I love vintage saxes (chu berries are great!) but i haven`t been able to pony up the cash recently to buy one. The only sax i own is a selmer usa as300 student model.
I`ve been looking into an SML Rev. D or gold medal I alto. My teacher has a rev. d, I played it once and it played like a dream...
most of the new saxes i`ve tried, particularly the
SELMERS and YANAGISAWAS
were not up to my standards.

Anybody know anything about a Carl Hensberg and Sons Alto? Would appreciate feedback

Yamaha Z`s, oh yeah!

selmer super action serie II

I play an Antigua 520-LQ alto sax (which I totally love), and... if anyone cares... an old Vito student clarinet from the `80s which I`m about to repad.

Model 53 Selmer Paris Series III Soprano

Selmer Serie III silverplate tenor
Selmer Mki Vi c. 1959 bari
Yanagisawa curved bronze-body soprano

I love the feel of the tenor, it`s unbelievably versatile, the bari is, quite frankly, the best bari for me that I`ve ever played, and I don`t care what anyone else might have to say, I think that Yanagisawa makes the most even-toned and in-tune soprano hands down.

I own a armstrong sax and at least for a beginar it is very good and my only joy at school is band other than band i hate school. if any one asks you about band and wether they should try it say YES. see i just chose a instrument i bearly had even heard of the sax and now i live for it

I just bought a 1960 King Super 20.
HURRAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It`s coming tomorrow and i absolutely cannot wait.
It`s a killer sax.

For many of you not familiar with vintage saxes, there`s more info on the super 20 at this site:
http://www.saxpics.com/king/s20.htm

-Bleeding Gums Murphy

hmm
Soprano - Yanagisawa Silversonic (definately the BEST soprano made... I`ve tried Selmer series 2 but their resonation is not as good as yanis. Yanagisawa has a truly good bright tone for contemporary or mainstream jazz music)

alto - Selmer Mark VII (although i`d prefer a yamaha 82zul... i tell you NOT ALL MARK VII are good, and even good MARK VII might not be good for you...oh, just to add, Mark VI are better than VIIs..I only use this cuz i am in a Funk Combo)
tenor- Selmer Mark VII (not much to describe here..)

Everyone is different. They have different lung capacity, diff. mouth size, diff. breathing etc.. so there are NO BEST SAXOPHONES. Remember that the great CHARLIE PARKER sounded just like himself even though he played on a piece of trash sax.

Soprano - LA SAX LA650 Artist Series Burnished Brass.
Alto - Dave Guardala DG402SP New York Series Sterling Silver/24KT Gold.
Tenor - Dave Guardala DG500BN Artist Series Black Nickel/Sterling Silver.
Baritone - Currently shopping....If I can`t land a Guardala, it will be Yamaha YBS62.

whoa. Back up a minute. Charlie parker played on three of the ultimate best saxophones ever made in the history of forever. King Super 20`s, Conn 6-M`s and conn Transitionals are practically legend among us vintage jazz sax buffs. They play a lot better than most of the stuff made today, and most of the stuff made back in the day.

Oh, and i got my super 20 the other day and it sounds awesome!!! You can make a huge variety of different sounds on it. I went from a light classical piece into a kick-ass charlie parker solo using the same mouthpiece, lig and reed. Everything was so smooth...

-Bleeding Gums Murphy

charlie parker`s saxes were not trash, they were GREAT. He did own about 20 different ones over the course of his career, often pawning them to support his drug habit.

This is off in posting time, so I apologize.
Whoever said that Yamaha was not one of the "only" good brands out there, you`re wrong. Yamaha`s good, as well as some other brands you missed out on.

Yanigasawa - you were missing out on something big there. That Yani 991B is really good.
Conn - Ever played a 10M?
Martin - The handcrafted ones are awesome.

I play a Yamaha 62II tenor and a Yamaha 23 tenor also. They`re good horns, and the 62II`s my main sax. Good horns.

-tenor562

I have 2 altos and a soprano. My soprano is a Monique, as well as one of my altos. I`m sure people think that the brand really sux, but I can tell you that, while it`s not the best sax in the world, it`s not the worst either. I got thru high school and some of college with it. But of course, being a serious jazz player I couldn`t stick with it. So I got a 1950 conn 6m naked lady alto. And I have to say that it KICKS ASSSS!!! I`ve played many saxes, and the two best I`ve evr played are the conn 6m and the Selmer mark VI (a friend`s). I am also very fond of upper model yamahas.