I am a repair tech with over 30 years experience. I can say I've seen many of this particular brand and others that are the same exact instrument with different names on them. If you want to pay the Chinese factory enough they will put whatever name you want on the instrument so the name doesn't mean an damn thing. To be 100% honest I'm surprised your tech did anything at all to this instrument as many reputable techs will refuse to even touch them as the metal is so soft it won't stay in regulation and the quality of construction is so bad they don't work out of the box as your video clearly shows. I will attempt to work on these and do just what is required. I will replace the neck cork and attempt to bend the keys back to where they were I've had many parents come into my shop and tell me they bought this because it was cheap and if their child does good in band they will get them a better one. I'm always, ALWAYS 100% honest with the parents regarding these "instruments" If they do play OK out out of the box they will usually start having issues within 6 months if they are being used by a girl. If it's a boy it takes about 6 weeks or less. I will tell the parents the multiple issue these have and they have bought a money pit. To often the cost of the repair will exceed what they paid so it's cheaper just to buy another one, and then another and then another. Soon they would have paid enough to get a brand new high quality brand or even a very good vintage horn and have it serviced and made playable. Of course the parents and the student know none of this. When the child begins to falter and can't get the instrument to work and don't advance as fast as their peers, they think they are doing something wrong when its really the instrument. They get frustrated and decide to quit band. Then the parent will show up at my shop asking me if I would buy it from them... Again I have to give them the bad news.... On a few occasions when the child wants to quit, I hand them a brand new quality student instrument and let them play it and suddenly they can play... The goal is to keep the child in band but to often they have already quit. I will add there is one thing these do that will sound great. Drop them for your roof and listen to the beautiful music they make when they hit the ground.
I took a 96 year old Holton alto horn in to have a brace soldered, and the tech seemed very happy. He did some extra work for free. I suspected he’s had many $100 instruments to work on as of late. The metal on mine was pretty thick.
"Drop them for your roof and listen to the beautiful music they make when they hit the ground." I immediately hear the painful and pitiful wails that Lisa Simpson's made after it got run over by the semis that one time lol. We have similar issues with violins, people get the $40-$150 "kits" that are usually pressed laminated wood and painted blue or pink.... we call them VSO's, violin shaped objects. They're GREAT if you're wanting an art piece for the wall or an adult who's in the "this sounds fun, let me see if i'm going to actually build a habit" phase for the first few weeks/months but everything on them is so cheap that it's going to have a hard time getting it to make a sound and, when you do, to keep it in tune. But once you've gotten to the "ok, I like this, i'm getting serious about learning" phase, nah. $230 is the cheapest i've seen a retail violin that's decent, most start at the 4-700 range.
Wow!!! Sounds just like what I wrote. Our repair tech used to say Nope I can turn it into a nice lamp. I said if they are beginners let them rent a good quality instrument 1st. What I didn't mention was, if they love the instrument and wish to keep playing the rental. They can either buy that instrument and give them a great price or offer them a new quality instrument.😅
I have a slade curved soprano - a yani copy. After leveling tone holes . straightening keys and floating pads around to reach the tiny upper tone holes, it plays great now - close to its Yani copied origins. Sounds good too and plays in tune. I got mine 185, with 100 refunded because of bent keys five years ago. The quality may have dropped since. Slade seems better than Cecilio/ Mendini...This horn is ok for a tech, or serious hobbiest repairman, but it will go out of alignment easily because of softer brass. i have fun with it, but a student would only be frustrated....
a saxophone player of three years here. please, please, PLEASEEE do not rest the saxophone down on the palm keys!! the palm keys don’t have support and resting the saxophone down like that can bend the keys. i love your content!! keep up the great work!!!
7:27 you just committed the unforgivable sin of a sax player. Never EVER rest it like that. The palm keys have to support all of that weight and it can bend them out of place. Lay it on the other side where all the rails and posts are. That way the weight is distributed across a wider area, reducing the stress on any one part.
it’s usually OK though if you lay it on a soft surface like that like a bed or a soft couch repair guys do it all the time on a workbench you are right though and considering this is a Temu sax, I don’t think it matters anyways lol
If the keys bend doing that you have a really inferior sax. Having repaired saxes for 30 years never saw an example of keys bent laying down on them. Study that position a few minutes and you’ll see how that isn’t an issue. Now striking the keys will bend them probably. Laying down on palm keys issue is some kind of old fable from a sax player. At least this guy didn’t lift the sax out by the bell. That is your big no-no as that pulls the bell up so the Bb and B keys will not close all the way.
I always cringe/die inside when I see a new student walk in with one of these mega cheap pieces of crap. Because I know the pain and suffering and struggle that lies ahead for both them and me. Then I get angry at the band directors for not warning them away from this garbage. Thanks for attempting a humorous take on one of these, and ultimately admitting that it was not worth even getting for free.
@@scottziegler4238 a lot of people cant afford these instruments and schools even cant really afford these instruments either. sometimes you just need to give people a break
Low D is the bane of my existence on tenor. It depends heavily on the mouthpiece. What I end up doing is A) get a better mouthpiece then stock. B) Push in the mouthpiece quite a bit C) adjust your embouchure to drop the pitch (easier said than done) A lot of times having a “tenor embouchure” that you’re used to (opposed to an alto embouchure which is much more forgiving) is the way to go because the air vortex towards the bow of the horn is much bigger than the alto… You’re doing great, the Ryan Reynolds of band directors.
My only complaint as a saxophonist is that you don’t put the sax down on the table keys, but that’s probably the least of your worries with this horn. 😂
I should add that there's no guarantee that a repair tech will even work on instruments like this. I own a saxophone from Thomann, their own brand, and I had to call 2 repair techs before finding some one willing to do work on it. I had it for about a year or so, before it really needed a good set-up. And like, there was only 2 repair shops within reasonable driving distance of where I live. So, like, keep that in mind before buying budget instruments. Repair techs don't like them, they don't like working on them, and they might turn you down.
That's why I learned to repair my own instruments. They are fairly simple mechanical devices, nothing "magic" about them. There are great sources on the internet on the subject and there's even a saxophone repair manual by Haynes.
Great video thanks. I also bought a Tenor Saxophone, my first year when I arrived in Beijing...for 2000 rmb, about 280 dollars. 5 years later still working fine. Since then I have bought many more instruments 20 and counting...all from Pinduoduo...the Chinese version of Temu before temu was created...Thanks for the videos it is inspiring me to also make something like this...So far I have bought an Soprano, Alto and Tenor and Baritone Saxophone. Lots of harmonicas and tin whistles, a pan flutes, a folding piano, a handpan, a xylophone and my newest one an 8 button base accordion. I live in Beijing China and work at an International School as a music teacher. I have to say the best part of living here is the cheap instruments. And most of the time they are actually decent quality. Best part...no import tax...There is a saxophone factory in the city next to Beijing called Tianjin. The one shop actually asked me what name do I want on the saxophone...You can "customize"...So I got a "Selmar" Tenor Saxophone for 280 dollars...Many interesting off brands and copies and it is great to compare them to the original and seeing which one is worth the money. I had to move into a bigger apartment with an extra room just for all the instruments. My wife said how about stop buying and start practicing more haha. I am a saxophone and flute player originally. Thanks for reading, maybe we can do a future collaboration when I get my home studio setup done.
The low C key usually catches against the middle leg of the keyguard because it's been pushed in during transit, combined with the cheap case which puts pressure in all the wrong places. Even Jakob Winter cases (made for Buffet and Keilwerth saxes) cause that damage. The low B pad cup is often close to the keyguard post and if the keyguard screw is too long, that'll catch against it. While having to do repairs on brand new Chinese saxes from the word go is expected, the same is true with brand new Selmer saxes costing several thousands. It was funny getting brand new Taiwanese saxes in the '90s that worked straight from the box when brand new Selmer SA80II saxes were mostly unplayable.
a saxophone player of three years here. please, please, PLEASEEE do not rest the saxophone down on the palm keys!! the palm keys cannot support the weight of the saxophone and resting it down like that can bend the keys. i love your content!! keep up the great work!!!
Have a Slade Soprano. needed massive adjustment - junk for a student, but i am a sax repair guy. I had to re float several pads and straighten keys. After a days work, it plays great. BUT I did this on my dime. It would be a couple of hundred easy to have a shop do it, and they probably wouldnt touch a Slade. Try a name brand mouthpiece - like student bundy or rico - most of the problem is the stock mouthpiece. It really says something that your tech would even agree to work on it. I would be interested in tackling it myself. Seriously - get a Rico 5 D piece with 2- 2.5 reed and see how it responds.
I actually did try a Rico mouthpiece and reed after getting it repaired (the 2nd half of the video) and forgot to mention it in the video. It didn't work much better. I think it could partly be me, but I'll have to keep messing around with it.
I bought a soprano from wish and when it arrived posts were broken ands a key button too. They exchanged it and the other I received couldn’t go lower than d… so I use this crap for its neck pads which fits to the drip valve on my baritone. Good video that I should have seen 5 year’s ago 🤷🏻♂️
Great content, and my wife and I always look forward to your new videos! You've gotten me motivated to get my bari whipped into shape. My late best friend that I went to high school with was also a band director, and a few years back bestowed upon me an old Bundy student bari that needs some serious TLC, but I'm reasonably good at instrument repair. I'm sure it's not going to play like a Mark VI, but hey, free is free.
I have a $260 tenor I bought from Amazon. It arrived broken but I was able to repair it, and it's actually pretty decent. I have a Yamaha alto as my main to compare with, and it's not bad. I also have a (S)Lade soprano, never been sure if the S is part of the name or just a stylized treble clef, but anyway. It also plays pretty well, I struggle with some of the very highest notes (F# and it even has a high G key) but that may just be me. On that one the neck cork wore out and fell apart but I've replaced it and it seems to be doing fine otherwise. Likewise I have a Taishan bari that I'm very happy with, plays wonderfully, did have to expand the neck tenon. It didn't leak, but it wanted to swivel even as tight as I could get it. Which is to say, the Chinese made instruments are somewhat of a roll of the dice, but they can be pretty good. Someday I may upgrade them to something better, I'm partial to Yamahas, but in the meantime, they work well enough for this amateur hobbyist and were cheaper than renting something for as long as they've lasted me. I wouldn't recommend them as anyone's first horn however, because if there's something wrong with it, you might not know as a beginner.
I think most of the problems and damage to the instrument is due to shipping...on mine I changed the reed and mouthpiece and it was good to go. BUT after six months to a year of playing it had to go in for a service due to shifting keys and leaky pads. So yeah it works, but you get what you pay for at the end of the day. Repairing my tenor saxophone cost almost half the price of the original price. Still worth it at this price. I am an alto player and this was my first Chinese Tenor...it got the job done and it me practicing more. :D
Yea, I'm starting to think that shipping is the bane of instruments, and not necessarily the brand or price. I've been hearing stories of even super expensive horns showing up from the post needing work.
I got a clarinet on ebay for $35 and it works PERFECTLY. It was brand new not one scratch and it came with cleaning supplies and a stand and sounds amazing ill never forget that
@@MadMusicBandit was hilarious when i got it i went outside on the screened porch and practiced a little and a squirrel came up on the railing and SAT THERE. He was there for 5 or 10 minutes just listening to me play
It's good for one thing - in Jr High band we had some backup instruments for when we knew conditions would be crappy and we were just there to make noise
Proud owner of a cheap no-name oboe here. I unboxed it, and immediately noticed how cheap everything felt. The plastic body, the metal keys, the cork tenons, and even the pads (all cork) felt low-quality. The low Bb mechanism got stuck due to being bent. Once I got the white gloves on (lol) and got to work, it took me about 10 minutes to fix the bent key and it played great (provided I used a good reed and not the one from the box). However, even cheap oboes are expensive, and I later got a good used wooden model for just a bit more.
Have you tried a different mouthpiece? Tenor is pretty hard to play full range without a decent mouthpiece. I’d get a Yamaha 4C and give it another shot.
I play tenor coming from the clarinet in B flat. It’s not the instrument most likely because the low notes from low d to low b are difficult to play because the reed is bigger
I used to have a Slade alto, it also said “designed by USA” on the case! The pads started falling off after a year, it was a piece of junk but it worked lol
A tenor for $138?! Even if it needs repairs, that's still a pretty good deal. I've been playing long enough, I could probably figure out how to fix it myself. I certainly did plenty of home repairs on that bari sax I played in high school.
Two things 1, you should really be bending the cup instead of the pad, as the pad won't seal anymore if you do that (not that it was sealing from the factory likely though lol) 2, you should be wetting the entire reed not just the tip, the water is to both make the tip vibrate better but also to provide a better seal on the mouthpiece (not that the facing of that cheap mouthpiece will seal though either lol)
When you lay a saxophone down, do not lay it on the palm keys. They will bend. Lay it on the other side, with all the piping that protects the pad. It is counterintuitive, but it is what the repair techs do...I learned from Emilio Lyons.
I bought a MENDINI CECIILA tenor saxophone from Amazon. Well below $200 delivered. Excellent instrument. New owner is also happy. Very luck of the draw.
I’ve had the same saxophone, but actually an alto saxophone, but the Problem was the zipper got stuck so I had to use the other zipper also obviously it’s not meant to be repaired
As a tenor sax main that's first Sax was a small step up from this, I can tell you that Slade and Mendini along with other Chinese made saxes suck. Most of them don't function enough to be considered playable. I play a Cannonball T-5 and it was a VERY nice upgrade in the way that all the pads actually seal and the mechanisms are fluid, feelings I had never felt on previous saxes.
I got a slade alto sax from Amazon, and I was expecting it to be awful, but it's actually the best sax I've played. The intonation is slightly worse than my Selmer AS300 and much worse than a YAS-23, but I can hit all the altissimo notes up to D# without a problem. I've also played a Jean Paul (a Chinese brand that claims they do quality control in the US) and the Jean Paul was significantly worse. I don't know if I just got lucky and got a good slade sax, but based on the craftsmanship, I expect it to have major problems within a year. I just hope I can buy another equally good one.
My 8 yr old son has expressed interest in playing trumpet. I’m looking at a plastic ptrumpet. Would you recommend this? Or another inexpensive horn? Thanks for the great content!
Have you tried it with a decent mouthpiece? The mouthpiece that comes with the cheap saxophones is usually the worst part of the instrument (after the reed of course) so just getting something like a Yamaha student mouthpiece and some good reeds improves them a lot.
You're all lucky if you have access to quality instruments. I can tell you that 90% of brand new saxophones in our market are copies branded Yamaha, Premier England, Slade etc, but with virtually the same type of accessories (carrying bags, next srap, white gloves and all). Since we cannot afford a Yamaha or Selmer, we settle for what we can afford. The Chinese manufacturers engrave different names on the bells but the necks are unbranded. The bags loose their zippers and degenerate very quickly. The mouth pieces are sometimes branded but the names on them can easily be cleaned with your fingers. The bottom of the natter is that we play them like that since that is all we can afford! I have a "custom z" that is no different from the one you reviewed.
@Aniedits_18 Alto saxophone. You learn that key pattern it is pretty much the same for all different saxophones, tenor,soprano etc. Rent one in case you try it and hate it.If you get good at it you can rip off a lot of cool trumpet parts that can really sing with the alto. Transposes to Concert E-flat. Also if you get good consider a tenor, or soprano, they transpose to B-flat like your trumpet.
I think the company is called LADE, the S is just a stylish key symbol. I have a straight and a curved LADE soprano. These things are never playable out of the box, you always have to fix some things. Bend, repad. You can get them quite ok then. I have a no name Alto from Ali Express (labeled "Selmer Mark VI"), where they even forgot to glue in an octave key pad. Empty cup.
Also, if that was setup correctly it should have played mostly top to bottom even with your limited flying time on saxophone. The hard bends on the bell keys makes me worry if the bell got out of alignment, too. You can buy cheap leak lights on the internet. I suspect other keys were not seating and out of regulation. Making the intonation horrible
So... what did you all think of my beautiful singing voice and songwriting abilities? Next Grammy winner? 🤣12:55 for the unaware.
I really wasn't expecting that 😂
Yes i did but can you do a review on the cheapest oboe
your singing voice was great👍
next grammy winner indeed
@Remotelypeople is there an alto clarinet
For such good quality videos only 15k subscribers isn't right
Thanks! Growing every day :)
Real
Yeee fr i subbed ofc
I agree
Yeah fr
A tenor in B is just a really sharp Tenor
😂
Remember it's an alto
It's just REALLY flat
Just pull the mouthpiece out a little.
In german they call the Bb a B and a B a H so technically, if you are from germany, the tenor is in B. Doesn't mean the alto should be B though
Would it be in E natural?
I am a repair tech with over 30 years experience. I can say I've seen many of this particular brand and others that are the same exact instrument with different names on them. If you want to pay the Chinese factory enough they will put whatever name you want on the instrument so the name doesn't mean an damn thing.
To be 100% honest I'm surprised your tech did anything at all to this instrument as many reputable techs will refuse to even touch them as the metal is so soft it won't stay in regulation and the quality of construction is so bad they don't work out of the box as your video clearly shows. I will attempt to work on these and do just what is required. I will replace the neck cork and attempt to bend the keys back to where they were
I've had many parents come into my shop and tell me they bought this because it was cheap and if their child does good in band they will get them a better one. I'm always, ALWAYS 100% honest with the parents regarding these "instruments" If they do play OK out out of the box they will usually start having issues within 6 months if they are being used by a girl. If it's a boy it takes about 6 weeks or less. I will tell the parents the multiple issue these have and they have bought a money pit. To often the cost of the repair will exceed what they paid so it's cheaper just to buy another one, and then another and then another. Soon they would have paid enough to get a brand new high quality brand or even a very good vintage horn and have it serviced and made playable. Of course the parents and the student know none of this. When the child begins to falter and can't get the instrument to work and don't advance as fast as their peers, they think they are doing something wrong when its really the instrument. They get frustrated and decide to quit band. Then the parent will show up at my shop asking me if I would buy it from them... Again I have to give them the bad news.... On a few occasions when the child wants to quit, I hand them a brand new quality student instrument and let them play it and suddenly they can play... The goal is to keep the child in band but to often they have already quit.
I will add there is one thing these do that will sound great. Drop them for your roof and listen to the beautiful music they make when they hit the ground.
I took a 96 year old Holton alto horn in to have a brace soldered, and the tech seemed very happy. He did some extra work for free. I suspected he’s had many $100 instruments to work on as of late. The metal on mine was pretty thick.
"Drop them for your roof and listen to the beautiful music they make when they hit the ground." I immediately hear the painful and pitiful wails that Lisa Simpson's made after it got run over by the semis that one time lol. We have similar issues with violins, people get the $40-$150 "kits" that are usually pressed laminated wood and painted blue or pink.... we call them VSO's, violin shaped objects. They're GREAT if you're wanting an art piece for the wall or an adult who's in the "this sounds fun, let me see if i'm going to actually build a habit" phase for the first few weeks/months but everything on them is so cheap that it's going to have a hard time getting it to make a sound and, when you do, to keep it in tune. But once you've gotten to the "ok, I like this, i'm getting serious about learning" phase, nah. $230 is the cheapest i've seen a retail violin that's decent, most start at the 4-700 range.
Wow!!! Sounds just like what I wrote. Our repair tech used to say Nope I can turn it into a nice lamp. I said if they are beginners let them rent a good quality instrument 1st. What I didn't mention was, if they love the instrument and wish to keep playing the rental. They can either buy that instrument and give them a great price or offer them a new quality instrument.😅
I have a slade curved soprano - a yani copy. After leveling tone holes . straightening keys and floating pads around to reach the tiny upper tone holes, it plays great now - close to its Yani copied origins. Sounds good too and plays in tune. I got mine 185, with 100 refunded because of bent keys five years ago. The quality may have dropped since. Slade seems better than Cecilio/ Mendini...This horn is ok for a tech, or serious hobbiest repairman, but it will go out of alignment easily because of softer brass. i have fun with it, but a student would only be frustrated....
Not many students can afford a $10000 sax, so great on that tech for being happy to fix anything. 👍
a saxophone player of three years here. please, please, PLEASEEE do not rest the saxophone down on the palm keys!! the palm keys don’t have support and resting the saxophone down like that can bend the keys. i love your content!! keep up the great work!!!
7:27 you just committed the unforgivable sin of a sax player. Never EVER rest it like that. The palm keys have to support all of that weight and it can bend them out of place. Lay it on the other side where all the rails and posts are. That way the weight is distributed across a wider area, reducing the stress on any one part.
In this case is that really a concern
@ Maybe. The repairs between the pads, the keys getting repaired and labor it probably would cost more than the sax is worth
@@ThreeMoonsArc yup, I failed. Won't do that in the future! (probably 😂)
it’s usually OK though if you lay it on a soft surface like that like a bed or a soft couch repair guys do it all the time on a workbench you are right though and considering this is a Temu sax, I don’t think it matters anyways lol
If the keys bend doing that you have a really inferior sax. Having repaired saxes for 30 years never saw an example of keys bent laying down on them. Study that position a few minutes and you’ll see how that isn’t an issue. Now striking the keys will bend them probably. Laying down on palm keys issue is some kind of old fable from a sax player. At least this guy didn’t lift the sax out by the bell. That is your big no-no as that pulls the bell up so the Bb and B keys will not close all the way.
A B♮ "Alto" Sax is very concerning in itself...
wow how did u just type *natural*
@getnoa just search "natural music sign Unicode"
@@getnoa music unicode characters exist
@@royaldz1273 how tho
It'd be easier to play with guitar players. Instead of playing in F# and C# all the time, you could play in F and C.
I always cringe/die inside when I see a new student walk in with one of these mega cheap pieces of crap. Because I know the pain and suffering and struggle that lies ahead for both them and me. Then I get angry at the band directors for not warning them away from this garbage. Thanks for attempting a humorous take on one of these, and ultimately admitting that it was not worth even getting for free.
I lose a little more respect for BDs when I have a new student show up to lessons with one of these things. And it's been happening more and more.
it's not their fault if the students don't have money to buy a decent one
Yup! I hear you.
@@scottziegler4238 a lot of people cant afford these instruments and schools even cant really afford these instruments either. sometimes you just need to give people a break
True, new students should only spend a minimum of $5000 on a sax, right!?! 🤡
Low D is the bane of my existence on tenor. It depends heavily on the mouthpiece. What I end up doing is A) get a better mouthpiece then stock. B) Push in the mouthpiece quite a bit C) adjust your embouchure to drop the pitch (easier said than done)
A lot of times having a “tenor embouchure” that you’re used to (opposed to an alto embouchure which is much more forgiving) is the way to go because the air vortex towards the bow of the horn is much bigger than the alto…
You’re doing great, the Ryan Reynolds of band directors.
The zip isn’t broken, that’s just a security feature so no one steals your sax. Temu is thinking ahead😏💯😌
😂
My only complaint as a saxophonist is that you don’t put the sax down on the table keys, but that’s probably the least of your worries with this horn. 😂
I should add that there's no guarantee that a repair tech will even work on instruments like this.
I own a saxophone from Thomann, their own brand, and I had to call 2 repair techs before finding some one willing to do work on it. I had it for about a year or so, before it really needed a good set-up.
And like, there was only 2 repair shops within reasonable driving distance of where I live.
So, like, keep that in mind before buying budget instruments. Repair techs don't like them, they don't like working on them, and they might turn you down.
That's why I learned to repair my own instruments. They are fairly simple mechanical devices, nothing "magic" about them. There are great sources on the internet on the subject and there's even a saxophone repair manual by Haynes.
"Designed by USA." Needless to say, Temu is bad in every imaginable way but I still enjoyed this video.
At 7:32 in the video, my heart was crushed. You NEVER lay your saxophone down on the palm keys and table keys. that’s how you break them or bend them.
I didn’t know Temu seller instruments😭
...So far...I don't recommend haha
Dude i've been getting ads on tiktok for eighteen millfor a timu escalator I would not trust that at all. @MadMusicBand
@@MadMusicBand I honestly don’t recommend anything on temu
You should do baritone horn next
Please, this is an amazing idea
Yes and after that he needs to do Euphonium(my insturment)
It would basically be doing the same video @@jacobmiller1110
As a euph player, I'd be super interested in this.
Great video thanks. I also bought a Tenor Saxophone, my first year when I arrived in Beijing...for 2000 rmb, about 280 dollars. 5 years later still working fine. Since then I have bought many more instruments 20 and counting...all from Pinduoduo...the Chinese version of Temu before temu was created...Thanks for the videos it is inspiring me to also make something like this...So far I have bought an Soprano, Alto and Tenor and Baritone Saxophone. Lots of harmonicas and tin whistles, a pan flutes, a folding piano, a handpan, a xylophone and my newest one an 8 button base accordion. I live in Beijing China and work at an International School as a music teacher. I have to say the best part of living here is the cheap instruments. And most of the time they are actually decent quality. Best part...no import tax...There is a saxophone factory in the city next to Beijing called Tianjin. The one shop actually asked me what name do I want on the saxophone...You can "customize"...So I got a "Selmar" Tenor Saxophone for 280 dollars...Many interesting off brands and copies and it is great to compare them to the original and seeing which one is worth the money. I had to move into a bigger apartment with an extra room just for all the instruments. My wife said how about stop buying and start practicing more haha. I am a saxophone and flute player originally. Thanks for reading, maybe we can do a future collaboration when I get my home studio setup done.
lololol, get any brand name you want to put on it haha
@@oxoelfoxo At that one specific factory yes. No enforced copyright laws here.
I love this guys whole attitude the whole time he doing this😂😂
My friend said he played the H scale on his “saxophone”, (he thinks music goes from A-J)
if hes from europe that might be understandable but if not which drugs
In germany they call the note B a H
@@tomnicbl367ok, but real question is did he play the B scale or H scale? 🧐
@@mapleair in germany they call the Bb a B and the B a H
@@tomnicbl367 edited my comment :)
I've spent more on reeds than this saxophone costs
My mouthpiece costs more than this sax
@@Juno7900 me as well
The low C key usually catches against the middle leg of the keyguard because it's been pushed in during transit, combined with the cheap case which puts pressure in all the wrong places. Even Jakob Winter cases (made for Buffet and Keilwerth saxes) cause that damage. The low B pad cup is often close to the keyguard post and if the keyguard screw is too long, that'll catch against it.
While having to do repairs on brand new Chinese saxes from the word go is expected, the same is true with brand new Selmer saxes costing several thousands. It was funny getting brand new Taiwanese saxes in the '90s that worked straight from the box when brand new Selmer SA80II saxes were mostly unplayable.
Yup that makes sense, especially with the really poor cases. No amount of bubble wrap seems to help
The fast forward concept is the best feature on RUclips!!!!
OMG JUST WHEN I NEED YOUR VIDEO MOST
you are amazing!
Thanks! :)
Pro tip: if you’re worried about there being no zipper then use a paperclip! It works great!
a saxophone player of three years here. please, please, PLEASEEE do not rest the saxophone down on the palm keys!! the palm keys cannot support the weight of the saxophone and resting it down like that can bend the keys. i love your content!! keep up the great work!!!
Just amazing dedication to the video making process to stick that reed in your mouth 🤣🤣👍🏼❤️
😂😂
You, I really enjoyed watching this video, thank you 😂😂😂
Glad you enjoyed it! :)
Have a Slade Soprano. needed massive adjustment - junk for a student, but i am a sax repair guy. I had to re float several pads and straighten keys. After a days work, it plays great. BUT I did this on my dime. It would be a couple of hundred easy to have a shop do it, and they probably wouldnt touch a Slade. Try a name brand mouthpiece - like student bundy or rico - most of the problem is the stock mouthpiece. It really says something that your tech would even agree to work on it. I would be interested in tackling it myself. Seriously - get a Rico 5 D piece with 2- 2.5 reed and see how it responds.
I actually did try a Rico mouthpiece and reed after getting it repaired (the 2nd half of the video) and forgot to mention it in the video. It didn't work much better. I think it could partly be me, but I'll have to keep messing around with it.
I bought a soprano from wish and when it arrived posts were broken ands a key button too. They exchanged it and the other I received couldn’t go lower than d… so I use this crap for its neck pads which fits to the drip valve on my baritone. Good video that I should have seen 5 year’s ago 🤷🏻♂️
Great content, and my wife and I always look forward to your new videos! You've gotten me motivated to get my bari whipped into shape. My late best friend that I went to high school with was also a band director, and a few years back bestowed upon me an old Bundy student bari that needs some serious TLC, but I'm reasonably good at instrument repair. I'm sure it's not going to play like a Mark VI, but hey, free is free.
That's awesome! I wish you better luck with your repairs than I had 😂
You made a very entertaining video. Thank you.
I have a $260 tenor I bought from Amazon. It arrived broken but I was able to repair it, and it's actually pretty decent. I have a Yamaha alto as my main to compare with, and it's not bad. I also have a (S)Lade soprano, never been sure if the S is part of the name or just a stylized treble clef, but anyway. It also plays pretty well, I struggle with some of the very highest notes (F# and it even has a high G key) but that may just be me. On that one the neck cork wore out and fell apart but I've replaced it and it seems to be doing fine otherwise. Likewise I have a Taishan bari that I'm very happy with, plays wonderfully, did have to expand the neck tenon. It didn't leak, but it wanted to swivel even as tight as I could get it. Which is to say, the Chinese made instruments are somewhat of a roll of the dice, but they can be pretty good. Someday I may upgrade them to something better, I'm partial to Yamahas, but in the meantime, they work well enough for this amateur hobbyist and were cheaper than renting something for as long as they've lasted me. I wouldn't recommend them as anyone's first horn however, because if there's something wrong with it, you might not know as a beginner.
You're so underrated, got to love your content, keep it up!! :))
I have purchased a lot of different items from Temu and I think they are terrific! John.
Underrated
Also shoutout pls
Thanks!! :)
@@MadMusicBand your welcome bro keep up the great content
I love watching your videos and your reviews on cheap instruments. I personally play the Euphonium and would love to seeing you try one of those out.
I've been tracking them for a while, no great deals have popped up yet unfortunately
I think most of the problems and damage to the instrument is due to shipping...on mine I changed the reed and mouthpiece and it was good to go. BUT after six months to a year of playing it had to go in for a service due to shifting keys and leaky pads. So yeah it works, but you get what you pay for at the end of the day. Repairing my tenor saxophone cost almost half the price of the original price. Still worth it at this price. I am an alto player and this was my first Chinese Tenor...it got the job done and it me practicing more. :D
u should try the temu clarinets, trumpets, or flutes
Maybe someday!
i’m probably a little late, but congrats on 15k! i’m a french horn but i also love the sax :3
Thanks!! 😊
what was that orange tool you used?
I bought a Wexler one time. My tech regulated everything. It sold on EBay quickly. When the buyer received the horn, regulation was way off!
Yea, I'm starting to think that shipping is the bane of instruments, and not necessarily the brand or price. I've been hearing stories of even super expensive horns showing up from the post needing work.
I got a clarinet on ebay for $35 and it works PERFECTLY. It was brand new not one scratch and it came with cleaning supplies and a stand and sounds amazing ill never forget that
That's awesome!
@@MadMusicBandit was hilarious when i got it i went outside on the screened porch and practiced a little and a squirrel came up on the railing and SAT THERE. He was there for 5 or 10 minutes just listening to me play
It's good for one thing - in Jr High band we had some backup instruments for when we knew conditions would be crappy and we were just there to make noise
At this point, you should make a glove collection 😂
Haha, gloves and cleaning cloths
Ok but I love that you took the time to play a song about not being able to fix it 😂😂
Lol, I had to figure out what to do with over an hour of unusable footage 😂
10:58 The best moment of the video "Yama-er clarinet to the rescue!" 🤣
Haha, it really was the only cork grease I had at home, so I was kinda pumped I could continue recording
Can you do an oboe review I have a oboe save for me and want to know if could review this and the bass clarinet
Proud owner of a cheap no-name oboe here. I unboxed it, and immediately noticed how cheap everything felt. The plastic body, the metal keys, the cork tenons, and even the pads (all cork) felt low-quality. The low Bb mechanism got stuck due to being bent. Once I got the white gloves on (lol) and got to work, it took me about 10 minutes to fix the bent key and it played great (provided I used a good reed and not the one from the box). However, even cheap oboes are expensive, and I later got a good used wooden model for just a bit more.
If Chris Pratt and Dane Cook + a dash of John Ritter had a baby, I feel like you'd be the product 😂
Have you tried a different mouthpiece? Tenor is pretty hard to play full range without a decent mouthpiece. I’d get a Yamaha 4C and give it another shot.
I play tenor coming from the clarinet in B flat. It’s not the instrument most likely because the low notes from low d to low b are difficult to play because the reed is bigger
I used to have a Slade alto, it also said “designed by USA” on the case! The pads started falling off after a year, it was a piece of junk but it worked lol
hey my mom is trying to find me a cheap electric guitar, i was wondering if you could do one for amazon or just test one! and maybe a cheap amp please
A tenor for $138?! Even if it needs repairs, that's still a pretty good deal. I've been playing long enough, I could probably figure out how to fix it myself. I certainly did plenty of home repairs on that bari sax I played in high school.
Two things
1, you should really be bending the cup instead of the pad, as the pad won't seal anymore if you do that (not that it was sealing from the factory likely though lol)
2, you should be wetting the entire reed not just the tip, the water is to both make the tip vibrate better but also to provide a better seal on the mouthpiece (not that the facing of that cheap mouthpiece will seal though either lol)
How much was the repair in the end?
When you lay a saxophone down, do not lay it on the palm keys. They will bend. Lay it on the other side, with all the piping that protects the pad. It is counterintuitive, but it is what the repair techs do...I learned from Emilio Lyons.
You can use a paperclip as a replacement for the zipper pull.
The part that would hold the paper clip was the part that broke, so there's nothing to connect it to.
Thanks for the video!
I bought a MENDINI CECIILA tenor saxophone from Amazon. Well below $200 delivered. Excellent instrument. New owner is also happy. Very luck of the draw.
Do you have any links?
I’ve had the same saxophone, but actually an alto saxophone, but the Problem was the zipper got stuck so I had to use the other zipper also obviously it’s not meant to be repaired
im a very big bocchi the rock fan and i just noticed you have 2 little glass images of hitori and kita from the anime next to your trumpet, i love it!
Bocchi is fantastic :)
You should have moved the guard, not the pad to stop the "scratch" (alignment) IF it was going to work at all.
I tried that first, it was rock solid not moving for me
As a tenor sax main that's first Sax was a small step up from this, I can tell you that Slade and Mendini along with other Chinese made saxes suck. Most of them don't function enough to be considered playable. I play a Cannonball T-5 and it was a VERY nice upgrade in the way that all the pads actually seal and the mechanisms are fluid, feelings I had never felt on previous saxes.
I got a slade alto sax from Amazon, and I was expecting it to be awful, but it's actually the best sax I've played. The intonation is slightly worse than my Selmer AS300 and much worse than a YAS-23, but I can hit all the altissimo notes up to D# without a problem. I've also played a Jean Paul (a Chinese brand that claims they do quality control in the US) and the Jean Paul was significantly worse. I don't know if I just got lucky and got a good slade sax, but based on the craftsmanship, I expect it to have major problems within a year. I just hope I can buy another equally good one.
That's interesting about the Jean Paul, I've heard good things but haven't seen one in person yet.
i have a slade trumpet (not my main trumpet i use) and it works great it was $132
You got luckier than me 😂
You’re back! And so am I! That no name reed looks like it has the stains of factory workers hopes and dreams 😅🎉
Hah! Just got to the gloves. Those too!!
Imagine if bro got a bari sax instead LOL
That would have been a great video 😂
11:03 I recognize that song to be the ending of marshmallow world I play it for my Christmas concert
My 8 yr old son has expressed interest in playing trumpet. I’m looking at a plastic ptrumpet. Would you recommend this? Or another inexpensive horn? Thanks for the great content!
My plastic trumpet wasn't great but I haven't tried the ptrumpet. The Mendini trumpet I reviewed on my cheap trumpet video has been great so far
I really enjoy the content and quality of your videos
Thanks! 😊
You are so funny👍🏼 Love your videos!
One thing about the saxophone, when setting it down don't set it on the palm keys. Set it down on the right side of it on the key guards.
Have you tried it with a decent mouthpiece? The mouthpiece that comes with the cheap saxophones is usually the worst part of the instrument (after the reed of course) so just getting something like a Yamaha student mouthpiece and some good reeds improves them a lot.
Yup, tried a Rico mouthpiece as well, had the same result.
@MadMusicBand it might be you that can't get the low note on the sax because sometimes i can't either
You're all lucky if you have access to quality instruments. I can tell you that 90% of brand new saxophones in our market are copies branded Yamaha, Premier England, Slade etc, but with virtually the same type of accessories (carrying bags, next srap, white gloves and all).
Since we cannot afford a Yamaha or Selmer, we settle for what we can afford.
The Chinese manufacturers engrave different names on the bells but the necks are unbranded. The bags loose their zippers and degenerate very quickly. The mouth pieces are sometimes branded but the names on them can easily be cleaned with your fingers.
The bottom of the natter is that we play them like that since that is all we can afford! I have a "custom z" that is no different from the one you reviewed.
Where are you from?
This is why you rent a saxophone before you buy it.
Should try with a good reed and mouthpiece setup. That alone usually wakes these up.
D is always an issue on cheap tenors. my tenor is from amazon and SO cheap, i've had it since i was 13 (im now 21) and it's ALWAYS been a problem.
Shouldve gone with an Eastern music one. For just a bit more youd have a decent horn
I would love to be a kid in your band class. I'll bet it is a hoot.
Leak adjustments are always necessary on any saxophone.
I’m a trumpet player and I wanna learn a woodwind. Do you recommend any instruments?
@Aniedits_18 Alto saxophone. You learn that key pattern it is pretty much the same for all different saxophones, tenor,soprano etc. Rent one in case you try it and hate it.If you get good at it you can rip off a lot of cool trumpet parts that can really sing with the alto.
Transposes to Concert E-flat. Also if you get good consider a tenor, or soprano, they transpose to B-flat like your trumpet.
I think the company is called LADE, the S is just a stylish key symbol. I have a straight and a curved LADE soprano. These things are never playable out of the box, you always have to fix some things. Bend, repad. You can get them quite ok then. I have a no name Alto from Ali Express (labeled "Selmer Mark VI"), where they even forgot to glue in an octave key pad. Empty cup.
Also, if that was setup correctly it should have played mostly top to bottom even with your limited flying time on saxophone.
The hard bends on the bell keys makes me worry if the bell got out of alignment, too.
You can buy cheap leak lights on the internet. I suspect other keys were not seating and out of regulation. Making the intonation horrible
I actually bought a leak light a few months ago....but can't find it now. I'll need to get another one
hey can you do a gear4music tenor sax im getting one for christmas
You get what you paid for is the old saying. But this was entertaining and I am sure your students are very happy with you!!
Don’t kick your kalimba Chase😂
Now find me a 150$ bassoon so I can take a trip down nostalgia lane without breaking my wallet
D is often an issue on the tenor sax especially upper octave nit sure why it just always has been for me and everyone I have asked
I have never owned a sax without a stuffy middle D, just open the palm key D at the same time.....job done.
It will make a pretty wall ornament!
A tenor is tuned to Bb not just B.
I can hardly wait until you review a $500.00 Ferrari.
Bro deserves more subs 👏
Wow, cool finally a Temu instrument
At this point for any woodwind instrument players that have reeds, I can say reeds are just a snack at this point
Please do euphonium next!😃
Man...I really need to get a euphonium!
Great vid! But please, in the future, adjust/bend out the key guards of the rubbing keys instead of bending the keys themselves.
Love your videos btw
What of the cecilio alto saxophone?
I made an alto video of that one already! :)