Buying a Saxophone: a guide for parents of beginners

BUYING A SAXOPHONE: A GUIDE FOR PARENTS
(IN FAQ FORMAT)
by
STEVE GOODSON
www.saxgourmet.com


MY CHILD WANTS TO JOIN THE SCHOOL BAND AND PLAY SAXOPHONE, HOW MUCH DO I HAVE TO SPEND?
You’ll find new and used saxophones at a wide variety of price points. You should be able to get a very high quality beginner instrument new for around $600. Prices on the used market are all over the place, and hard to pin down. If you pay more than $600 for a new instrument, you are being extravagant. Discounts on new instruments are widely available. Shop online for the best prices.

IS THERE A REAL DIFFERENCE BETWEEN VARIOUS BRANDS?
Absolutely! The saxophone is a fairly complicated piece of machinery, so workmanship and materials are important, not to mention good design. You can’t go wrong with one of the “standard” brands of new saxophones available for students, such as Jupiter, Yamaha, Antigua, Vespro, and others. All of these companies make instruments designed specifically for beginners, which are easy to play and have robust construction. Of course, there are many other makers and quite a few of them make very good instruments.

WHAT FEATURES MAKE A GIVEN HORN BETTER THAN OTHERS?
Look for forged keywork, which does not bend; plated rather than lacquer finish, which is much more durable; blued steel springs, which hold proper tension longer; metal resonators on the pads, rather than plastic, which reflect sound more accurately; a “floating” left hand pinky table, which is much easier to operate; genuine mother of pearl key touches instead of plastic key touches, which last much longer; a metal thumb hook, which won’t break as the plastic ones are prone to; a high F# key (this key is mandatory! Don’t buy a horn without one!); and a sturdy case with large accessory pockets on the exterior (not inside the case) so loose items don’t damage the horn. Backpack straps on the case are a great idea for smaller players.

HOW DO I COMPARE BRANDS?
Assuming you don’t play, and assuming that you understand that whoever is trying to sell you a saxophone has a different agenda than you, make a checklist of the features above and use it to compare brands.

DOES THE COUNTRY OF MANUFACTURE MAKE A DIFFERENCE?
Here’s what you need to know: virtually all saxophones sold today are manufactured somewhere in Asia. Almost the entire industry moved over there years ago. There are no saxophone factories located in the USA. Yamaha makes instruments in China and Indonesia. Conn-Selmer makes horns in China. Buffet (a French company) makes their horns in China. Antigua and Jupiter are Taiwanese companies. The horns which are marked “P. Mauriat, Paris” are made in Taiwan, not Paris. This is the way it is.

HOW DO I CHOOSE A DEALER?
In a word, price. If you’re buying a Toyota, you shop different dealers and go with the best price. It’s no different with saxophones. You can get the exact same item from a variety of sources at different price points. You decide….it’s your money.

WILL I NEED REGULAR SERVICE AND ADJUSTMENT?
Most likely, no. Student horns are designed to hold adjustment with a minimum of care and feeding. It’s not a bad idea to have the instrument checked over by a qualified technician once a year, and the cost of this will be minimal. Don’t let anybody try to tell you that saxophones are maintenance intensive. They’re not.

HOW DO I LOCATE A QUALIFIED REPAIR TECHNICIAN?
The best way is to ask professional players in your area who they use. They know the difference, and their income depends on it. Call the musician’s union if you don’t know any professional players personally.

THE BAND DIRECTOR AT MY CHILD’S SCHOOL ONLY ALLOWS CERTAIN BRANDS TO BE USED. WHAT DO I DO?
I’ll be willing to bet you lunch that this band director also drives a little nicer car than the rest of the teachers, and dresses better, and shows other signs of affluence. Does the math teacher only allow certain brands of pencils? For years, band directors have become “brand directors” and steer business to those retailers who take care of them financially. There’s a lot of money being spent on instruments for students (just do the math of how many kids are joining the band at your school multiplied by the average purchase price of a instrument for each of them), and you may find yourself pressured to do business only with the band directors “friends”. Don’t worry, the director will have lots of reasons why you should only do business with certain people who sell specific brands. They have their story, and they’re sticking to it. Call the president of your school board. If you don’t get any satisfaction, call the Attorney General of your state. Lots of lawsuits have been filed over this corruption issue, and the schools always lose. Remember, these teachers work for you…..

WHAT ABOUT USED HORNS?
There are lots of them out there, and lots of bargains among them. Be careful, don’t pay too much, and have a technician check them over before any money changes hands. Use the same checklist for a used horn that you would for a new horn. The important thing is to get a horn that is durable and easy for your child to play. A good rule of thumb is to never pay more than 50% of the lowest price you can find for a given model of a new student horn. The market is full of them, so you should have lots of choices.

I HEAR A LOT ABOUT VINTAGE HORNS AND THEIR GREAT SOUND. SHOULD I CONSIDER ONE FOR A BEGINNER?
No. Many of the horns sold as “vintage” are really just old horns. The really fine genuine vintage instruments tend to command very high prices. The real deal vintage horns are also not necessarily “user friendly” and should be considered only by advanced players.

WE HAVE AN OLD SAXOPHONE IN OUR FAMILY. HOW ABOUT GETTING IT REFURBISHED FOR OUR BEGINNER?
First, make certain it has all the features listed earlier so it is easy for your child to use. Next, consider the cost of an overhaul as opposed to the price of a new student instrument. Finally, ask yourself this question: which would be easier for my child to learn to drivc, a 1956 Ford or a new Toyota? I rest my case…..

WHAT ABOUT RENTING A SAXOPHONE TO SEE IF MY CHILD REALLY LIKES BAND?
Do the math. You can rent a saxophone for about $40 per month in most markets on a 12 month contract. You can then apply the full amount you paid in rent ($480) to the full retail price (not a discount price!) of the instrument. Alternately, you can buy a nice new horn for $600, and if your child decides band is not for them, sell it for 50% of what you paid to next year’s beginners. Yes, there will be a market. Any questions?

WHAT ABOUT EBAY?
It’s a great place to buy a saxophone if (1) you know what you’re doing or (2) you buy from someone who is a bona fide saxophone dealer selling established brands that meet the requirements listed above and not some guy selling off brand instruments out of his basement. Insofar as used instruments on eBay, you pays your money and you takes your chance…..

HOW ABOUT ACCESSORIES AND SUPPLIES FOR MY BEGINNER?
You’ll need a music stand, a metronome, a tuner, some reeds (I strongly suggest Fibracell brand synthetic reeds, they last!), and whatever books your school uses. I’d also suggest you look into some private lessons in addition to the school instruction. Everything else your child needs should be included with the instrument itself.

WHAT IF I HAVE MORE QUESTIONS?
Feel free to email me privately: saxgourmet@cox.net

Saxophone Improvements Needed!

For the last fifteen years or so, I've made a living designing saxophones for various companies. I'm working on a new model right now, and here are some of my thoughts on needed improvements. These won't all find their way onto the current project, but maybe we'll see some of them in the future.

GET RID OF THE DEAD SPOTS
Beginning with the C# tone hole, the tone holes of the saxophone are all open EXCEPT for G#, D#, and low C#. These closed pads devour the sound and cause problems for the adjacent notes. Different systems have been tried over the years to resolve this issue, with none really being totally satisfactory. I'm thinking that the solution to the G# is to use a double G key (sorta like the old Kings) with a seperate G# tone hole somewhere else on the tube. This, I think, might be fairly easy to pull off. It might make a practical G# trill key possible at the same time. The D# solution has been tried with mixed results using two different systems: one involving a seperate small tone hole on the side of the tube (old Conns and Bueschers), and another involving another tone hole below the low D hole. I favor the latter, but freely acknowlege that this may involve a hole in the upper part of the bow, which would be problematic from a construction point of view. Either one of these systems would allow us to bring back the "forked" Eb, which is a good idea, IMHO. The low C# is another matter: it's inconvenienly located, and we've run out of fingers by the time we get there. A couple of systems have been used in the past: the marvelously complex Leblanc Rationale (too complicated for mere mortals to own and maintain) and the strange feeling extra vent used on Holtons and Beurgniers. I like the latter system for its mechanical simplisity, but the linkage between the low C and the extra vent has to be improved.

TRILL KEYS
There are a couple of moves that are damn impossible, and the solutions are pretty easy. I don't for the life of me understand why they fell from favor. High C to High D: Holtons, Hohners, and a few other horns have a dedicated key for this and we ought to bring it back. The key touch was located adjacent to the chromatic C and Bb keys, and operated an independent key between the upper stack C# and palm F. A good idea. G# Trill:My little finger doesn't work that well, and most likely neither does yours. I've built a couple different systems over the years, and none of them worked very well. Hopefully, while I'm refining this double G key system, I can find a way to add a triller. D# to Low C: the old forked Eb fingering was the perfect solution. Problem was that the mechanical sytem used most of the time was prone to leak. I know how to fix this, and will on some future model.

TO BE CONTINUED IN THE NEXT INSTALLMENT

Who's going to sell the horns?

In the last couple of years, we've seen the demise of some of the heavy weights of the instrument retailing business: Woodwind/Brasswind and Brook Mays both went Chapter 7. Holze Music was shut down by the taxman. Music and Arts has been for sale for a long time with no takers. I think this begs the question: what will happen to the market as the number of potential outlets for manufactuer's shrinks?

I don't see a lot of the major companies going directly into the retail business. They don't generally have the expertise, and have spend years developing a base of retail dealers. However, several of the big companies have recently announced changes in the way they do business with this retail base, and I'm not sure it bodes well for the industry.

Dealer lines of credit from the factories have recently been significantly reduced in order that the factories can decrease their exposure to bankruptcy risk. For an industry that survives on trade credit, this is a problem. The small retailers can't afford the new terms, so they will buy less. This means fewer horns at the local level. Not good if you want to shop around locally.