Prelude Selmer TS-700

[cordeiro]

Please, any comments about this cheap Tenor model Prelude Selmer TS-700 , made in China . Is that good ?
Thank you all !
Evandro.

[DaveKessler]

Please, any comments about this cheap Tenor model Prelude Selmer TS-700 , made in China . Is that good ?
Thank you all !
Evandro.

We have played the new Prelude line. While they are pretty decent, they are definately WAY too expensive for a Chinese made horn. We compared it up agains our comparably priced TS441 Solist (Yanagisawa T991 copy) that our Solist blew it away. They cost me about the same price in which case, I will stick with our Solist.

In the Prelude line, the only item that have been impressed with that we havent found something comparable for less is the Piccolo. It is the ONLY Chinese piccolo that we have found that plays well, is padded well and built decently. So thats the only product I carry.

I do know that Conn-Selmer has decided to stop putting the "by Selmer" or "by Bach" on the label. Too many dealers (supposedly) thought that this degraded the Selmer and Bach name. So in the future, they will only be "Prelude"... in which case, I probably will have no interest in them as a retailer.

[Tom-Sax]

I was shopping around today and played on a "made by Selmer" Prelude TS700 tenor that was really decent. It was, frankly, the only beginner horn I tried in that particular shop that didn't need some minor adjusting and leak fixes. It was very much "ready to go."

I got the manager talked down to $812, and Selmer customer service looked up the serial number for me and said that the production date was May 26 2004.... very recently.

So at least in May the "made by Selmer" tag was still on the horns.

But the lady I spoke to at Selmer said that now (end of June), the "made by Selmer" moniker is no longer on the Prelude line.

What a difference a month makes!

At least, however, if I choose to get that horn, and if it ever needs repair, the repair technicians are able to source parts through their Selmer channels. That is more than what can be said for many of the other Chinese/Taiwanese horns.

So do you think that $812 is worth it?? Looks like list price is $1496.

Tom

[DaveKessler]

Tom,

Keep in mind that it is a Chinese made sax.

Granted, it is one of the best made Chinese horns we have seen yet...