I am a 33 year old who has decided to start playing the saxophone and I start my professional lessons in 2 weeks. My main interest is Jazz but I am open and enjoy all types of music. Money is not a major factor for me or my decision, I am just looking for a nice saxophone that will last many years. Also, I am considering the silver plated 62II or the unlaquered 82Z. Your suggestions and advise are greatly appreciated. Also, I definitely want a higher end sax, even though I am a beginner. Thanks.

Go for the lacquered, black lacquered, or silver-plated Custom Z. The unlacquered gets way too bright sometimes and after a while, it starts looking pretty bad (oxidation and all that).

The Yamaha Custom lines are constructed very well, and if properly cared for, should last you forever.

Thank you BleedingGumsMurphy. Any other opinions?

On another note, does anyone know which saxophone that Paul Desmond used on "Take Five"?

Desmond used a Selmer Balanced action with an M.C. Gregory Model A 4A18 (awesome mouthpiece).

Chris, rather than go through my "sales pitch" again, please read my rants in the post, "YAS 82Z or 875EX Alto?" in this very forum. The original Yamaha 62 revolutionized the modern saxophone industry. That horn made the big name manufacturers go back to the drawing board, if you will. The 62II is an improved version of that horn, but for a much lower price tag. Yamaha`s reasoning for this is quite simple. They wanted to give you a REAL pro horn without the normal costs associated with it. And if they would have kept the original pricing structure, they would have priced themselves out of the market when they introduced the Custom line. The 62II has some great features, including the G2 neck. When you ask to compare it to the Custom line (the 82Z and the 875 EX), there are similarities. The keywork and intonation of the Custom line is even more "dead on" if you can imagine that.

You are a very lucky individual. If you can begin learning the horn on a pro model, you will not have to worry about the point at which you will be able to play better than your horn will allow. That`s what most kids have to go through. I am the same age you are. I started playing on a BundyII in the 6th grade. I reached a point where my private instructor insisted that I get a better horn. We found a Selmer Balanced Action in mint condition and I got it for 800 bucks (imagine that). I didn`t like the lack of resistance in the lower stack so I moved to a Mark VI (stole that one, too). That horn had a good sound overall, but the intonation stunk and I didn`t much care for the right hand palm keys. I had arguably one of the best repairmen in the southwest US and he couldn`t get it to behave. I play on custom made Guardalas (Alto and Tenor) now and in my opinion, they are the best horns I have ever owned.

You are probably wondering why I went off on this tangent. Here`s my point. If I were going to buy a new horn today, it would be the 82Z hands down. As Phil Woods would say, "It`s the best horn on the planet". I would buy the unlaquered version. The brass turns to a patina and it is oh so beautiful. It`s a matter of taste though. If you can find a recent picture of Phil with his horn, you will see what I mean. I told you the above story about my Alto ownership history only to tell you that you will not have to go through this.....EVER. The 82Z is just that good of a horn. It is bright,made for jazz, and can take anything you want to give it. Those three statements are factual.

So there you have it. I want to close with a "congratulations" on your decision to learn this instrument. I hope that you get as consumed as I did when I picked it up. You`ll be a changed man, for sure.

Good luck.

mvspur,

Wow. Thank you for that detailed response. I actually order the YAS-82ZU yesterday and it should be here tomorrow. I researched a lot of thread including yours and they were all positive. Thanks again,

Chris

I have 5 saxophones and the only one that does not play in tune is the Yamaha 82z. I just read the review of the Yamaha 82Z on your site. Well, I bought one of those horns about a year and a half ago. It has never played even close to being in tune. If you tune the upper register, the lower register is severely flat. If you tune the lower register, the upper register is severely sharp. I brought it to the technician that I have trusted to work on my Selmer Mark VI in the past. He happens to work for an authorized Yamaha dealer. He checked it for leaks, but did not find any. I might also mention that it was very easy to play the low notes very, very softly. He also checked key height, but found nothing wrong there either. He is a sax player with many years of experience in addition to being a technician. He played the horn and found that it certainly was out of tune. There was not any abnormal bend in the neck (crook). Additionally I had several other players 2 who have advanced degrees in saxophone performance and over 32 years each of playing experience. They both found that the horn had severely poor intonation. I tried a crook from a student model Yamaha on it and it played in better tune but did not sound that great.

I sent it back to the seller. After the seller’s technician tested it they decided to send it to Yamaha for adjustment. Yamaha sent the sax back to me with a letter claiming that the horn had leaks. That`s odd there were none before I sent it to them. The Yamaha representative basically denied that these horns have any intonation problems. He went on to state that he played my horn along with several other 82Z horns and mine was no different from the others. Well that basically tells me that none of them played in tune. I suppose Yamaha apparently believes that if they deny this problem it will go away. Well I certainly will never recommend this horn to anyone. I also will be unlikely to ever buy another Yamaha product because I do not trust them to stand behind the products they sell.

Furthermore when I got the horn back after the Yamaha technician did what ever he did to it, it leaked for the first time since I bought it. Since that time I have to blow excessively hard to hit low notes. I have not had the leaks repaired yet, because I am hesitant to throw good money away of this piece of junk. This does not speak well for their warrantee technicians. Now it will not even play in tune when I place the student horn neck on it.

It`s information like this that makes me glad I have stayed with my YAS-52... no tone problems, no leaks, a basic saxophone of GOOD quality.
Thanks for all the info on the YAS82.

course theres always consistancy problems to worry about with saxophnes. I guess you just got a bad sax and some idiot at the warrentee department for your sax. Selmer currently is infamous for it`s consistancy problems, which is unfortuanant because I love selmers. At least the good ones. i`d go on but it`s not really releavent to the atual topic. But, I have played the yamahas, and was very imperssed with them. Very cutting, loud, easy to speak throughout the register. A bit bright for my taste. Hope this helps a bit.

Take into acount I havn`t played them enough to tell a real difference between them. (the different models)

This post is really funny because i am also 33 and have decided to learn the sax. I have really never played an instrument before except for just messing around. I have decided that I was an idiot for not learning an instrument at an early age but realized it`s never too late. It is kind of discouraging though that everyone you know started when they were 6 or so... I hope it will not take until im 40 to play at a decent level. My choices were the piano, sax, or guitar. Everyone takes either guitar or piano lessons when they want to learn an instrument so i chose the sweet sounding sax.. Can anyone tell me if it will be too hard to start with the soprano or shall I go from either tenor/Alto to soprano?? I will be taking lessons once a week until i learn.

Also, can anyone tell me a good source to help me learn how to read/write music? Maybe a book or video??

Thanks for your time and good luck.

Where is the best place to buy the 82ZU?
Thanks,

shane