The Rebirth of the model 61

Steve

Steve

Clarinet CE/Moderator
Staff member
CE/Moderator
So I was perusing ProWinds.com website today and they had an ad for the YAS-61 IIS.

Yes "61"

Did Yamaha finally do a Selmer Paris and created a "Reference" horn harking back to the days of unpure french brass shot from a decree of canons or what ?

This certainly got my heart racing. To finally play the 61 again in all it's juberant tonal quality. Oh wait ... I only played one for about 10 minutes in my youth from my buddy in the MI State Honors Band. Others have been repairs .. oh well .. so much for the fuzzy dream.

But back to the Yamaha 61 ..

with "it's take it or leave it" elegant (or not so) bell key covers that goes down to the low C in one elegant (or ugly) statement.

So ... we click on the banner located here
https://www.prowinds.com/merchantmanager/index.php

Of course when you click on the banner for the A-82Z by Phil Woods, T-82Z by Jeff Coffin, and 61 IIS by Dave Koz .. you get

the YAS-62 IIS ad ...

62 ?!?!

yup .. just another 62 ....

and silver plated ones at that

so much disappointment by a typo ..... can I ever look at Yamaha again without remembering so much fervor ??


fyi .. i did mispell cannon for an obvious contrapuntal musical composition and church council decree to keep the same overall embodiment of the mk VI religious-type following :) ok .. i guess i'm the only one that thought it was funny.
 
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I've played one or two 61's. Nice enough horns but I thought the first generation of the 62 was nicer. I know a couple of guys who love their 61 tenors.
 
I had an old 61 tenor a while back, wish now I hadn't sold it; you don't see em that much anymore. I know where there's another though.
 
The bari's can be all over the place. Even in the same horn. Some rods will be stiff and others are noodles.
 
Gandalfe said:
The 61 series can be such a dice roll as far as quality. Right?
Click to expand...

well, the one I had was pretty good as far as the sound went; I wasn't especially fond of the funky key guards, "art deco" some call em, but I guess they serve the purpose. use to you could find em pretty cheap as no one seemed to want em much, but now they're going for more on ebay. the early 62 is probably a better buy.
 
I play a YSS-61 that I bought from my teacher back in 1976, when the 62 came out. They don't feel like most modern sops, but I like mine a lot.
 
I bought my YTS-61 brand new in 1977 just out of high school. Still my main sax. I compared it to a 62 and an 875ex and didn't see any reason why I'd want one of those over my 61. I'm sure there may be reasons but I didn't notice any. I lost a lot of sax GAS that day. I still haven't managed to try an 82Z though. Instead of upgrading my tenor, I've got a Phil Barone Bari on order.
 
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