Pro Instruments?

[Keesha]

Definitely the first. And other reasons. I have bought to repair and sell, but the reason I bought them in the first place is that they were interesting, as well as a potential profit. Examples might be a pair (Bb/A) of Full Boehm Selmer Centered Tones; pair of R13s going cheap as they were wrongly described; Leblanc LL with extra rings and keys (not FB); Evette Schaeffer Bb which turned out to have beautiful un dyed wood and better than any R13 I had tried.

Then there is the buy to keep with no intention of selling such as a pair of Selmer silver metal “Master Model’ clarinets; my Silver King with solid silver bell and the metal double walled Couesnon clarinet. I have three Couesnon Monopole wooden clarinets of different eras. Of course there is the variation on a theme of clarinet - with Eb soprano, C clarinet, alto clarinet, bass clarinet.

Another category is the historical with no current ensemble function! Some are restored, and some are awaiting my retirement! I have probably the most exquisitely made clarinet I own made by JTL. It is small, almost certainly high pitched, and I have yet to find what key it is. I also have a beautiful high pitch bass clarinet made by the original Rudall Carte company. There are Albert System clarinets, and other curiosities.

In short, I am a collector, and strongly resist my wife’s accusation of hoarder!

To quickly mention saxes, the main focus of my collection there is the maker Couesnon (see avatar). My first sax purchase was, I thought, a beginner/intermediate alto, Vito. It was actually a Vito VSP, and on closer inspection was made by Yanagisawa. As such, it was actually a pro level instrument, and on requesting information from Yanagisawa, they told me it was an A600, and only 50 were made. This is documented elsewhere on the forum.

Chris

That’s very impressive. No! You are most certainly a collector. Some mighty fine instruments you have too.

 

[DiMora]

I believe it was a Conn 6M alto. It was a rental...from a local music store...one of those rent-to-own deals, but if you turned it back in they would give you some partial credit toward a different instrument. I rememeber it was stinky - like an old sax with old pads smells. I played on it until I decided to switch to Tenor in 7th grade. Then my Dad bought me a demo model Bundy-II intermediate Tenor. I had no idea, of course, that the smart play would have been to keep the old Conn alto and also get a tenor (and not a Bundy-II, LOL). Of course the internet did not exist back then, and my parents knew nothing about instruments and neither did I, so we just bought was was hanging on the pegboard.

 

[pete]

I'll just post my standard comment on Bundy II: They're not terrible and can stand up to a lot of elementary thru high-school beating.

Also, Bundy II is most definitely a student model.

For other sax players, note that "Bundy" was used on horns from the late 1920s, was discontinued for a while, and is back in use today. There were several pro-level horns during that time that were labeled "Bundy" and some of them were not even made by Selmer USA, Conn, or Buescher. Note that the new Bundy student horns, the BAS-300 and BTS-300 are just engraved "Bundy."

 

[Keesha]

Oh! I forgot to mention that in December 2018, after not playing saxophone for years, I purchased a Yamaha 475 soprano and it’s definitely a professional instrument. The Yamaha 62 is nicer but I’m extremely happy with my Yamaha 475. If I was ever to replace my vintage SML alto, I would definitely purchase a Yamaha model. They really are worth every penny.

 

[pete]

The 475 is an intermediate model.

Yamaha models:
Starts with a 2 (eg 23): Student.
Starts with a 3, 4, or 5 (eg 52): Intermediate.
Starts with a 6 (eg 62): Non-custom pro model.
Starts with an 8 (eg 875): Custom pro model.

I'll mention that the altos and tenors have several versions of both student and intermediate models, with different features at different numbers.

I can't confirm that a 475 soprano is "professional quality at an intermediate price," because I've never tried any Yamaha sopranos, but I can say that my YBS-52 was a nice horn, but the YBS-62 was/is a better horn. The YBS-82 wasn't available when I bought my YBS-52 back in the late 1980s.

 

[Keesha]

Well I wasn’t really referring to technically from what others claim. To my ears, it’s sound is at professional standards. The tone is crystal clear, the projection of sound is surprisingly shocking , pitch is easy to achieve. It’s a true pressure to play.

I agree with you Pete, the YAS 475 has a professional sound at an intermediate price.
I bought mine second hand for $1500 which included a Selmer S80 D mouthpiece which I was something I couldn’t resist. I didn’t even try to offer less, I was instantly impressed the very moment I started playing……

….. and HiGHly recommend this brand of saxophone. I’ve never heard of anyone who bought one and didn’t love it.

 

[pete]

I suck at playing straight soprano. My go-to explanation is that I play it like a clarinet and shouldn't. I suck less at playing a fully-curved "alto sax shaped" soprano ... but only a little less.

(Oh. My standard disclaimer also applies: I haven't played in years, due to neuro problems. I was an OK player, but not anywhere near the level of most of the folks that post here. And I'm OK with that.)

I think the last time I touched a soprano may have been over 10 years ago. My wife rented one for a pit orchestra. Antigua Winds, I think. I don't remember play-testing it, even for kicks.

 

[Notes_Norton]

I played soprano for a while when Kenny G first hit the airwaves. People wanted to hear his songs, and they wanted the look (I can't do the hair, though).

I never really bonded with the soprano. I could play it OK, but I never felt one with the instrument.

Later I got a Yamaha VL70m physical modeling synthesizer, and they have a Kenny G patch, that was improved by Matt at Patchman Music, so whenever I need soprano, I use it. I sold the soprano. Since I bring the wind controller anyway, not having a soprano is one less instrument so schlep. It has a decent alto patch, so I leave my alto home. That's two fewer things to carry.

Mrs. Notes and I haul my tenor sax, two wind MIDI controllers, two guitars, Thunder tactile MIDI controller, flute, small keyboard or drum controller, 4 synth modules, 10 space rack with mixer and FX, two EV active speaker cabs with 15" woofers, 3 laptop computers, and more stands and cables than you can count. That's more than enough.