I don't have time for a full response to this tread, but as a professional repair tech who works on saxophones, I know from first hand experience that there are parts that are commonly needed on all brands. This is not just for student players, but for adult and skilled players as well. Some of commonly needed parts include: (in approximate order of frequency)
- pivot screws
- guard screws
- neck screws
- guard feet
- fork F# key guard
- lower stack key guard
- key guard bumper adjusting screws
- octave mechanism parts
- body neck tenon receiver
- individual keys too damaged to repair
Yamaha, Selmer, Yanagisawa, Jupiter, Mauriat, Cannonball, etc. all provide a catalog or website where professional techs can order at least the first six on the list to have in stock when that make and model come in for repair.
If replacement parts weren't important or needed as some people claim then the major brands wouldn't go to the trouble to maintain an inventory that can be shipped the day a tech calls in his order, and received in 2 to 3 business days. This is not only true for saxophones, but all of the other woodwinds and brass as well. It is part of the standard industry practice and has been for many years, that is until the wave of Asian instruments began to hit our shores.
I know the well worn argument that "a competent repair tech can make whatever part is needed". That is absolutely true, but I wouldn't want to pay a tech's $60 per hour shop rate to make a pivot screw, when for another brand he could just go to a drawer, pull one out and charge maybe twice his $1.00 wholesale cost to cover his time and the cost of keeping some on hand. I can go to the junk pile and find a key guard that can be manipulated to fit on a nice looking saxophone, but it costs more than the correct new one because of the time it took to modify it and it looks like s**t to boot. I tell the unhappy customer, it is at least functional, and I'm sorry but this brand doesn't care enough to make parts available after the sale.
I would like to see the cut rate vendors of off shore saxophones add a page to their fancy websites giving the price of the above commonly needed parts IN ALL AVAILABLE FINISHES and information on how to order them. They could order these parts in sufficient quantities to meet expected demand from the factory that makes their saxophones each time an order is placed.
Sure it would add a small amount to their business overhead, but in terms of customer relations and customer service it would pay dividends---especially when they advertise "We care enough about service after the sale to back up our instruments with repair parts".
Besides, the cost could be added to the purchase price or absorbed by the vendor in their profit margin. Either way it would be an improvement over the status quo where the customers of their brands are on their own where commonly needed parts are concerned.
I just get tired of the "spin" and tap dancing around the subject by those vendors who claim to back up their instruments with parts, but in reality do not and have no intention of doing so.
It's a good thing I didn't have time to write what I really think about this topic.