Which brand of Soprano Sax is the best and worth buying?

in terms of intonation, tone quality, ease of control...

first off, no matter what type of sax, there is no best, only a best for you. this rule applies to reeds, ligs and mpcs as well, and probably everything else in life.

that having been said, my recommendations would be the yamaha yss-875 custom or the selmer series 3. if you want a curved sop, yanagisawas are the way to go. it`s pretty clear cut really, there isn`t much of a choice out there for sops, so if u want the best, most people will tend to recommend u the models i mentioned.

of course, are you looking for really the best or just something good? cos you certainly don`t seem to have much experience with sops, so the best sax would undoubtedly come under a sax of professional calibre. are u ready and willing to splash that kinda money down? if u want a learning model but at the same time of good quality, yamaha yss-475.

What Jaan said .....

I would add two other horns. Keilwerth sops are nice if you like their darker tone.

Additionally, on the Taiwanese side of things, for really low $$$, the Antigua sopranos are really nice. They are sturdy, spot on intonation (assuming you have soprano chops) and rugged. A 1 piece w/F# is under $700 (at certain locations) and it goes up from there with 2-piece w/2necks w/F# and w/G.

I bought one after doing a ton of research. I was very hesitant on buying a Taiwan sop but bunches of ppl that tried them loved them too. This is only relevant on Antigua most recent sops, not their older models.

But i`m happy with my Antigua 5802LQ 1 piece sop. Can`t beat it for price & quality. But, I will say, if I did have the spare change I probably would get a Yamaha 875 or a Keilwerth, 2 distinctly different horns though.

i wanted to revive this discussion a little cos i`m now on the lookout for a new soprano. after much hesitation, i finally set my vintage gold-plated buescher true tone sop free. unfortunately, that has left me sop-less.

the main contenders for my affection are the yamaha yss-875 and the selmer mark vi (though this would mean serious, SERIOUS hunting and play-testing.. the agony.. haha)

hanging in there is the selmer series 3 while yanagisawa has been booted from the race. i dunno, i`m just not a very yanagisawa-y person. not to mention that the last thing i need are intonation problems on a sax, something which yanas haven`t exactly steered clear of.

if selmer is willing to release a reference 54 soprano, i`ll wait. hell, i`ll just get a crummy piece to tide me over. sorta like a rebound relationship.

hey steve, what do you think of oleg stuff? their olegature is good that`s for sure, and their necks seem to be pretty highly-rated. their stuff generally seems of high quality, what with their beautifully crafted palm/side-key risers etc. they have a line of saxes and they`ve got a sop at $2k. i mean, if its quality is anything near that of their other products, it`s really a hell of a steal. sadly, they have close to zero information on their website, and an email to them only resulted in oleg`s personal phone number which i was advised to call. any thoughts? (don`t tell me keilwerth, you seem to have a perchant for recommending them.. hahaha)

p.s. dear steve goodson, if you are reading this, please release a SG Unison Sop soon.

Jaan, ever thought of trying a Keilw....... oh well.

I`ve never seen nor heard of an Oleg sop ... heard of Oleg but that`s about it. I`m not really up to date with all the manufacturers & conponents of today.

I think you`d be happy with the Yamaha. If you want to wait and get a cheap horn then get the Antigua 1 piece sop ... under $700. And you may end up wanting to keep it, it is that good (maybe not for a Keil .. I mean 875 or Ref - if they ever make one) but they are really nice.

If you lived anywhere near Detroit, MI I`d let you try my Antigua sop.