F Mezzo Soprano Sax by Aquilasax

Gandalfe said:
Costing ~$3000 plus shipping, Aquilasax's F Mezzo soprano sax is an interesting beasty. I haven't heard how sales are going, but I did get rid of my pristine Conn F Mezzo for much more than that. I just wasn't playing it enough. Anyone heard anything about the quality of this instrument?
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The ad just says they're taking orders, and if they get enough it'll go into production.

Intersting they say that it's half way between a sop and an alto, but it's keyed in F... can't they count?
 
It's been a year and they're still gathering names. Mmm... I wonder if they're close to their "magic" number? (Whatever it is...)
 
I would only be interested in one if they made it straight and put a ball on the end. :smile:
 
jbtsax said:
I would only be interested in one if they made it straight and put a ball on the end. :smile:
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Ah. A Conn-O-Sax. Well, I don't have $30,000 to $100,000 in spare cash, so I doubt that I'd get one, JBT :p.

If I had a modern F mezzo, I'd only be interested if a) it sounded significantly like the Conn-O-Sax or b) it was really cheap. Hey, I don't like doing the transposing in my head. $3000 is close to the value of a beat-up Conn F Mezzo, which, when it's repaired, might sell for $5K to $7K+. I don't think an Aquilasax is going to hold its value.
 
Quite frankly, their track record would really have to improve quite a bit before I'd entertain anything that they had made. Ball or no ball. I totally understand and respect the entrepreneurial spirit, but the end product has to be of a good quality, or what's the point? I have yet to meet 1 person, or correspond with 1 for that matter, who has bought an Aquila Sax and kept it. I think a lot of times the problems arise from the fact that the buyers are pro or semi-pro, advanced or intermediate level players, who expect a certain something from their horns--something that the Aquila brand of saxes can't deliver on. (Be that intonation, evenness of scale, overall tone, or whatever.)
 
I do remember the long threads on SOTW about the Aquilasax C melody, which essentially led to a design change in the horn, itself. On the one hand, it's nice that the folks from Aquilasax listened. On the other hand, it's still a cheap horn that costs a lot (think about that a bit).

To go along with that, when the Vibrato Sax (plastic sax) came out, they were shooting for the student market, so they made their horns (relatively) cheap: around $500 a pop -- which I still think is too expensive, but we're at least in the right ballpark.

Browsing the Aquilasax new prices, I see that their other instruments -- excepting bari & C bass -- are well under $900 (I don't know if that's Australian $ or US $), which makes charging $3K for an F mezzo all the more puzzling.
 
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