Another Upgrade Question

[HarryPluta]

We have two old Bundy's in our family, one is my 1970 Selmer Bundy, the other is an older Bundy II. My horn has been used as a first horn by myself, my brother, my son ,and my daughter, it still plays great, but looks like the devil. My 14 year old daughter currently has the Bundy II and while it plays well, it had some serious dents in it and seems to need attention bi-monthly.

For Christmas this year her grandmothers and my wife and I all chipped in for a new sax fund for my daughter. She has been playing for 6 years now and thought she wanted to switch to soprano so we took her to WWBW and tried a couple of horns and a slew of mouthpieces, by the end of it all she decideed she would rather stick with alto.

If possible we would like to stay under $1,000.00 and still get her a horn she can play throughout high school and into college. It has been a very long time since I was involved and my knowledge of new, or even used, modern horns is pretty slim.

Anyone have suggestions?
Thanks,
-harry

PS She plays thru a Selmer S80 C* mouthpiece with either 2 1/2 or 3 reeds depending if she is playing with the Jazz band or the wind ensemble.

[vick]

if she's been playing for 6 years you could get a whole slew of great vintage saxophones for under that amount. you can get a great buescher true tone or an old martin handcraft for much less than than $1000 and probably have enough left to overhaul it as well. check with respected dealers like gayle at vintagesax.com or dave at junkdude.com. i think gayle has a beautiful true tone for sale for just a little more than what you're asking. the keywork is not hard to get used too and after she does she'll have a horn she can use her entire life. there's always ebay but you never know what to expect.

[Fred]

I'm a fan of Yanagisawa A880's. You can almost always pick them up for under $1000, and they are great players.

[MB-913]

I suggest a 2nd hand's Yanagisawa A-901 or A990.

[HarryPluta]

What are the opinions on either a Yamaha YAS 62 or a Selmer AS 110?

Thanks,
-harry

[Hurling Frootmig]

I think the Yamaha 62's are much better horns than the Selmer AS110's. I played a silverplated one recently that was nearly as good as my 87k Selmer Mark VI (which is the best alto I have ever played).

[josephmd]

Consider Martins, Conn 6M's, King Zephyrs. Stencils are even less money.

[goodsax]

I have to agree with Hurling. Although I haven't had personal experience with a Yamaha 62, I did own a Selmer AS100, AS110 predecessor and not that much different, and was underwhelmed by tone and performance compared to others I've owned including Conn Chu's and Buescher TT's. I currently have a Keilwerth stencil, a V. Kohlert & Sons alto with rolled tone holes, resonance ring, C-D trill key and solid construction that, in my opinion sounds and even feels better than my AS100 did.

Point is, from what I've read about Yamaha YAS-62's, I think I'd lean more toward getting one of those than an AS110, given those two choices. But, as others have pointed out, there are a lot more possibilities to consider in the same price range. I have a Conn 6M made in the early 1952-53 due to arrive next week and I'm hoping I'll be reporting it as the best I've ever played.

[HarryPluta]

I appreciate all the feedback so far and continue with the search. When my daughter was still thinking about soprano, there was one name that kept coming up on the soprano forum as a best buy, Antigua Winds. I've not seen much written about them here in the alto section. Anyone have experiance with that horn?

As to vintage horns, I understand the draw to them, I have a '60s era LesPaul custom guitar that sounds unlike anything new I've ever played,and I would never part with it, but it has been around my family since it was new. Our experiance with vintage horns on the other hand has been less then spectacular, way less!

Anyhow please let me know the general feelings on the Antigua and I will contine to hunt for a nice Yamaha 62. By-the-by, is there a major difference between the 62 and the 62-II?

Best regards,
-harry

[goodsax]

Paul Coats plays an Antigua Presitge alto, A530SP, silver-plated with gold keys and gives it high marks for intonation and says it's his main alto now. To me, that's a pretty high recommendation for this particular model. This doesn't mean that all Antigua Winds altos share the same characteristics. It only describes the top-of-the-line Prestige A530, although the A520 is very similar and also considered to be an Antigua pro model alto.

I have an Antigua Winds A582LQ soprano and it is an excellent sax in many ways. It looks, feels and sounds excellent. Again, that doesn't mean altos are all the same. I would recommend, if you're considering an Antigua, sticking to newer models in the 520 or 530 series based mostly on Paul's comments.

[Dave Dolson]

Harry: I too like the new Antigua straight sops (I bought one and that makes my sixth currently owned Bb soprano, with many more in my history).

I was not all that impressed with the one new Antigua alto I tested. Oh, it played okay but was like most of the new altos on the market today - nice key work, good intonation, but a tone that is NOT like any vintage alto I've played.

And, that new-alto mediocrity (MY opinion) includes the several YAS62s (and variations) I've tested. While every saxophone is different, even among the same models, I believe there may be better choices in the alto line than Antiguas and YAS62s (others may disagree).

For instance, I have three vintage altos (all 1932 or older) that sing, and a new A992 that is the best new alto I've tried. True, I have not yet tried the new Selmer Reference alto (and I'd love to - and will), but among all the new altos, my A992 is the best I've blown. Rather than the YAS62, you may want to consider the Yanagisawa A901/2 models (less money with Yana build-quality, and they may play well). DAVE