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Geek Culture / Saxophones

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Philip
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Posted: 13th Jun 2006 00:48
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As many of you know, I happen to play the saxophone. It is one of my major hobbies.

I am awfully tempted by a Trevor James Tenor sax pack from www.sax.co.uk. We have some other sax players on here and I thought I'd canvass their views to see if anyone has played a TJ and, if so, what they think?

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Philip
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Posted: 14th Jun 2006 01:05
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22 views and not one comment. :-(

Oh well. I've bought it now.

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jrowe
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Posted: 14th Jun 2006 02:06 Edited at: 14th Jun 2006 02:07
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My only comment would have been to go to a local music shop and try one out (but don't buy it there, buy it on the net for cheaper). I have no idea what Trevor James Sax's are like (I haven't played one). You should be able to get a good idea if you take a Selmer mouthpiece and your reed of choice to the shop with you.

Also don't assume, for instance, that because their alto is good, the tenor will be good too. I've played a few good altos only to try the tenor of the same brand to be not up to the same quality. Each instrument must be judged induvidually, which leads me to the try before you buy thing.

You'd try the demo of a program before buying it, do the same with your instrument! Remember, as with any instrument, it's a trade off between quality and price, but there's always the smart buys in the middle price range, e.g. a Bundy instad of an actual Selmer, or for guitarists a Squier instead of a real Fender.

Don't take this too much to heart, I'm only a mediocre player at best.

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Saikoro
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Posted: 14th Jun 2006 02:22
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Quote: "or for guitarists a Squier instead of a real Fender."

Never never never never. The sound of a guitar or any instrument depends on these three things: the shape of the material, the quality of the material, and the type of material. Squiers are factory produced cheap things, Fenders are factory produced with decent material, and Custom Shop fenders are hand made out of the best materials. It's pretty easy to say which sounds and plays better, and I'm sure the same goes for saxophones. If a Trevor James tenor is handmade by a professional quality tech, you can be sure it will sound good.

However, I do ask that you actually try one first (though it may be late now), because good as it may be, it may not have the tone you want. My friend is a drummer, and he always buys sabian or paragorn cymbals. Zildjians are good, built the same way as Sabians, but they're far too flimsy and weak sounding for him (I hate the way they sound), so he buys Sabian. Certian flavors for certain people, and if you know you'll like it (or you can return it), then get it. Otherwise you'll have a chunk of brass you won't like.

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jrowe
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Posted: 14th Jun 2006 03:34 Edited at: 14th Jun 2006 03:45
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Quote: "Never never never never. The sound of a guitar or any instrument depends on these three things: the shape of the material, the quality of the material, and the type of material. Squiers are factory produced cheap things, Fenders are factory produced with decent material, and Custom Shop fenders are hand made out of the best materials. It's pretty easy to say which sounds and plays better, and I'm sure the same goes for saxophones. If a Trevor James tenor is handmade by a professional quality tech, you can be sure it will sound good."


AAhhh but the point is, you buy the Squier and then replace the pickups etc. and you've got a decent middleground soundwise and pricewise. Granted, the build quality won't be the same, nor will it be quite as sweet sounding, but unless you're going to perform, for most people (especially those on a budget) it's good enough.

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Saikoro
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Posted: 14th Jun 2006 03:48
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Yeah true, but why pay for a Squier and upgrade the pickups when you can by a Fender for around $300? Better tuning machines, better body build, better neck, better fretboard, around the same price. But I digress.

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jrowe
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Posted: 14th Jun 2006 04:04 Edited at: 14th Jun 2006 04:22
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Maybe so in the US, but my experience in the UK is it's much cheaper to buy a Squier and upgrade the parts to nicer ones than to buy a real fender. This also helps you to get the tone that YOU want by buying the pickups that YOU want.

Anyway, I'm more an acoustic man myself, unfortunately, that's somewhere where the quality of the wood etc. really matters as it MASSIVELY effects the sound of the instrument. It's a pity that I don't have a spare £1500+ to fork out for a Martin or something.

Edit: It's a pity we've turned yet another thread into a guitar tech talk

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Saikoro
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Posted: 14th Jun 2006 04:08
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It's cheaper, yeah, but not much cheaper. $300 isn't that much for a decent sounding and playing guitar.

Ibanez makes fairly good sounding and playing acoustics for cheaper, check those out.

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jrowe
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Posted: 14th Jun 2006 04:30 Edited at: 14th Jun 2006 04:31
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I've played an Ibanez acoustic and though the price was quite good, it sounded a bit harsh for what I'm going after. Obviously every model's different, but the one I played came over more as a loud strummer's instrument rather than a subtle fingerpicker's. What sort of tone can you expect generally from an Ibanez acoustic? I know the electrics tend to be quite heavy sounding. Is this reflected in the electro-acoustics pickups? I prefer to have an inbuilt pickup as I find seperate Microphone's a real hassle, and removes the argument of where to position it. It does mean I have to pick the right guitar in the first place though, which is a the main problem .

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Saikoro
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Posted: 14th Jun 2006 05:48
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Its decent sounding all around really, the one I have anyway, and I'd recommend it for either someone who doesn't wish to have a huge involvement in acoustics but would still like one to play on and perform, or someone who cant yet afford the big dogs. It is fairly heavy sounding, but fingerpicking it, it doesnt absolutely kill it. Theres much better, but theres much worse, and its good for the money.

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BearCDPOLD
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Posted: 14th Jun 2006 08:33
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@Philip

Do what jrowe said. I personally have only played altos from Selmer, Yamaha, and Yanigasawa. In junior high I went looking for a nice intermediate sax and found that the Yamaha YAS-52 was perfect for its price and feel. The keys were tight, but not ridiculously hard to close and I could jump nearly any interval I wanted with relative ease.


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Philip
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Posted: 15th Jun 2006 00:42
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Yeah. I've bought my tenor on a deal that says that if I play it and I'm not happy, I can return it and get a refund. I'm also going to let my teacher play it and see what he thinks. He's a pro sax player.

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Mattman
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Posted: 15th Jun 2006 01:28
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Sorry to not be on the topic of sax's Philip, but I would like to comment on a new guitar I bought last week. ESP Viper 200FM and love it. I had to go to three guitar shops to find it, but am very pleased with the thing and proud that I did my research and found a good middle-road guitar with pickups you don't have to change (although I may change the bridge one for fun)

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