Sax players - give me some tips.

I've played trumpet for quite a while. I also play a little guitar, piano & drums.

I'd like to take up tenor. I'd like to know about inexpensive tenors, good forum boards for sax players & anything else that you think is relevent.

Thanks,

Brad

Selmer has a nice tenor sax for @$1000. It's the Aristocrat series (made in Taiwan) and it's a decent player. My son has the alto version. He doesn't want my '54 Paris edition Mark VII alto sax (it's worth $$$$) 'coz he says it's too beat up and not shiny. I've played his Selmer and it's a quality horn.

I've seen some really cheap (@$500) new, no-name saxes, but you get what you pay for. Sub-standard springs, pads, metal alloys can render the sax unplayable. Most instructors and repair shops won't recommend/touch these cheapies.

You can go used but be sure you check the quality of the pads. A total repad can run @ $400+.

Those really cheap horns aren't really horns. At best, they are wall-hangers. Selmer makes or owns a lot of manufacturers who make great stuff; I'd stick with the Selmer or a Yamaha if you don't want to get too pricey, new.

Thanks for the tips, guys.

I stumbled upon www.saxontheweb.net.

Looks like a good board for sax players.

Brad

Don't know what the real sax players would say (I'm a brass specialist) but I bought one of the WWTS tenors from WWBW for my high school band back in October and have found it to be a pretty good value. I'm pretty happy with it as a band teacher and my student was real excited to have a good sax to use.

They are so so, IMNSHO. Stick with major names for the most part. A fixed up major brand will almost always outplay a brand new off brand horn. Not always at first, but just about always within a year or so. Some of the off brand stuff player pretty well after being set up, but most don't hold adjustments well over time, and just aren't built to the same standards as the major brands. That being said alot of the major brands are starting to make lesser quaility horns, most are better than the really cheap ebay brands, but they are not the same instruments that you would expect to get under a familiar name.

If you know any saxophone private lesson teachers or someone who takes lessons, they might know a student who's looking to get rid of a saxophone. My lesson teacher hooked me up with selmer super 80 for a pretty decent price.

You can always rent saxes, too. that way if you hate it, you can just give it back.

This is what makes playing wind instruments so cool-try before you buy for REAL! Now if only they'd allow people to do that with all kinds of instruments.

I would stick to brand name horns too. Yamaha makes a pretty good horn...I have heard. I played their pro tenor and it wasn't bad.

The saxquest.com forums are a pretty good place to learn about saxophones. There are usually a lot of good topics about beginner horns.

Thanks again, guys.

One thing that I can clearly see is that saxs are expensive and finicky.

I can take a Bundy trumpet to an combo gig & it would sound and play pretty good.

I like that about trumpet.

Brad

Yeah, if you know more than nothing about trumpet you can find a good one for dirt cheap that'll get the job done (Olds Ambassador anyone?).

Good luck with finding a sax though!