Saxophone Buyer's Guide

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the Saxophone Buyer's Guide! This project compiles over 20 years of experience spent buying and selling saxophones on a regional, national, and international basis. Over the course of these years, I've learned what to look for and how to find it. I've also learned (often times the hard way) what to watch out for and what some likely scenarios are for getting ripped off. As with any purchase, there are hazards in buying both new and used saxophone. However, by educating yourself and taking a common sense approach, these hazzards can easily be minimized. Hopefully this information will serve you well when it comes time to purchase your first or next saxophone.

This document is divided into sections that address the most frequently-asked questions about buying a saxophone. One of the biggest decisions you will face will be new or used/vintage or modern, so you may want to look those sections over first. Another thing to consider is the level of instrument you wish to purchase. Saxophones are made in student, intermediate, and professional models. Today's market is plaqued with many manufacturers' claiming to offer cheap "professional" model horns. The reality is that cheap still means cheap and in most instances you would be better off with an older American made student model sax than one of these so called cheap professional instruments. Read the section on models to learn how not to be decived by bogus or exaggerated "professional" claims. Older saxes (pre-1980) are generally refered to as "vintage". Don't always equate vintage with good. Don't get me wrong, there are many fantastic vintage saxes out there and these should definitely be considered. However, there are also vintage saxes that are just plain bad and others that are interesting or valuable primarily for historical or artistic reasons, not be considered as a primary horn for a player. In the vintage vs. modern section I will give some tips as to determining the quality of a vintage horn.

As part of this project, I must state that the information here is presented only as a representation of my personal experiences and opinions. Your decisions about purchasing a saxophone should include this information, but should not necessarily be limited to it. The bottom line is that you are making a significant financial decision and need to be as informed as possible to make a sensible judgment. Buying a saxophone is not too terribly different from buying a car. There are LOTS of things to consider and after following the logical list of do's and don'ts the ultimate decision is a very personal one that relies as much as anything on your "gut" feeling about that particular instrument and how it responds to you. Hopefully this guide will serve you well in your sax quest.

SAXOPHONE BASICS

This section is for people who might be purchasing a saxophone for the first time. Often younger students have just decided that they want to play the saxophone, and parents are left not knowing much, if anything, about what they need. Schools will make recommendations, but these should be taken with a grain of salt. Sometimes these recommendations are made with little or no consideration given to resources outside the immediate community. Also, band directors forge relationships with local music stores that give them the best prices on merchandise and instruments. This discount may not apply to you as a consumer. The best course of action is to include recommended sources in equal stature to the other sources that you find.

The saxophone is a complex instrument. It is a woodwind instrument, yet is made of brass, which means from a buyer's standpoint, you must be familiar with the design of the instrument and the materials used to make it. Also, the saxophone relies on a mouthpiece and single reed (just like a clarinet) to produce the vibration that becomes the saxophone's tone. Mouthpieces are a separate purchase and will be covered only briefly in this guide.

Saxophone Materials

The saxophone is comprised of two major parts: the neck and the body. The neck is a removable metal tube that attaches to the top of the body (the soprano saxophone follows a different set of rules that I will cover later) and is covered with cork on the very end of it to allow a mouthpiece to slide onto it. The body consists of a conically shaped brass tube with posts soldered onto the body, (or plates called "ribs" attached to the body) which support rods, keys and key cups that hold leather pads to cover the holes on the body. The keys are usually made of brass or nickel and are often covered with mother-of-pearl where your index, pointer and ring finger touch. Sometimes the thumb and pinky also have mother-of-pearl on touch points. Some rare horns had mother-of-pearl on every key.

The saxophone body is generally finished with some protective coating. Nowadays, that coating is usually a high-gloss brass lacquer or clear-coat lacquer which is baked on. Very old (and some new) saxophones were plated in silver, gold or nickel to protect the brass. There are also new anodized black nickel finishes, colorful lacquer finishes, and auto-body paint styled finishes. The finish is mainly designed for appearance, although it does have an effect on the sound of the instrument (there is a great deal of debate about this, and I will address it further later).

The rods of the saxophone are very important. They support and facilitate all of the movement associated with playing the instrument. If they are weak, your saxophone will not stand up to extended or rigorous playing. Also, weak rods are a sign of an inferior horn. Rods can sometimes be the only way to tell if that shiny new saxophone is made to last! On some horns, the rods will be silver while the body is a gold color (remember it is 99% sure that the finish is lacquer and NOT gold plating!) This is generally a sign that the horn is a student model. Common student models include the King 613 and Cleveland models, Selmer Bundy II, Evette Schaeffer, Olds Parisian, Vito, Armstrong, as well as later Buescher Aristocrats and Conn M series horns, which started as professional models. (I will address student models in detail later.)

Another key element in any saxophone (especially used) is the pads. Pads cover the holes on the saxophone so different sounds can be produced. If pads do not completely cover the holes, the saxophone will not play properly and will be a great source of frustration for beginning and intermediate students. Even professional saxophonists must deal with this problem on a daily basis. Pads should be soft to the touch and completely cover the adjacent tone holes. Pads should be a light brown color and will commonly have metal or brass discs on them called resonators. These discs help reflect sound back into the horn to aid sound projection and increase overall volume.

Part Names

Saxophones have specific names for parts, just like a car. As mentioned earlier, the removable tube at the top of the saxophone is called the neck, or sometimes gooseneck (presumably due to the "goose-like" sound produced when you blow on it with the mouthpiece attached).