is it worth buying a Pro horn?

[Anonymous]

This is a odd question! Rather like – Why do people buy expensive cars, when the cheaper vehicle will also get you from A to B?

I bought an entry level sax because I wasn’t sure how much I would play it. This was a mistake which I now regret because the saxes, which are all imported have gone way up in price. There is a noticeable difference in sound, material quality, and playability of the more expensive instruments. Some are truly beautiful works of art. Good design, better materials and more time spent on by skilled craftsmen, all cost money and the biggest advantage of buying a top quality saxophone is that it retains its value.

My YAS-26 cost R18000 when I bought it and I’ve seen some for sale now, just two years later at nearly twice that price.

Yamaha states on its website :-

“Yamaha offers a complete line of saxophones to suit every level of player from the beginning band student to the seasoned pro. Through the Yamaha ideology of ‘vertical integration’, the highest level Custom saxophone models are designed first, and elements of those models are carried down into the professional, intermediate, and even standard level saxophones. Through this process, Yamaha designers take great care to make sure that each saxophone model combines the ideal levels of form, function and value for the saxophonist who will be the recipient of that instrument.”

… and then why buy an expensive mouthpiece? My answer would be, simply because you can feel and hear the difference!

[Anonymous]

Thanks Jeff – i’ve got to the place where i feel my sax is holding my progress back (i’ve noticed similar comments from other players on the internet, not on this site).

I have an agenda, and i’m not the type of person just to go out and willy nilly buy an upgraded sax, and i certainly wouldn’t buy one without trying it out, i need to feel the key action, as well as hear what it sounds like with my own mouthpiece and reed.

when i get time i’m going to try out the yamaha, yani’s and some selmars (just for a laugh), and i’m glad for all the comments posted, from comments implying a waste of time buying a pro sax to the opposite extreme. My sax teacher is on holiday this week, and i’ll get his feed back when he returns – he plays selmars, his son has turned pro and he bought his son a mark vi, and a gifted upcoming sax player i know personaly aged 14 (grade 7 distinction) has just got upgraded to a selmar. All the people that i have met and play at a high level all own pro sax’s, they all swear by them. These are all people in the music industry and i can’t dismiss their comments lightly.

But i can 2nd guess my teacher is going to say not to bother unless i’m going to play for a living.

It’s not a case of trying to draw attention to myself.

[Tim56]

Very interesting discussion guys! I have 2 PRO horns. A Selmer 6,,, 1956 5 digit,, A Yamaha 62-2, 5 years old. I started late in life. I’m 73 now. The MP I use is a, Otto Link New York Tone Master. 6*. I have had many compliments on my tone and all that goes with that. Some more background on my thoughts an buying equipment. A lady that I flew with when I started as an airline pilot at Western Airlines in 1972 was an amazing piano player. Latter when my 2 kids came along, she told me to get the very best instruments that I could afford for them to learn on! Why, there better made and will hold up and be easier to take care of. My home looked like a music store for a few years. The both wanted to play many instruments. They both started on the piano. This is the base instrument for learning music. Long story short,,,my son was a pro drummer. He recorded for Ron Howard on some movie work and other projects too. When I bought my 2 horns,,I got read good prices on them. The 6 is now insured for $14.5 grand?? Amazing. Johnny can tell you how good it sounds, and so Can Mike Bishop. For what it’s worth,,,my 2 cents. Tim

[Anonymous]

Thanks Tim.
most comments seem to be divided into 2 separate camps, each camp is entitled to believe in what they feel is correct, even though i can’t find any valid evidence to support who is correct. Its like smokers, some say hand roll ups are better and some say machine rolled are better (no one knows)

one camp feels it doesn’t matter what you buy they feel its the player’s sound that counts (so just buy anything that sounds good) and the other camp believes that some saxs (not the cheap massed produced student saxs) may actualy sound different when played by the same person/mouthpiece/reed (so you could be onto something there).

Others just want me to shut up and just go and buy one and stop bothering people and wasting JF’s bandwith – at the end of the day i feel everyones still being helpful.

[Anonymous]

Hi Sxpoet, I know just what you are referring to regarding ‘typewriter feel’!

When talking about Pro horns we aren’t referring to knock-offs from sweat shops. That quote from the Yamaha site said it perfectly. They design the ideal saxophone and that becomes the top model. Then they compromise on design and materials to produce a cheaper range which is affordable to all players. Clearly Pro is not the best they make, and perhaps one should be looking for a Custom Sax.

One thing I didn’t consider when buying my curved Soprano was it’s suitability for my hand size. Everyone’s hands are not the same size and finger length varies too. I feel your comment from a little while ago is good advice i.e. a person should find a suitable horn, develop their sound and playing skills, then try out different models to discover the sound they desire and find the most comfortable horn to play. If one is playing for many hours a week the price is not worth worrying over because shops can always work out a payment plan. The more time one invests in an item the more affordable it becomes, especially when compared to costs of other live entertainment like SAT-TV.

Now that I am beginning to play my chromatic scale at speed I am feeling a little restricted by the mechanism. Yes, I am playing it too fast for normal music (maybe not Yackety Sax) but I would like to go faster. Michael has fuelled my lust for quality because now I’ve seen a beautiful YAS-82ZB on the Sax UK website where he bought his Soprano – LOL (thanks Michael).

I’ve gotta own one!

[Anonymous]

thanks Jeff – less clunky and probably a bit lighter might help.

Some of the pro’s over here in the Uk are generaly well known in local music shops, and get discounts, also get to try out instruments – so its unfair to expect them to say one way or the other what they feel as it has an impact on them and their livelyhood.

[Kevin]

So if your sax is to “clunky” to manage the melody of this song, then you probably need a pro sax…

[Anonymous]

if i play radeski march which is an easy beginners tune, the clunkyness is noticeable.

i’m getting it seviced in a couple of months time, i’ll see if when they oil it, if it plays any better, didn’t seem to be like it is now compared to when i bought it. last week one of the metal springs popped out, and certain keys have a rattling noise in the moving parts.

[Anonymous]

@Kevin – if you’ve got 129 face book friends, you could link up with them and play radeski march like this

[Harry Erickson]

Hello!

Maybe here you will find several useful options: http://windplays.com/best-saxophones-for-beginners/
I think it’s really individual opinion about any saxopnone and you should carefully read information and characteristic about every option to deside what to buy.

[Author]

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