A Look Back At The Past Year....

It was just one year ago when Sharon and I terminated our relationship with Orpheus Music and struck out on our own, not knowing what the future held for us. Sure, we had experienced plenty of success with our original saxophone designs, and our first steps into the accessory business had been promising.

We knew we had the two most important things necessary for success going for us: a large and extremely loyal customer base and a very big address book of the highest quality vendors and suppliers in the industry.

We were very pleased that our crucial suppliers stayed loyal to us, and that they expressed complete confidence in our original designs and our ability to market them. We met with each of our vendors in person and explained in detail our business plan, and they all agreed to continue supplying us and maintain the long relationships we cherished. All the great designs in the world are worthless if you can't get them built to your exact specifications and to the very highest level of quality.

In order to make a clean break with the past, we had to bring out entirely new designs. Our goal has always been to be the absolute cutting edge of saxophone design and to offer products with features and benefits available nowhere else. We also knew that since we owned the absolute rights to the models previously offered, that our former associates would doubtless dump their existing inventory. Of course, I am always looking for ways to improve the playability of the saxophone, and we had quite a few projects in the wings waiting for production.

During the past twelve months, we have introduced quite a few new models. All except one are completely new designs, and offer significant improvements over our previous offerings. The one we kept and carried over, the Saxgourmet Saxello, was simply too good to change! Our current lineup is as follows:

VOODOO REX
Available in alto and tenor versions, this horn features a solid copper body, bell, bow, and neck and rolled tone holes. There is a special high note compensator mechanism and a medium large bore. This horn has a dark, very sweet tone.

SUPER 400
We hit a home run with this one! This is currently our best selling model. This large bore horn has keywork to high G, a rose brass body, bell, bow, and necks; a n upper stack speaker key, and two necks for two different sounds. Alto and tenor only.

CATEGORY FIVE
I've always wanted to build this horn, and have been working on the design for about five years. It's as close to a perfect saxophone as you can buy anywhere. The bore is super large, the body, bell, bow, and neck are all hand formed from a special rose brass alloy; there are four octave vents and a dedicated altissimo system. There are plenty of other features, of course, and there is nothing remotely like it on the market anywhere at any price. The first load sold out completely in two weeks. More are on the way. Yes, it's expensive. If you have to ask the price, you most likely cannot afford it. Tenor only at this time, I'm undecided about an alto.

SAXGOURMET SAXELLO
We love this horn, and several customers asked for us to keep it in the line. It has a unique bell shape (yes, I know it has an angle, but look at the SHAPE!), keywork to high G, and a solid silver bell, bow, and two solid silver necks. It's the finest soprano on the planet.

SAXGOURMET BARITONE
The Steve Goodson Model baritone was a big hit with players, and this horn is an evolution with a few new tricks. The spot on intonation is still there, but the keywork is even more ergonomic and the response is just a bit quicker. There's a new low A mechanism and quite a few other tricks you will love. Delivery of these starts in a couple of weeks from this writing.

SAXGOURMET CURVED SOPRANO
We took the Steve Goodson Model soprano and tweaked the tone hole placement and bore just a bit. Keywork is still to high G, and the unique left hand pinky table is as slick as ever! First delivery in about 45 days from this writing.

SAXGOURMET SOPRANINO
Our latest project, and a labor of love for me since I'm a very enthusiastic 'nino player. This one has a new bore (a bit larger) and keywork all the way up to F#. Delivery in about 90 days or so.

MOUTHPIECES
We have been absolutely stunned by the way our mouthpieces have been accepted. The numbers we've sold so far are about three times what we projected. Most importantly, the customers love them. Take a look at our feedback in our eBay store, which we can't control or influence in any way. We'll continue to offer the Florida, Blues Blaster, Fat Boy, Black Magic, and Handmade tenor models, and will soon add two new models for tenor, the Yellow Moon (if you like Guardalas...) and the Super Duck (if you like the old Level Aires...) along with a hard rubber tenor. The alto line will be increased to include an alto version of the Fat Boy.

NECKS
Our necks have been another great success story for us. We will soon be adding an alto version of the Saxgourmet neck, and sterling silver necks for soprano, alto, tenor, and baritone sax. We've been particularly happy with the sales of the solid copper alto and tenor necks, and plan to expand that portion of the line.

OTHER PROJECTS
Needless to say, we have lots of other projects currently in progress, including but not limited to a line of the very best saxophone cases in the world. Our repair and restoration business is flourishing. We'll keep you posted on the new projects as they progress.

We're very proud of what we have accomplished in the past year, and look forward to even more success in the future. We started with nothing but a concept and a large group of loyal customers and highly skilled vendors. We know that a large part of our success has been that we offer products that are unique and on the cutting edge of saxophone design, and promise many more innovations in the years to come!