What Are They Thinking?

I've grown increasingly frustrated with the current state of saxophone design. With precious few exceptions, the horns available today are nthe same horns that were available twenty five years ago, although in flashier finishes. Where's the innovation? It certainly doesn't say Selmer, Yamaha, Yanigasawa, Keilwerth, or any other instantly recognizable brand name anywhere. It strikes me that the problems and limitations of our saxophones are well known and obvious and very little is being done to improve the breed. We've known for years that the fourth line D is stuffy, that the upper stack C lacked a voice, that the palm key notes tend to play sharp etc. and I don't see any of the major makers doing anything about it. The altissimo has become a standard part of saxophone playing, yet horn design does nothing to facilitate it. The scale is still uneven over the range of the horn and the mere pressing of the octave key often produces a totally different timbre.

I find the trend toward paying homage to the "great horns of the past" questionable at best. If they were so great, why aren't they made anymore? Do we really need to be looking backward?

It seems from where I sit that the major manufacturers are more than content to take your money for selling you the same old stuff they've been selling for years. The technology is there to improve the saxophone, and I for one belive it's past time that we did so.