The Saxgourmet Category Five has arrived!

I had become increasingly frustrated with the current state of saxophone design. It had become apparent that other manufacturers were not inclined to advance the art. Look around, and it's easy to see that with precious few exceptions saxophone buyers were being offered essentially the same horns they could have bought thirty years ago. Well, I have taken it upon myself to remedy this situation.

A couple of days ago, we got our first load of the new Saxgourmet Category Five tenors. As all of you second year students and course repeaters know, at one time or another I've pretty much owned "one of everything". I know my name is on the horn, and yes, I want to sell you one, but I promise you this horn is quite unlike anything you have ever experienced.

I had been working on this design for over three years. The bore and tonehole placement are new (the bore is bigger than my previous offerings, and they were all pretty big) the neck design is new, the alloy we use for the body/bell/bow/neck is new, the resonators are new, there are some significant improvements in the mechanism, and did I mention it has four (4) octave vents? It has more engraving, all hand cut, than any previous saxophone. It's simply beautiful.

By the way, these horns are totally hand made. Yes, that's very expensive, but it also is the only way to prevent work hardening of the metal and assure maximum resonance.

The business about four octave vents is really pretty simple: there are twelve tones in the chromatic scale. The octave system on a saxophone works by destroying the fundamental and allowing the first overtone to become dominant. In the prefect world, you would have an individual octave vent for every one of the twelve semitones. That, unfortunately, is not mechanically practical. Count the vents on your current saxophone. There are two. I want to now assure you that they are in the wrong place. By definition, they two vents on your horn are in a "compromise" position. That's why the D2 sound so bad: it is the fartherest from the vent. Our solution was to figure out how to increase the number of vents and make the mechanism mechanically reliable. We've done it. It works like a charm. I guarantee you'll notice the difference the first time you blow a Category Five.

One of the four octave vents is dedicated to the altissimo range. This has become a standard part of saxophone literature now (and really has been for years), but horn makers have refused to make the altissimo "user friendly". Well, I've done something about that. I've been fooling around with this system for a few years, and actually offered it on the now discontinued Steve Goodson Model alto and tenor. During the production run of that horn, we made a few improvements. On the Category Five, we made some radical improvements (yes, I try to learn as I go along....) and the results are spectacular.

Another significant area of improvement on the Category Five is the bell. We're using a new process for manufacturing the bell, and our unique bell to body brace has also evolved and is much improved. Remember that the purpose of the bell is to act as a radiator to project the sound. Our new design allows the bell to do its job in a much more efficient manner. Again, it's a difference you will hear right away.

There are many, many ergonomic improvemnts, and quite a few cosmetic touches that I think you'll like. The engraver was absolutely turned loose on this, and there's more deep, hand cut engraving on this horn than on any saxophone ever offered. As with all our current offerings, the Category Five is available in bright copper plate only. That's our "look", and we want it do be distinctive and unique to Saxgourmet saxophones.

I know that this horn will bring the naysayers, wannabe's, and self appointed experts out in force. Expect same old bunch of Steve haters to begin pontificating immediately. Of course, none of these trolls have actually PLAYED or EVEN SEEN a Category Five, but that won't slow them down. You can also expect to hear that "Coltrane (or just plug in the name of your favorite great player(s) from the past or present) never had any of those extra features and he sounded great" and that the imorovements aren't necessary. To that I simply retort that if they HAD used one of our horns, think how great they would have sounded!

The bulk of the initial shipment has already been sold to "insiders" and long time customers. If you want to try one, you'll have to visit me at my office. We nwill not sell this model through any outside dealers or distributors. It's strictly a "house" product. We don't realistically expect this model to sell in big numbers like the VooDoo Rex or Super 400. It's VERY expensive (MSLP=$11,000) and due to the hand made nature of this beast, production will be extremely limited.

I'm super happy with this horn. If you've got the budget, you will be happy as well.