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Forum » Vintage Saxophones » what soprano to get


by maggie89
(37 posts)
18 years ago

what soprano to get

Hi, i'm thinkin of buying a soprano sax,vintage or modern, that would go nicely with my Conn 6M. does anybody have any suggestions for me. i don't have a very big buget. so mybe cheaper options. also could you tell me what makes to stay away from. thanks maggie89

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  2. by Dave Dix
    (421 posts)
    18 years ago

    Re: what soprano to get

    Stay away from the cheap ebay 'too good to be true' sales like a brand new soprano for $300 etc, they are crap and most tech's will not service them. If you want a good horn its gonna cost, kessler do a good deal on taiwanese horns or go for the vintage option like conn, martin ,king and, about the best , buescher. These ones will last a lifetime, check that they go up to high F as some were only keyed to Eb, modern ones go to high F# and some to G but this is not 100% nessasary whereas tone is. Dave

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  3. by Ratstar
    (4 posts)
    18 years ago

    Re: what soprano to get

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  4. by Ratstar
    (4 posts)
    18 years ago

    Re: what soprano to get

    Hi Maggie, I,m knew at this game I,ve recently accuired a Weltklang solist sop,a Richard Keilwerth stencil. 1940,s 2, 50,s I,ve been playing it now for 6 month,s and love it.It is my first sax from my research it is a student level sax, the engineering is good even by today,s standard but the brass accqiured from the Russian,s was of bad quality too much copper.It took me 6 hour,s to take it apart and replace pad,s cork,s felt,s etc and now i can go from high c# to f.The intonation is not perfect but nothing you can,t get your emboucere around. I,m not playing in a sympony. I,ve recently purchased a Yanigisawa sop 981 for 2800 aussie dollars.Around 1000 pounds .The difference between it and other yani pro sop,s is the coatings and one model is hand beaten and one goe,s to high g,and a curved sop,probably the only curved sop to consider. Why Yani the world,s best sop.Forget modern Keilwerth sop,s, yamaha for price and quality can do as good or better.Selmer very good but your paying twice the price for what you can get in Yani,I,m sure there are good cheap brand,s out there in sax land but many sound like a gazoo.Happy shopping Maggie.Let the comment,s roll like bass across the ground and believe me that I am truly your,s Ratstar

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  5. by connsaxman_jim
    (2336 posts)
    18 years ago

    Re: what soprano to get

    The Antigua Winds sopranos are nice for someone on a budget. I agree, Kessler Music is a great place to look; www.kesslermusic.com. The Yamaha YSS 475 is very reasonably priced. The EM. Winston 350 GL was replaced by a newer cheaper model. The older 350 GL's were decent horns, if you can find one that is a left over model. You can often find vintage Bueschers and Conns fairly cheap, but they do usually need some repair. Once reconditioned, they are great horns. A few to stay away from: Schill, or German Engineering, Monique (They've gotten some better in recent years, but be careful!) Maxtone, Millwaukee, Simba, Band Now, Saxophone.com, DC Pro, companies like Selman. Sometimes these cheap Chinese horns will use a name similar to a well known brand such as Selmer. There hopes are that people will recognize the name Selman as Selmer and assume that it is a good quality horn worthy of a few more dollars!

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    1. by maggie89
      (37 posts)
      18 years ago

      Re: what soprano to get

      thnx for the info i think i'm gonna go sax shoppin n see what i can find. maggie89

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      1. by maggie89
        (37 posts)
        18 years ago

        Re: what soprano to get

        hi, i found this on ebay. cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7396627972 is this worth getting hold of? thnx maggie89

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        1. by definition
          (963 posts)
          18 years ago

          Re: what soprano to get

          That could be a good horn, King Sops had better intonation than the rest of their horns from the same time period. Just be warned, you might have to spend around 200 bucks after buying it to put it in playing condition

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        2. by maggie89
          (37 posts)
          18 years ago

          Re: what soprano to get

          thankx for the infomation, i might look into it. i also found this on ebay, cgi.ebay.co.uk/LaFleur-SOPRANO-SAXOPHONE-NO-RESERVE_W0QQitemZ7397242629QQcategoryZ16203QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem and i don't recognise the make, some info would be greatly appreciated thanks maggie89

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        3. by Dave Dix
          (421 posts)
          18 years ago

          Re: what soprano to get

          la fleur was a name used by B/Hawkes sounding french but they were east european, probably made by welklang (i have played a welklang made b/h) it was OK but really a student horn, a bit schrill sounding tone, some were made by kohlhert but these are rarer and usually have rolled tone holes. I would give it a miss Dave

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        4. by Dave Dix
          (421 posts)
          18 years ago

          Re: what soprano to get

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        5. by maggie89
          (37 posts)
          18 years ago

          Re: what soprano to get

          thnx for the info maggie89

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        6. by maggie89
          (37 posts)
          18 years ago

          Re: what soprano to get

          cgi.ebay.co.uk/Antigua-Winds-590-Silver-Plated-Soprano-Saxophone_W0QQitemZ7399942790QQcategoryZ16203QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem found this on ebay, i like the look of it but would like some more info please thanks maggie

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        7. by connsaxman_jim
          (2336 posts)
          18 years ago

          Re: what soprano to get

          Looks like a nice soprano Maggie. The Antigua Winds are very good horns for the money. They are made in Taiwan, but they are one of the higher quality Taiwanese horns. The design is very similar to the Yanagisawa straight soprano, which is known for having excellent intonation. Seeing as how you are buying it off from Ebay, I would suggest that when you receive the horn, have a technition look at it and make any adjustments or repairs that might need to be made. Chances are it will play fine, but I would get it adjusted and fine tuned just to optimize it's sound and performance.

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        8. by maggie89
          (37 posts)
          18 years ago

          Re: what soprano to get

          cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7400219609&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&rd=1 i found this, i remeber jim metioned winstons n i was jst wonderin if this is worth looking into thnx maggie

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        9. by Sax Mom
          (964 posts)
          18 years ago

          Re: what soprano to get

          This one is older than mine, and doesn't have the detatchable neck, but I am happy with my Winston, and I'd take a gamble on this one if I didn't already have one with which I'm happy.

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        10. by Sax_Shark
          (134 posts)
          18 years ago

          Re: what soprano to get

          I have one of these!! Black nickel though... I LOVE IT!!! Just for your 411

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        11. by maggie89
          (37 posts)
          18 years ago

          Re: what soprano to get

          hey cool, can anyone tell me more about this sax plz. thnx maggie

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        12. by connsaxman_jim
          (2336 posts)
          18 years ago

          Re: what soprano to get

          Hi Maggie, I think that the Antigua Winds is a little better than the Winston, but the Winston is a decent soprano to start out on. Jim

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        13. by maggie89
          (37 posts)
          18 years ago

          Re: what soprano to get

          hey agen. i found this OMEGA sax on eaby n i've never heard of them and can't find any infomation on the net. do any of you no about this make cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7400297052&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&rd=1 thnx maggie

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        14. by GregLauer
          (37 posts)
          18 years ago

          Re: what soprano to get

          if you have never heard of it chances are its no good. i picked up a brand new yannigisawa 991 soprano for 2300 last year off a web site, and they go for around 2700 currenlty. The bigest problem about sopranos is thier ability to play in tune. In my opinion id just save up for a nice horn rather than beat around the bush looking for somthing you will never be satisified with. That is what im doing right now while im saving for a vintage alto sax.

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        15. by maggie89
          (37 posts)
          18 years ago

          Re: what soprano to get

          hey thanks for all the help the cool thing is i now have a larger budget as an uncle is going to buy it for me :) i think the budget is up to £1400 ish i don't no what that is in dollars. Any suggestions for a high end sax would be appreciated. i played a selmer series II sop and it was ok but not very free blowing and it needed a refurb. i also played a Yamaha 475 and it was nice but it didn't have the sort of tone i am after. thnx alot maggie

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        16. by definition
          (963 posts)
          18 years ago

          Re: what soprano to get

          look at yanigisawa sops, great!!

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        17. by connsaxman_jim
          (2336 posts)
          18 years ago

          Re: what soprano to get

          There are several different price ranges. If you want a good, professional model soprano with a great tone, try the Keilwerth SX-90. I've owned one for a little over a year and I absolutely love it! The Yanagisawa sopranos are also really nice. It's pretty hard to beat a Yanagisawa 9938, but they will set you back a few shiney pennies!!! The Selmer Series III....blah, I owned one for a couple years and traded it for a mint 1949 Buescher 400 Top Hat & Cane tenor.....no regrets there! Wasn't too impressed with the overall quality of the Selmer, but it had pretty good intonation and a nice sound. The Yamaha sopranos are nice; even the budget prices YSS-475! The Kessler Custom and the Antigua Winds are a good horn for the money. EM Winston.....well, they were decent a couple years back, but I have heard some bad things about the newer horns and I would definately want to play one before buying it. I've heard that most of the EM Winstons are now made in China instead of Taiwan. Jupiter sopranos are decent. They make the Keilwerth ST (student) models. Just stay away from the junk they're selling on Ebay for less than $500.

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        18. by maggie89
          (37 posts)
          18 years ago

          Re: what soprano to get

          hey thanks for the info i'm thinkin of tryin out some yani's. maybe the S-981,991,992, and the 9930. i may also play the curved SC-9930 or 902. thanks maggie

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        19. by maggie89
          (37 posts)
          18 years ago

          Re: what soprano to get

          hey, i got ma sop yesterday. its a yanagisawa S900 n i luv it :) thnx for all the info maggie

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        20. by goofy_boots
          (5 posts)
          18 years ago

          Re: what soprano to get

          I bought a $500 Selmer student soprano and a Jody Jazz ESP mouthpiece for $200, the intonation isn't perfect but for a player with a concept of playing in tune it is definitely a bargain.

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        21. by jimi47
          (1 post)
          18 years ago

          Re: what soprano to get

          I'm new here. I played alto and bari in the late 60's and early 70's but haven't touched a sax since. I am thinking about getting a used soprono (E.M. Winston hopefully) to play around with. I keep hearing a lot of mention of intonation on the sop. Is it that much harder? Any helpful suggestion?

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        22. by Sax Mom
          (964 posts)
          18 years ago

          Re: what soprano to get

          It took me about a day and a half for my lip to learn exactly how to play my soprano in tune--I learned on Tenor and also play alto regularly. I like my E.M. Winston soprano.

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      2. by cthuluguru
        (1 post)
        17 years ago

        Re: what soprano to get

        I myself have had good luck with Selman, having purchased one for both myself and my wife...

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