On Dec 27 2004

Hi there : I am just starting out I have been playing for under a year and i want to buy a tenor sax
i heard that yanigasawa are the best made now, should i buy one and if so what model?
Any information will be helpful.
Thanks
Vic

I personally think that yani`s and keilwerths are better made horns than Yamahas and selmers. I do have much respect for Yamaha customs and older 62`s. Mark VI`s are too expensive and even the new refence horns are pricey as well. I replaced my 880 yani alto and tenor, and yani Elimona 2 neck soprano with gold laq sx90r alto,black nickel sx90r tenor and gold laq sx90 soprano. I would say that i miss the soprano the most but i love the feel and sound of th JKs, the big pearls, the fat sound, the easy bottoms. Try as many brands as possible and go with what feels and sounds good to you. Good luck and many blessings to all sax players out the searching for the perfect sax. JazzzyG

I`ve never played a Yani, and have had bad or not-so-great experiences with Selmer`s, ranging from $1200 ones to $8000 ones.....I`ve never played the old ones...

Myself, I`m going to be buying a Keilwerth SX90R Tenor Saxophone Shadow! It`s a thing of beauty...you know where I stand on this topic (Keilwerth)

If you are looking at the Shadow, I highly recommend you take a look at the black nickel Chicago Jazz Series Tenors from LA Sax. They are made in Germany, just like the KW. You`ll save money and I personally think the horn plays just as good if not better.

WWBW has the Shadow for $4,437.00. The Chicago Jazz Series Tenor is only $3,295.00.

Do yourself a favor and check it out. You won`t regret it. I can tell you how to get one even cheaper if you`re serious about it.

Tom Scott plays one now.....

http://wwbw.crossmediaservices.com/wwbw/default.aspx?action=browsepagesingle&storeid=2418071&rapid=119314&pagenumber=172&promotioncode=WWBW-050315

buy the keilwerth....

i have a yani/vito stencil straight soprano that i will put up against anything. i use a selmer d* on it and it does what i want. this setup runs rings around any selmer i`ve tried. yammer hammers sound too tinny to me.
i also have a yani/vito baritone with a phil barone neck and an otto link 5*. it`s not the best bari i`ve ever played (that was a mark 6 owned by georgia state university, with a vandoren B35 m-piece), but it is also a great set up. reeds are van doren 4s...

no sure where this topic is... but heres my little condensed story. I used to play my directors makr vi (alto) I absolutly love it. Then, since it isn`t mine, I needed to get my own. I played all the yamahas, selmers, and the shadow (keilwerth) Ultimantly, I liked the reference54, mark vi, and shadow best. So I had a ref. and a keilwerth sent to me, and I discovered, that while the ref. was still an amazing horn, it had about $100 worth of work to "finish it" Truth be told, a pro horn of that horn shouldn`t of made it out of the factory. Thus the infamous consistency of selmers. I kept the shadow, and it is absulutly amazing. I thought abouy getting a mark, which i like the tone of slightly more, but the shadow had some modern featured i prefer. The shadow has a real pure darkish sound and can scream. I`ve managed to hit a double D (d above the staff + an octave) in overtones, if that means anyhting, cause i`m fairly new to the altissimo stuff.

However, what it boils down to is you. every player has his or own preferences, so just play aorund till you find the horn that clicks.

I got my keilwerth for around $3500 plus or minus a few hundred. new, don`t pay more that $3800 for it. I think i got mine slightly used, it has a few minor scraches and the like, but only noticable after I did a very througho investigation of the body.