciding on "the one". It's a much slicker operation now - I went down about a year ago with a friend when she bought a new tenor. Still the same offer of cups of tea, friendly advice and no hard sell though, and it's worth a visit just for the wow factor when you work through the door - good though the picture on their website is, it doesn't quite do the row after row of unending saxophone deliciousness justice! Very much looking forward to my next trip.

No, I was told to avoid the Series 3 - not quite perfect yet. I do like it yes, it sounds amazing.

TSax - All the rows of saxes is fab definitely, the staff are really helpful and never rush you to make a decision over anything. I spent ages just playing 2 saxes...my parents were getting so fed up, especially considering they were paying . I got a free case luckily, Selmer's don't come with cases but they extended the offer they had on throughout December thankfully.

I've got alto and tenor series III. For tenor I preferred the III over the II - it ended up being between the III and the Yani 991 for me. The alto I got secondhand because a friend of a friend was selling one at a reasonable price and let me check it out for a couple of weeks. I don't know if I would have chosen a III otherwise, in fact I probably wouldn't have got an alto otherwise! The III has this extra mechanism to assist the intonation for open C#. It's one of those great ideas that just ends up being another thing to go wrong, I know I've had problems with it although it seems OK now.

Hi, first post here, and to bring this back on topic, I tried a Mauriat at sax.co.uk a while ago when I was thinking of changing my Martin alto.

A bit of history... the Martin is the only sax I've ever owned and was bought on it's tone alone when stacked up against a Conn and a King. I love the mellow sound of Johnny Hodges and it was the closest I'd heard. When selecting an instrument I didn't want a wild rasping, honking or 'overly bright' sound as I prefer mellow jazz (and sometimes classical sax) and this was just the thing. Just telling you this to put my thoughts on the Mauriat in perspective, you understand.

Anyway, having heard for years that old saxes are an ergonomic nightmare I'd often considered whether I should buy something newer, but no way was I going to give up the tone of the Martin. So, cash in hand, I went to sax.co.uk (luckily for me I only live 6 miles away) and tried out a few. And (at last, I hear you cry) here's what I made of them...

Bear in mind I want that mellow, vintage sound (these were all around the £1000-1,200 range).

Yamaha, didn't get on with the fingering at all, sound was too bright and piercing
TJ James, OK to play, but didn't do it on the tone. Not as bright as Yam but I didn't like it.
Mauriat, very good, fingering OK, very fat sound, could play very 'vintage' put had bags of power. But I didn't buy it...

Before parting with money I wanted to try a Hanson on their 7-day money back. Now their pro model is £800 so top notch for less money? Really? Yes. I'd say every bit as good as the Mauriat, close to the sound I was after, highly recommended by many people and I had the chance to spend a whole week really getting to know it.

So what did I get. None of them actually. I sent the Hanson back because after all that I didn't find any ergonomic improvement over mine (a 1936 model) and although both Mauriat and Hanson cam close to the tone I want I didn't consider either of them to be sufficiently better, against what I already had, to pay a lot of money for. Plus, a new Mauriat or Hanson (or any other) is just the same as any other new one, whereas the Martin has history. Irrational maybe, but I couldn't see why I should replace something that, when tested against modern instruments, was just as good. So the ergonomic myth was dispelled, for me at least, and I kept the good old Martin.

The Mauriat (for ME) was a far nicer horn than anything else at that price point in sax.co.uk. But the Hanson's as good, and leaves you with £400 in your pocket.

Sorry for rambling on,

regards, Phil

Hi Phil - welcome (always good to have more sax players) and thanks for your perspective.

An update - my planned trip to sax.co.uk was postponed, so I have nothing to add at the moment. I will make the trip sometime soon I hope and will report back when I do. Of course buying a new sax (or any musical instrument) is a very personal thing, and one person's favourite may not be anothers. A year or so ago I went to sax.co.uk witha friend who was buying a new tenor partly to give a 2nd opinion, and partly to have a gossip and a nice day out! Neither of us liked the Kielwerth, we both thought the Yamaha was fine but it didn't really grab us, the 3 that made it to the shortlist were a Selmer Series II, a Yani 991 and a Yani 992. Truthfully I could quite happily have played any of those and been very happy with it. If I'd had to make a choice it would probably have been the Selmer (I play a series III) or the Yani 991. My friend again thought that she'd be happy with any of the three but finally chose the 992. I guess it was just down to subtle differences, personal preferences and that sound you hear in your head and are trying to match.

Absolutely agree. There will always be a problem with "what does a ........... play like?" because it is so personal. We all have different tastes, experience and perceptions, which I why I tried to emphasise what I felt about it, with some background as to what I was actually looking for. Hopefully it helps in some small way.

A concensus of opinion might help to point a potential purchaser to areas where a horn is 'felt' to be good or weak, but I'm sure you'll agree we will all have different opinions about the same thing.

That's what makes up the wonderful variety - they ain't machines, there's soul and emotion in the mix (thank goodness)

regards, Phil

Hi and thanks for that Phil.
As you say, it is all very personal - the sound we are looking for - but again it's good to hear the different opinions on what might be 'value' not a bad starting point after all.

I get the feeling you liked the Mauriat for playing - except for the sound you wanted, and the same basically for the Hanson. Is that right?
It helps, thanks, so if I am saxcouk way I shall be happier about where I am starting .
Many thanks

I found them both very similar in terms of tone. And quite acceptable too, although both were slightly more hard-edged than my Martin. And they both seemed to have far more projection and power, the Mauriat more than the Hanson. By contrast, the Martin is much sweeter and lyrical, not great for pushing through if you're in a big horn section or playing funk, but for small ensemble or even classical work it's a beauty.

But, back to the question, if I didn't have a sax I'd go for the Mauriat or Hanson as they were really close to what I want. If you're looking to try a Mauriat I'd recommend getting a Hanson on 7-day trial at the same time so you can experience both of them. If you don't like the Hanson all you pay is £15 return carriage - they organise it, just bill you for the cost. Minimal cost really for a full seven days to get to know the instrument.

But, in my case I did have a sax, and an irrational attachment to it because it's vintage and I love it. for a £200 overhaul I ended up keeping the instrument as it does all I want and has the indefinable 'history'. Irrational I know, but these are personal things!

regards, Phil

thanks again.
I am not really thinking so much about trying one as finding out what anyone thinks of them.
I read a report in the CASS mag. and just thought "wonder what it's like.. really"

I have a Yamaha 62 which I like a lot. Idle curiosity I guess. But many thanks.

Very interested in your comments on Hanson, Mauriat. I play a The Martin tenor. I recently tried a Mauriat 66R. This is the first modern sax I have tried that I feel can match the projection and power of my horn in the lower registers matched with a characterful full sound through the range. I play in some very loud situations so having some extra cut would be a good thing but I don't think I could love a horn that didn't have a great vintage style subtone so I have until now resisted going totaly modern.

I thought I might try Hanson ST-8 and Mauriat side by side - I guess a tenor is a different animal but can you give me any further impressions of your comparison - did one stand out as being "the one" had you decided to go modern? Any difference in general brighness, feel, ergonomics? subtone / mid range / alt.

Anyone out there compared Mauriat and Hanson tenors?

Cheers

Andy