Oops, I did it again

[DixieSax]

Well, with the Kessler being the only tenor in the house right now, (SML is being overhauled, King and Capitol are sold and gone) it is getting quite a bit of play, and I continue to be impressed with it.

It is going gigging with me this weekend. I guess here is another testimonial. I like the tenor so much I just bought an alto from dave1953 here on the SOTW site (see this thread http://forum.saxontheweb.net/showthread.php?t=89681 )

What the heck - for 300 bucks, that's a deal, and the photos make it look to be near mint condition. Plus it has the same finish as the tenor I bought, so it will be a really nice matched set, and the alto will back up my Mk VII alto nicely, because let's face it, there are some places you have to go to play sometimes that you really don't want to carry thousands of dollars worth of horns.

Now I'm eagerly awaiting another Kessler (lol) and it won't be shipped until Monday, but heck, a matched set of alto and tenor saxes for a total spent of less than a thousand bucks. Somehow I must be hitting the right marks lately. Anyway, I'll review the alto when I get it as well.

[bluesaxgirl]

I played with your heart...got lost in the game...:D

Every little girl's idol in the 90's. It's sickening when I remember way back when me and my friends in the schoolyard singing together.

But hey, that's a nice looking horn you have there. :)

[ratracer]

A matched pair! That sounds pretty nice. Congrats on being in the right place at the right time with the bucks to go!

Good to hear you're still getting along well with the tenor. Do post your impressions of the alto when it comes in. We have some reviews of the tenors. Lately we've had some reviews of the sopranos. We seem to be light on the altos however. Keep us posted!

Cheers!

[Finnerski]

Nope, more like BSS, Britney Spears Syndrome. Right idea, wrong diva.

[JimTD]

Is this "JSS":? Jessica Simpson Syndrome ?:D

Nope, more like BSS, Britney Spears Syndrome. Right idea, wrong diva.

I applaud you for not knowing, Patchmo.8-)

[CiaranAudio]

How much was the tenor?

[DixieSax]

How much was the tenor?

625.00

[DixieSax]

That's just a little more of BS than I could handle!:lol:

So were some of the pictures of her that have shown up on the internet.

But I digress.

[ratracer]

Puleeeeeeze! I just had lunch!! :sick:

[DixieSax]

The alto arrived today. Appears to be in pristine condition. I'll take my first crack at it after dinner. And a big thanks to dave1953 on this site for providing a great deal on it.

[DixieSax]

I spent the evening tonight with the Kessler alto. First I have to restate that as it came out of the shipping container, it seemed to be in dead mint condition. I know that its original owner played this one more than the tenor that I got a few weeks ago, so this is a testimony that these horns hold up quite well. According to the original owner, this horn was likely from Kessler's first run of instruments, and accordingly it is a post to body build. Dave has mentioned that the newer horns are ribbed, but regardless of build, the horn feels very solidly put together. The post bases are generously sized, as seems to be the case with a lot of Taiwan horns, allowing for solid solders. It's a well built horn, and in excellent cosmetic condition.

As for the playing review, I'm going to call this incomplete pending a couple of adjustments that I'll get into below. First, I like this horn, The keywork is modern, and it feels good in the hands. The action seems very well regulated. As usual, I started out with a baseline Selmer C* mouthpiece, and played for a bit, mostly warmup etudes, and the horn felt just a bit stuffy. I switched to the stock Kessler mouthpiece that dave1953 (not to be confused with Dave Kessler) left in the case with the horn, and the stuffiness went away, but the tone felt more pinched and nasal. I was probably being overly critical on that - Kesslers admit that the stock mouthpiece shipped with these horns is not their professional model - and this piece was easy enough to blow, and would probably suit a student well. I just didn't like it that much.

Next I switched to my Meyer 6, which I fully expected would change everything. I was not disappointed. With this setup, the horn really started to sing. I started to work the full range of the horn, and initially thought we had serious problems, as the upper notes (palm keys) would not speak. Upon closer inspection, I discovered that the issue was in the octave mechanism - the ring on the neck octave key is designed to lie very close to the body of the horn, and in this case had been bumped a bit off center, so if the neck was placed into the horn at too severe of an angle (as is the case when I play since I normally play alto to the side as with a tenor rather than straight down the middle) the upper vent was not opening. Up to the C, I had been voicing as overtones (and very easily - altissimo was just as easy later).

Centering the neck solved the problem instantly, and the palm keys and all associated notes played very well, and remarkably in tune for a first session with a new horn. The horn seemed much freer blowing with the neck adjustment, and so for reference I switched back to the Selmer piece - and the stuffiness was gone. I still preferred the sound of the Meyer, so I went back to the Meyer and began to work the low end of the horn.

Here I discovered some adjustment problems in the left pinkie plateau. The mechanism that closes low B when the Bb is pressed had been bent down rather severely, leaving a lot of free play in the Bb key before the B pad closed. There seems to be a felt missing here as well, as there is an audible click in the mechanism. Obviously this resulted in several leaks. C# was also a bit out of adjustment. These problems would not have gone unnoticed long in the hands of a decent player, as they made voicing the bottom end of the horn a real challenge from C down. I have to rate the review incomplete, because I want to take the horn to my tech and get this issue and the neck ring aligned properly before forming my complete opinion. I believe that it is very likely that the horn suffered a severe drop during shipment resulting in the key alignment issues on the low end - I do not in any way see this as a design deficiency.

Beyond what is mentioned above, however, I would have to give this horn, as with the tenor, a very hearty endorsement. It's solidly built, plays well, feels good, and looks good. Kesslers market these horns as student to intermediate level, and their price point matches this position, however these horns are MUCH better than the Bundy and Vito and early Yamahas that were available as student to intermediate horns when I was growing up, and certainly way better than a lot of the crap that is out there today. I would recommend Kesslers horns to anyone looking for a great playing horn at a very reasonable price, and even though I paid 300 for this alto used, it's well worth the 875.00 list (standard model, brushed finish) that Kessler is selling it for. I would feel comfortable gigging with these horns, and I am going to keep both the alto and the tenor around as backups to my Mk VII alto and SML tenor. I will almost certainly buy a Kessler soprano later this year in advance of a few holiday gigs I have coming up.

My view is that Kessler's have really hit the ball out of the park with these horns, providing the best bang for the buck of any sax I've played in this range and price level. I believe that with horns like this in the student to high intermediate range and with things like what Phil Barone is doing with pro level horns at a reasonable price point, the traditional big four have a lot of reason for concern.

I'm going to take the alto and the tenor with me to my big band rehearsal next week and let some of the other guys play them. That should be interesting - the lead alto is a Yani guy, the second alto plays Selmer, the other tenor guy plays SML, and the bari guy plays Keilwerth, so I should be able to get a pretty good range of opinions out of them.

[Xulld]

I'm going to take the alto and the tenor with me to my big band rehearsal next week and let some of the other guys play them. That should be interesting - the lead alto is a Yani guy, the second alto plays Selmer, the other tenor guy plays SML, and the bari guy plays Keilwerth, so I should be able to get a pretty good range of opinions out of them.

I would be delighted to here there opinions!

[DixieSax]

I would be delighted to here there opinions!

Overwhelmingly positive. I related a bit of a story in another thread about the alto guy - we were working on the Dorsey arrangement of "So Rare" and he laid into it on the Kessler.. got done, and was very complimentary - said he couldn't find any negatives about that horn.

We played it again, he went back to his yani, and he couldn't get any of the altissimo notes to speak. We had a good laugh about it.

As it turns out, our bari player's last name is Kessler (no relation). He really liked the tenor, but he said it almost felt like gay incest to be blowing on a Kessler. :evil:

Everybody loved the brushed finish on both horns - even the trombone players noticed them - they are attention grabbing.