Stacey
11-05-2003, 07:15 PM
Yesterday my new BBGS tenor arrived! It even looked as if UPS had been CAREFUL with the package, amazing as that may sound.
For background: My other horns are a Selmer SA80 Series III soprano from 1999, a Selmer MK7 alto from 1981, and a Conn New Wonder curved-neck C-melody from 1919.
I bought the Cannonball from Tim Glesmann at Sax Alley, and I have nothing but praise for him. The service I received was great, and the horn was ready-to-play right out of the box, requiring absolutely no adjustment. The only problem I had was with a loose Cannonball logo on the neckstrap - not exactly a big issue.
I am blown away by the construction of this horn. Admittedly, most of my past experiences on tenor have been on old, school-owned Bundys and the like, but this horn is clearly in a different class. The solid construction reminds me of my Series III soprano, but at a MUCH lower price. The only part of the horn that felt inferior to most of the modern $3000-$4000 horns was the use of cheap-looking plastic "mother of pearl" buttons on the keys. One of these days, I may look at replacing those with something more elegant.
I bought the T1-BL version, which has a black nickel plated body, bow, and bell, and gold lacquered keys and key guards. It came with two necks, one in black nickel and one in gold lacquer. There was an incredible amount of engraving, extending all the way onto the necks. A very striking horn, for certain.
This morning a fellow sax player checked out the horn, and immediately made me write down the URL for Cannonball's website, as well as Tim Glesmann's email address. He couldn't believe the look and feel of the horn for the price. He didn't get to play it or hear it, unfortunately, because my aerospace employer probably wouldn't appreciate it the way most of us would...
The only tenor mpc I have right now is the "Cannonball 5*" that came with the horn. Using the CB mouthpiece, the nondescript ligature that came with it, and one of my Hemke 2.5 reeds, I was extremely impressed with the sound of the horn. Details below:
Low range - I've always been someone who navigates the high registers much better than the low end. I was very, very pleasantly surprised to find that I could play all the way down to Bb at a very reasonable volume - no need to blast to make the notes speak. However, when I did put some air behind it, the sound was extremely powerful. Window-rattling powerful.
The midrange of the horn was fine. That's one of those areas where about all I can say is "no news is good news". The C-to-D transition sounded very similar to my MK7 - noticeable, but not a glaringly obvious transition, if that makes any sense.
High range - I'm a little too out of practice, especially on tenor, to give it much of an altissimo workout, so I stuck to the normal range of the horn (to F#). Besides, as an amateur wannabe, if I really want to play that high... well, I get out the soprano!
Anyway, the range up to F# was very solid, easy to play, and hard to mis-play. Also, I must mention that this is the first horn I've played on which the front high F spoke like a "normal" note, rather than feeling like I was fighting something way up in the altissimo range. Front F and palm F felt the same when I played them.
The intonation of the horn seems good, but I'll confess I've done only limited work with the tuner so far (hey, gimme a break - the horn just arrived last night!). I may post a follow-up message after I've checked the intonation thoroughly.
The other thing I'm waiting for is a Morgan mouthpiece. I need to save my pennies for a few weeks, and then I intend to add a Morgan 6L mouthpiece to the mix.
I was really worried, having read some of the reviews, that my Cannonball would turn out to be an uncontrollable "paint peeler". I shouldn't have worried - this horn will work well in any situation in which I'm likely to find myself.
For background: My other horns are a Selmer SA80 Series III soprano from 1999, a Selmer MK7 alto from 1981, and a Conn New Wonder curved-neck C-melody from 1919.
I bought the Cannonball from Tim Glesmann at Sax Alley, and I have nothing but praise for him. The service I received was great, and the horn was ready-to-play right out of the box, requiring absolutely no adjustment. The only problem I had was with a loose Cannonball logo on the neckstrap - not exactly a big issue.
I am blown away by the construction of this horn. Admittedly, most of my past experiences on tenor have been on old, school-owned Bundys and the like, but this horn is clearly in a different class. The solid construction reminds me of my Series III soprano, but at a MUCH lower price. The only part of the horn that felt inferior to most of the modern $3000-$4000 horns was the use of cheap-looking plastic "mother of pearl" buttons on the keys. One of these days, I may look at replacing those with something more elegant.
I bought the T1-BL version, which has a black nickel plated body, bow, and bell, and gold lacquered keys and key guards. It came with two necks, one in black nickel and one in gold lacquer. There was an incredible amount of engraving, extending all the way onto the necks. A very striking horn, for certain.
This morning a fellow sax player checked out the horn, and immediately made me write down the URL for Cannonball's website, as well as Tim Glesmann's email address. He couldn't believe the look and feel of the horn for the price. He didn't get to play it or hear it, unfortunately, because my aerospace employer probably wouldn't appreciate it the way most of us would...
The only tenor mpc I have right now is the "Cannonball 5*" that came with the horn. Using the CB mouthpiece, the nondescript ligature that came with it, and one of my Hemke 2.5 reeds, I was extremely impressed with the sound of the horn. Details below:
Low range - I've always been someone who navigates the high registers much better than the low end. I was very, very pleasantly surprised to find that I could play all the way down to Bb at a very reasonable volume - no need to blast to make the notes speak. However, when I did put some air behind it, the sound was extremely powerful. Window-rattling powerful.
The midrange of the horn was fine. That's one of those areas where about all I can say is "no news is good news". The C-to-D transition sounded very similar to my MK7 - noticeable, but not a glaringly obvious transition, if that makes any sense.
High range - I'm a little too out of practice, especially on tenor, to give it much of an altissimo workout, so I stuck to the normal range of the horn (to F#). Besides, as an amateur wannabe, if I really want to play that high... well, I get out the soprano!
Anyway, the range up to F# was very solid, easy to play, and hard to mis-play. Also, I must mention that this is the first horn I've played on which the front high F spoke like a "normal" note, rather than feeling like I was fighting something way up in the altissimo range. Front F and palm F felt the same when I played them.
The intonation of the horn seems good, but I'll confess I've done only limited work with the tuner so far (hey, gimme a break - the horn just arrived last night!). I may post a follow-up message after I've checked the intonation thoroughly.
The other thing I'm waiting for is a Morgan mouthpiece. I need to save my pennies for a few weeks, and then I intend to add a Morgan 6L mouthpiece to the mix.
I was really worried, having read some of the reviews, that my Cannonball would turn out to be an uncontrollable "paint peeler". I shouldn't have worried - this horn will work well in any situation in which I'm likely to find myself.