SassenachSax
10-17-2006, 10:41 PM
First, background. I'm what you guys call a "late bloomer", I've been playing Tenor (£130 Chinese Ebay Tenor) for four months now and am quite happy with my progress (I have been an organist for about 25 years before taking up Sax on a whim, and I bought a cheap Tenor to see whether it was only a whim).
So, I thought I'd like to learn Alto as well and didn't see the point of buying a student Alto only to have to unload it after a year or two. After reading around here and various other places I decided to buy a P Mauriat Alto.
I ordered the PMXA-76R (Jazz VI neck only) and an Otto Link Ebonite 5* mouthpiece from www.sax.co.uk last week, excellent service by the way.
First impressions were "this is pretty, it's just like a real sax only smaller", it's the first time I've ever even been near an Alto. So I've been playing it for the last few days (compared it to the Tenor last night).
The sax responds much quicker than I'm used to, took ten minutes to get used to as my fingers kept outrunning my brain. The bell notes pop out effortlessly, much easier than my Tenor. I did, however, have some issues:
I played for about an hour and kept thinking that the upper octave was sharp relative to the bottom octave. I whipped out my tuner and it turned out that the bottom octave was flat. Not a bit flat, horrendously flat. I'm now playing with the mouthpiece pushed as far onto the neck as I dare (less than 1/2" of cork showing) and it's a very tight fit. The intonation is now okay, but no better than my Tenor which was 1/9th the price.
Oddly, even though I can get all the way to top F# on the Tenor, I can't play above top D# on the Alto, maybe I need to develop my embouchure a bit more, or is the mouthpiece/reed (Rico Royal 2's) not suited to the top end?
Other comments, the action is higher than I'm used to (I like to roll my index finger from B to B and Bis Bb, is this wrong?) The springs are also seem heavy to me. Anyone know a good Sax Tech in the north east of Scotland?
The rolled tone holes are nice and maybe the action is a bit quieter, I can't decide, certainly the top palm key and high F# key stick a bit which could be the rolled holes, the Sax is new so I'll see how it goes.
The tone is great, very mellow below bottom E, clearer in the 2nd octave and capable of a lot more volume than the cheap Tenor.
Cosmetically, it's a lovely finish, mostly. There's what looks like a watermark ring in the laquer on the neck, some scratches on the bottom F# key (which is odd because there's a nice big guard round it) and some discolouration under the lacquer where the decorative treble clef is welded into the bell brace. To be honest I bought the horn for it's reputation for a good sound, so I'm not too conerned about how it looks. As for the antique finish, I'm not sure, in some ways I like it, to be honest I think I'd have preferred the "brushed" finish but in a lighter, or clear lacquer and with a gold wash inside the bell. I also have to agree with previous posters who aren't impressed with the "Paris, New York and Peckham" engraving on the bell, it's made in Taiwan and should be proud of it.
The engraving is beautiful, but as it's cut through the lacquer, it remains to be seen if it will tarnish, at the moment the engraving is very sharp and almost plucks at the polishing cloth.
Problem is now that I want a PMXT-66R to replace the Chinese Tenor, maybe Christmas :D .
Sorry if I rambled on a bit :)
So, I thought I'd like to learn Alto as well and didn't see the point of buying a student Alto only to have to unload it after a year or two. After reading around here and various other places I decided to buy a P Mauriat Alto.
I ordered the PMXA-76R (Jazz VI neck only) and an Otto Link Ebonite 5* mouthpiece from www.sax.co.uk last week, excellent service by the way.
First impressions were "this is pretty, it's just like a real sax only smaller", it's the first time I've ever even been near an Alto. So I've been playing it for the last few days (compared it to the Tenor last night).
The sax responds much quicker than I'm used to, took ten minutes to get used to as my fingers kept outrunning my brain. The bell notes pop out effortlessly, much easier than my Tenor. I did, however, have some issues:
I played for about an hour and kept thinking that the upper octave was sharp relative to the bottom octave. I whipped out my tuner and it turned out that the bottom octave was flat. Not a bit flat, horrendously flat. I'm now playing with the mouthpiece pushed as far onto the neck as I dare (less than 1/2" of cork showing) and it's a very tight fit. The intonation is now okay, but no better than my Tenor which was 1/9th the price.
Oddly, even though I can get all the way to top F# on the Tenor, I can't play above top D# on the Alto, maybe I need to develop my embouchure a bit more, or is the mouthpiece/reed (Rico Royal 2's) not suited to the top end?
Other comments, the action is higher than I'm used to (I like to roll my index finger from B to B and Bis Bb, is this wrong?) The springs are also seem heavy to me. Anyone know a good Sax Tech in the north east of Scotland?
The rolled tone holes are nice and maybe the action is a bit quieter, I can't decide, certainly the top palm key and high F# key stick a bit which could be the rolled holes, the Sax is new so I'll see how it goes.
The tone is great, very mellow below bottom E, clearer in the 2nd octave and capable of a lot more volume than the cheap Tenor.
Cosmetically, it's a lovely finish, mostly. There's what looks like a watermark ring in the laquer on the neck, some scratches on the bottom F# key (which is odd because there's a nice big guard round it) and some discolouration under the lacquer where the decorative treble clef is welded into the bell brace. To be honest I bought the horn for it's reputation for a good sound, so I'm not too conerned about how it looks. As for the antique finish, I'm not sure, in some ways I like it, to be honest I think I'd have preferred the "brushed" finish but in a lighter, or clear lacquer and with a gold wash inside the bell. I also have to agree with previous posters who aren't impressed with the "Paris, New York and Peckham" engraving on the bell, it's made in Taiwan and should be proud of it.
The engraving is beautiful, but as it's cut through the lacquer, it remains to be seen if it will tarnish, at the moment the engraving is very sharp and almost plucks at the polishing cloth.
Problem is now that I want a PMXT-66R to replace the Chinese Tenor, maybe Christmas :D .
Sorry if I rambled on a bit :)