HELP!! Tenor Saxophone

Frank Z

My daughter is starting band this year and will be learning to play the Tenor Saxophone. After a lousy experience renting my son's trumpet, I'd rather get her one of her own.

We're trying to get her one with as little damage to the checking account as possible. Do any of you folks have one that you're interested in parting with?

So far the best price we've come across is a Kyleworth (SP?) for $1200....:eek:

Let me know what ya got, she starts school the first week of August.

AsSiMiLaTeD

I still have my Selmer Mark VI, but I won't ever part with that because it's autographed by lenny Pickett.

I do still have some contacts at UNT and will see what I can come up with. A tenor sax is going to set you back a bit though, even for a cheap one.

madmax

I don't have one but if you go the new route you can try these guys. Their prices will surely beat anything else new by possibly 40%. It may be worth the call to find out. They do massive volumes which is why.
madmax

http://www.chucklevins.com/

nadams

saxamaphooooooone

unc2701

Have you tried Craigslist? Not sure where you're located, but:

http://denver.craigslist.org/msg/179611497.html

Frank Z

unc2701 wrote:

Have you tried Craigslist? Not sure where you're located, but:

http://denver.craigslist.org/msg/179611497.html

THANKS!!
I've already swapped a few emails with the seller and might be able to take a look at it this weekend. I'm waiting to hear from my daughter's band teacher regarding her opinion on this brand. She's adament about her kids not using junk when they first start playing. Since I'm not a musician, so I'll defer to her better judgement. Either way the price is KILLER!!

DarqueKnight

Frank,

I have been dealing with The Woodwind and The Brasswind for the last 15 years. I have purchased seven saxophones from them, including the three that I currently own.

Their website is at www.wwbw.com .They have excellent prices and a knowledgeble sales staff consisting of practicing musicians.

Frank Z

DK,
Thanks for the link. I found a few there that might work too. Are you familiar with Beuscher saxophones?

DarqueKnight

Frank Z wrote:

She's adament about her kids not using junk when they first start playing. Since I'm not a musician, so I'll defer to her better judgement.

Your daughter's teacher is absolutely right! Don't fall into the trap of getting an instrument that is "just good enough to learn on". Get the best instrument you can reasonably afford.

Frank Z

That's why I'm here...I gotta learn somewhere.:)

I bought a used Bach Trumpet for my son from a customer of mine, he repairs and refurb's musical instuments, so I can have him make any repairs.

I'm totally clueless as to what the better brands are. I do know enough to stay away from Wal-Mart stuff.

DarqueKnight

I have heard of Beuscher, but have never used them and I cannot speak to their quality. I do know that it is not a brand I have commonly seen used by professionals. There's lots of good instrument brands. As in audio, assuming the brand is of good quality, a lot depends on personal preference. Different instruments will "feel" more comfortable in your daughter's hands than others. She will find some instuments easier to play than others.

The brands my teacher recommended when I was learning were Yamaha, Selmer, Buffet, and Keilwerth. I tried them all but settled on Keilwerth, which is the brand I have been playing for 15 years.

Again, I would urge you to give the folks at WW&BW a call.

AsSiMiLaTeD

Buying an instrument for a child is kind of a catch-22 deal...

On one hand, you don't want to buy a piece of junk because your kid isn't going to want to play it much if the pads are always sticking.

On the other hand, you don't want to dump a whole bunch of money into something if they're not going to stick with it.

The trick is finding something that lies somewhere in the middle, good enough yet cheap enough.

Something to keep in mind though is that the better brands do typically hold their value better, so would be easier to unload should your daughter choose another instrument.

Something else to consider is maintenance. You'll have to clean and sometimes change the pads on one of these, and you want to make sure that's relatively easy and cheap with whatever you buy.

AsSiMiLaTeD

FWIW, Selmer is my brand of choise, but they're not cheap.

Frank Z

Thanks for the info, Looks like me and Google are gonna pull an all-nighter.

From what I've found so far, Buescher has been around since circa 1920 and may now be owned by Selmer.


PM,
Agreed. I want something that has the potential of sounding good at the very least.


Man I love this place. Polkies always come through!

AsSiMiLaTeD

Do a search on Ebay for "selmer tenor" - looks like there's a good selection. You'll get several choices in the different price ranges. They even have one of the Mark Vi horns on there...

If you buy used, be sure to ask about the pads. If they're worn, you'll need to replace those, and that can run close to $100 for a good pair of super actions...

AsSiMiLaTeD

Also, is your daughter set on tenor sax? An alto shares alot of the characteristics of the tenor, and may be a little easier for a young child to manage.

Not much difference in price between the two really, just curious.

pfenton

Hola! Regarding renting the trumpet, you didn't mention what it was that made it a bad experience. If it was the dealer that was the problem, I suggest you try another dealer to rent the sax from. Since your daughter is just beginning the instrument, I would not purchase her one, unless you want to see it laying in a closet a year or two from now. Most kids who begin instruments do not continue playing them.

smglbrth

I have an alto I've had for years, a Bundy II that I believe Selmer made. Got it repadded a couple years ago and haven't played it much since. The sound is pretty mellow, as far as sax's go, but she'll bellow when needed.

I always did prefer the tenor over the alto however, I just couldn't afford a new one back then, or now....

bolelet1

I have used both selmer and beuscher (alto and tenor) when I was a member of a group and I find the selmer better although they are not cheap. Why the tenor instead of the also sax. The weight of the tenor could strain her back and the alto is a lot easier to handle esp for beginners.

Frank Z

The band teacher has to limit the amount of altos and therefore she's going to learn to play tenor. The band program is really popular, mostly because of the wonderful job the teacher does. I think theres about 4 million kids trying to get into band.:eek:

Seriously though, there are alot of kids and we were lucky to even get our daughter into the class at all.

VR3

I wish I knew Frank...

I sold a guy a freaking AWESOME pre-owned Yamaha one the other day... we sold it for $1,199 - but! It retailed for $2399.99!!!

Smoking deal...

Ill check around at the store tommorow and see what we have laying around. Ill let you know.

Dennis Gardner

PM sent......

Frank Z

pfenton wrote:

Hola! Regarding renting the trumpet, you didn't mention what it was that made it a bad experience. If it was the dealer that was the problem, I suggest you try another dealer to rent the sax from. Since your daughter is just beginning the instrument, I would not purchase her one, unless you want to see it laying in a closet a year or two from now. Most kids who begin instruments do not continue playing them.

High rates for a beat up horn, being called by a collection agency after we had already paid for the years rental...and had returned the horn at the end of the year.

I'm all about customer service. Treat me poorly and I'll spend my money elsewhere. My son had a new found respect for te instrument after we gave it to him. He owned it and that made a huge difference to him. He is far more concerned about his own horn and it shows in the care he puts into it and his practice sessions as well. I think my daughter will be the same with a saxophine that she owns.

As far as the insrument sitting on a closet floor after the first year, sure it could end up that way. Hopefully she'll appreciate that with a little work she'll be able make music. That is something I never could do and regret never having learned....I'm just to spastic and old now to boot.:p

xsmi

As a band director and sax player for 26 and the owner of an 1929 Buescher Tenor I would recommend a new horn (or recent) horn over a vintage horn for several reasons. No. 1 is ergonomics. The newer horns just fit most hands better. The years of development have paid off. No. 2 is repair. You never know the true history of the horns you buy. Putting something 30 y/o in the hands of a child might not be a good idea. No. 3 the good ones are usually almost as expensive as new ones. Someone said he had a Mk VI that he would never part with. If he ever did, I saw one go for $7k the other day. New brands I would look at are:

Yamaha YTS-23 may be able to find a used one. This is my first choice built like a tank.
Prelude by Conn-Selmer Taiwanese horn but very well built
Directors model by Conn also Taiwanese built but very good.

By the way, I love my Buescher tenor, but they don’t make horns anymore. A good place to get info on saxes is www.saxontheweb.net. Go to the forums there and they will give you gobs of info. Give me an update on your progress

xsmi

Frank Z wrote:

That is something I never could do and regret never having learned....I'm just to spastic and old now to boot.:p

Frank there are a lot of late bloomers out there. you might want to give it a shot.;)

Frank Z

XSMI,
You bring up some very interesting and valid points for purchasing a newer sax. I wish I could just plunk down the coin for a brand new one, but it's not in the cards right now. If I have to I'll sell off some of my gear to do it though.

As of right now we're going to be in Denver on Sunday anyway so I've made arangements to look at the sax that unc2701 linked to earlier. The seller said she only played it for 3 years and it's been sitting in a closet ever since. If it's all dented and beat to crap we'll pass on it. If it's in good condition we'll get it.

I'd rather get a used on and see how things go with that for my daughters first year. After that we'll look at getting a new one.

Thanks to all that have responded here and to those that have replied via PM.

Once again The Polkies have come through with great advice!

Sax

as xsmi said I highly, highly recommend the Yamaha YTS-23 for a student horn. Built like a tank yet well behaved intonation.

It was my first horn and now I've got me a Selmer Reference 54 Model 74 which I love. But a YTS-23 is the way to go for price/quality ratio for a new student horn.

xsmi

Now that is wild! I am primarily an alto player. I have a Reference 54 Alto. What a helluva horn. I guess Selmer sold alot of 'em.

Polkersince85

From a parenting point of view, make her commit for at least the first year. Sometimes it goes slow to start with and then all of a sudden they get the hang of it.

Frank Z

That's been the agreement since she first expressed an interest. My son plays the trumpet and that helped her decide to give it a shot.

Sweeeezle

Ill add my 2 cents. I played alto from 6th grade on thru highschool switching to tenor in 11th grade. I had my own selmer bundy alto and I am pretty sure the tenor which was the schools was a Buescher not sure of the model though. Both seemed pretty easy to play. I liked tenor better though. When I went to college my folks bought me a martin tenor to play and I never could get a good sound out of it. I never did any research nor did I ask my folks how much it cost but I know it is a low end model. After a year or so I stopped playing it in part because I knew I wasnt getting as good a sound as I had with the Buescher and also because my college jazz band teacher sucked the big one and he kept cancelling performances and stuff. I would always suggest that you speak to as many band instructors and professionals as you can and then scrape together the most money you can afford and then go and scrape some more together on top of that. Then go out and buy your child something they will cherish forever. Of course this is all based on the knowledge that your child is serious about the instrument and that they already have good sense and are very responsible with their belongings. Of all the things I miss most about my childhood playing the sax is probably in the top 3.