Why we are now offering horns for the "beginner" market

In the past, our company has confined itself to offering horns for the advancing student and for professional player. I'm changing that. I'll be honest with you: the future of the music business depends on what we do to make learning to play an instrument a pleasant, affordable, and trouble free experience. We took a look at what was available for beginning players, and quite frankly, we were aghast at what we saw. We knew we could do better, so after a series of meetings in which budgets were closely examined and a lot of strong language was used, we made the corporate committment to enter the lower price point market. We don't realistically expect to make a huge amount of money right away on this venture: the margins are razor thin. What we do expect to do is to make high quality instruments affordable again, and hence "sow the seed" for the musicians of tomorrow.

The lower end of the saxophone market is a quagmire of marginal quality Asian imports and antiquated designs. First time buyers, who have limited product knowlege at best, can't help but be confused. If they make their purchase decision based on price and price alone (and those $300 Chinese horns do quite often look just like real saxophones), they often find themselves confronted with intonation and durability issues. If they choose a horn named after their favorite motorcycle company, they (1) pay a lot, (2) get a design that has been in continuous production for well over 30 years, and (3) when they closely examine their high priced new horn, they see it is clearly stamped "Made in China". Something is badly wrong with this picture!

We have been manufacturing and distributing the Vespro saxophones for many years. The brand is exclusive to us. It has never been a huge seller for our company, most likely because we never really got behind it and promoted it. Sales were always steady, particularly in the Northeastern United States. Maybe we became complacent.

About a year ago, as we were beginning to consider the entry level market, we made a list of what was good and bad about the various offerings in the marketplace. We played most of the most readily available models, and took them apart to see how they were manufactured. We didn't like what we found.

Our new line (designed by me, of course) of Vespro saxophones offer some features you won't find at this price point: they have full rib construction, metal resonator pads, a full floating LH pinky table, and a high F# key. They are robustly made, and available in a variety of finishes: lacquer, black lacquer with silver plated keys, and silver plate. We've got the Vespro in alto, tenor, and straight soprano versions, and although I'm not going to answer questions about our manufacturing, I will absolutely assure you that the Vespro saxophones are not made in China.

If you are buying your first saxophone, or looking for a back up horn or just want to expand your arsenal, this may be the horn for you. We've got them in stock, and are beginning initial shipments to our dealer network.