Great advice Jeremy! One conflict I'm having as a beginner is that I'm renting a Selmer SAS201 Student Alto Sax. It looks and plays very well, and the rent to own price is very fair. However, I don't want to put all that money into a sax and still have "just" a student, beginner level sax when I could put the money one time into say a Yamaha 62 III, or Yanagisawa AWO2. I see no reason to have two saxes instead of one excellent one. However, like you, and my wife say...."It's the Indian, not the arrow."
When I started playing the saxophone I purchased a good looking new cheap black alto Sax from ebay. All went well until I need to use the octave key and found it did not work. I then purchased a second hand American Selmer Alto Sax for about £400. I still have it and it plays well. Not to sure why but I then purchased a Yanagisawa Alto and it became my main Alto sax. With all the playing the keys have become so pleasant to press I would never change it. I also purchased a Second hand (Made in East Germany) GBR Tenor saxophone second hand again on ebay for about £200 I tried it against other Selmer Tenor Sax costing thousands. The sound on my GBR sax was as good if not better. The only difference was the keys on my GBR tenor sax were slightly more spread I still play it 10 years later. Never felt the need to upgrade. Mouthpieces and reeds are another night mare. I even had a custom RPC mouthpiece (Made by the person who made the mouthpiece for the sax player in Miss Saigon Broadway musical purchased in 2003) I hated it and never played it. It was so bright. Until recently when I purchased Legere alto sax classic reed and found the sound just to dark. Pairing the legere reed with the RPC mouthpiece produced a good sound for me.
I know what you mean about mouthpieces and reeds, my biggest issue as well. I have a slightly short bottom jaw and because of that, I have a slight overbite. It has been so difficult finding the right mouthpiece that I could play on. I started on Legere reeds to eliminate the reed being an issue when I was learning, and often went back and forth between Signature and Studio Cut. For a long time I couldn't get used to the signature reeds as they felt either a bit soft or next quarter strength up was too hard and some mouthpieces didn't suit them. Studio Cut had more resistance which I wanted, but I have never really liked their sound. I tried all sorts of mouthpieces from Selmer, Meyer, JodyJazz, Yamaha, Yanagisawa, Eugene Rousseau, Vandoren. Selmers seemed to play the best for me, but sometimes I didn't like their tone (S80 mainly) or the resistance in the low notes of Soloist and my Claude Delangle sounds fine but I get fatigued on it quicker probably due to the metal bore adding weight. I discovered that mouthpieces with thin rails and tip, tend to be overbuzzy for me and I don't like them. Tip too thick and they can be a bit resistant. It was only recently did I find a mouthpiece I really starting to like on alto sax, a Windcraft Etude 5. Its based on a Mayer G series and has medium rails and a thin tip but it plays so well for me with Legere Signature reeds and doesn't have much resistance and I can just relax and get on with playing. I have been playing soprano sax since 2019 and I have tried a few mouthpieces and have 3 I like, a Selmer Super Session E, Selmer S80 D and Selmer Concept. I find I get on better with Soprano mouthpieces than I do with alto mouthpieces. In the past year, I tried to get into playing cane reeds on alto but have not been able to get used to any of the many I have tried. Probably due to being to used to synthetic reeds. I have tried Legere Classic reeds but can't play on them as even their lowest strength, 2, is too hard for me. Only since my embouchure has gotten a lot stronger, have I liked playing Legere Signature reeds and use them now on my Windcraft Etude mouthpiece.
found the golden middle and bought Jay Metcalfs better sax alto, same price as a Yamaha student sax ,but with a few upgrades like a yanagisawa like neck mechanism,professional bore and 4kg lighter as most beginner altos due to smarter construction .its branded as Bundy by Conn-Selmer,and has the better sax logo on the bell as well.
one of the differences in the two scenarios is about protection of the environment. I suspect that if you cut all the corners, the waste material produced just ends up in landfill or watercourses and causes pollution which affects us all. Then there's the working conditions and salaries/ wages of the people producing. Is it slave labour or fair pay and good terms and conditions of employment? Personally, without further information about these things, I would not buy.
That post to body vs. ribbed thing.. I cannot find a single picture onine of a post to body constuction. Also, I have a really cheap sax in my closet... I pulled it out and even that has a rib plate. Can someone show me a picture of a post to body sax? Is this a flat earth conspiracy?
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Great advice Jeremy! One conflict I'm having as a beginner is that I'm renting a Selmer SAS201 Student Alto Sax. It looks and plays very well, and the rent to own price is very fair. However, I don't want to put all that money into a sax and still have "just" a student, beginner level sax when I could put the money one time into say a Yamaha 62 III, or Yanagisawa AWO2. I see no reason to have two saxes instead of one excellent one. However, like you, and my wife say...."It's the Indian, not the arrow."
Mr Trezona, great videos, learnt lots from them!
I was one of your students back in All Saints.
When I started playing the saxophone I purchased a good looking new cheap black alto Sax from ebay. All went well until I need to use the octave key and found it did not work.
I then purchased a second hand American Selmer Alto Sax for about £400. I still have it and it plays well. Not to sure why but I then purchased a Yanagisawa Alto and it became my main Alto sax. With all the playing the keys have become so pleasant to press I would never change it.
I also purchased a Second hand (Made in East Germany) GBR Tenor saxophone second hand again on ebay for about £200 I tried it against other Selmer Tenor Sax costing thousands. The sound on my GBR sax was as good if not better. The only difference was the keys on my GBR tenor sax were slightly more spread I still play it 10 years later. Never felt the need to upgrade.
Mouthpieces and reeds are another night mare. I even had a custom RPC mouthpiece (Made by the person who made the mouthpiece for the sax player in Miss Saigon Broadway musical purchased in 2003) I hated it and never played it. It was so bright. Until recently when I purchased Legere alto sax classic reed and found the sound just to dark. Pairing the legere reed with the RPC mouthpiece produced a good sound for me.
I know what you mean about mouthpieces and reeds, my biggest issue as well. I have a slightly short bottom jaw and because of that, I have a slight overbite. It has been so difficult finding the right mouthpiece that I could play on. I started on Legere reeds to eliminate the reed being an issue when I was learning, and often went back and forth between Signature and Studio Cut. For a long time I couldn't get used to the signature reeds as they felt either a bit soft or next quarter strength up was too hard and some mouthpieces didn't suit them. Studio Cut had more resistance which I wanted, but I have never really liked their sound.
I tried all sorts of mouthpieces from Selmer, Meyer, JodyJazz, Yamaha, Yanagisawa, Eugene Rousseau, Vandoren. Selmers seemed to play the best for me, but sometimes I didn't like their tone (S80 mainly) or the resistance in the low notes of Soloist and my Claude Delangle sounds fine but I get fatigued on it quicker probably due to the metal bore adding weight. I discovered that mouthpieces with thin rails and tip, tend to be overbuzzy for me and I don't like them. Tip too thick and they can be a bit resistant. It was only recently did I find a mouthpiece I really starting to like on alto sax, a Windcraft Etude 5. Its based on a Mayer G series and has medium rails and a thin tip but it plays so well for me with Legere Signature reeds and doesn't have much resistance and I can just relax and get on with playing.
I have been playing soprano sax since 2019 and I have tried a few mouthpieces and have 3 I like, a Selmer Super Session E, Selmer S80 D and Selmer Concept. I find I get on better with Soprano mouthpieces than I do with alto mouthpieces.
In the past year, I tried to get into playing cane reeds on alto but have not been able to get used to any of the many I have tried. Probably due to being to used to synthetic reeds. I have tried Legere Classic reeds but can't play on them as even their lowest strength, 2, is too hard for me. Only since my embouchure has gotten a lot stronger, have I liked playing Legere Signature reeds and use them now on my Windcraft Etude mouthpiece.
I bought a medini alto sax off of Amazon. 2 teachers frowned on it. Then they played and said it was very good
found the golden middle and bought Jay Metcalfs better sax alto, same price as a Yamaha student sax ,but with a few upgrades like a yanagisawa like neck mechanism,professional bore and 4kg lighter as most beginner altos due to smarter construction .its branded as Bundy by Conn-Selmer,and has the better sax logo on the bell as well.
Great video thanks! May I ask what the song playing during the conclusion is?
Which is the darkest sounding intermediate alto saxophone?
one of the differences in the two scenarios is about protection of the environment. I suspect that if you cut all the corners, the waste material produced just ends up in landfill or watercourses and causes pollution which affects us all. Then there's the working conditions and salaries/ wages of the people producing. Is it slave labour or fair pay and good terms and conditions of employment? Personally, without further information about these things, I would not buy.
Jeremy Trezona.... yes sure, I don't know why you want to hide you are Seth's MacFarlane brother, that's so cool
Ever tried a Soundsation salx-20?
Would be nice to know if i got screwed or not 😅
Haha sorry, never heard of it!
That post to body vs. ribbed thing.. I cannot find a single picture onine of a post to body constuction. Also, I have a really cheap sax in my closet... I pulled it out and even that has a rib plate. Can someone show me a picture of a post to body sax? Is this a flat earth conspiracy?
I don’t give an f about a dark tone .. why are people so afraid of bright horns ?