I was first introduced to Cannonball when my band director heard about Cannonball in a brochure. He then told me about Cannonball and gave me the brochure. What got me interested is the Black-Nickel Finish on the Bari. And so my alto (yamaha student model) was in repair and when I went to pick it up, I saw on display, the big bell stone series alto w/ the Black-Nickel finish. And so I tried it out, and loved the sound, and holding it and playing it, the keys and everything sorta felt like my yamaha. That made me love it more. And I talked to my band director about his opinion, well he isn't very good at saxophone so he didn't know. But the next day, the same day the repair tech comes into the band room to pick up and drop off instruments. My band director asked him about Cannonball, He said that he sees Cannonball saxophones in the repair shop pretty often. I am really interested in the bari. Now I've heard reviews about how great Cannonballs are. And from first impression I think they're a good saxophone too. But how reliable are they? More specifically, since they aren't as common as yamaha, will it cost more for repairs?
All I can state pertains to my own stable of Cannonballs, and I can but say that mine (all Stone Series or Vintage) have held up like champs. They have held their regulation as well if not better than Selmers and Yamahas I've owned. Not that it matters at all, but my Bari, ALto, and Soprano are black nickel.
My tech said that the older models (before the global series) that CB first made were a bit spotty on build quality.
I think the issue most have with them is TONE. Some players don't like the tone-- at least of the ones they've tried.
Certainly the exception and not the norm. Having worked prior in a repair shop, I can say that the Cannonballs I've seen were quite reliable, and were not in the shop any more often than any other brand.
Our sales shop has found them to be top sellers, and our repair shop attests to their quality as we seldom if ever have one in for service. Typically, the service is for user-caused damage, not reliability issues.
I have three Cannonballs, a big bell tenor, a global series sop, and a 2003 Excalibur "student/intermediate" alto. I have had all three for about two years. I bought the tenor new and the other two used. All new Cannonballs from authorized dealers come with a five year warranty. The dealer I bought it from also said that Cannonballs come from the factory already set-up and if I was not satisfied with the set-up I had 30 days to return it to the dealer and their techs would make sure it was set up to my satisfaction.
For two years prior to acquiring these three saxes, I had a student model Alcazar which I had purchased new. I never had any problems with it.
I bought the Excalibur alto on Ebay for $292.00. I took right to the tech and they said it had no leaks, no pad issues, or any other problems. Nor was it in need of regulation. I was totally shocked. Even though it played very well, I just knew there had to be SOMETHING wrong or out of adjustment. Its been playing great ever since. It sounds just a good as my two "professional-level" Cannonballs. The only difference is the feel of the keywork. I have read several reviews from Cannonball owners who have commented that these horns are built "like tanks." While I haven't owned one long enough to make a valid judgment one way or the other, I will say that so far I have not seen any evidence to the contrary. Just my two cents.
I own a tenor Big Bell mad Meg for over 9 years now. I practice 3 hours a day and seldom miss a session. I play about 25 gigs a year as well. I have brought the sax into the selmer shop maybe 5 or 6 times for check up, and after 15 minutes they hand it back and say its perfect. I have changed only the palm key pads this year and was easy enough to do myself. Its built like a tank maybe a tad bit heavy on the neck but has never let me down.
It seems like they had some quality control issues with earlier models, but not anymore. They're manufactured in Taiwan, but when they get back to the states each one is checked for problems by a technician and tweaked, so there are rarely any issues anymore.
All I can say is that while my BBSS tenor (a MadMeg - unlacquered) looks like a very sick chameleon, it still hold up amazingly well, no real issues whatsoever for almost five years. Other than having its key height changed on some parts of the lower stack and a minuscule leak in the upper stack that was a minute's fix, this horn hasn't needed anything up to now. My tech commented very favourably on the keywork. I'd say they're as good as any pro horn in terms of built and reliability.
Ditto here. Though there were minor issues with the reliability of the glue holding on the precious stone touches when they were on that kick.
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