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Which sax brand has best intonation?

Sax with the best INTONATION

16K views 48 replies 30 participants last post by  JL 
#1 ·
is the one blowing in my head, but I gotta impress my friends as well !
I am presently using a MkVI but those solid silver Yanis look like the bomb - anyone compared ? I am also impressed with the tone/power of the SMLs . What's your experience ?:mrgreen:
 
#3 ·
I voted Yamahas. But I play mostly Selmers. My only Yamaha is my soprano.

In choosing my horns I factor in everything: intonation, tone quality, response in all registers, feel under the fingers, versatility, projection. For me, the selmer mark VI's are it. However I wanted a new soprano and of all the ones on the market, I am partial to the Yamahas, particularly for their even tone/response in all registers and intonation.
 
#4 ·
I voted Keilwerth, but I do not believe the choice of a saxophone brand should be determined by "I gotta impress my friends"... maybe you'd better get a horn with tiger stripes or made of solid gold (special order of course, and with a custom engraved portrait of its owner on the bell), and forget about the brand :twisted:
 
#6 ·
Yamaha,,, best intonation???? egads,,,,I played a Yamaha tenor for about 5 minutes,, and that was 6 minutes too long... Without a doubt that is the worst horn I ever played. I wouldn't have one if someone gave me one..For one thing,, the metal is extremely soft, so it does dent very easily. It is impossible for a horn to be made of this material have good intonation...
 
#11 ·
Bill Gaulke said:
Yamaha,,, best intonation???? egads,,,,I played a Yamaha tenor for about 5 minutes,, and that was 6 minutes too long... Without a doubt that is the worst horn I ever played. I wouldn't have one if someone gave me one..For one thing,, the metal is extremely soft, so it does dent very easily. It is impossible for a horn to be made of this material have good intonation...
YTS-23 or 875 Custom? Even among Yamaha's, not all horns are created equal.

And what, pray tell, does material have to do with geometry (and intonation)???
 
#12 ·
Yamahas are pretty durable from my experience. The brass used is higher in zinc from what I've heard, but this is just word of mouth. My soprano's taken one nasty, nasty fall and got up without so much as a scratch! I'm still very sorry to this day that I was so careless... and even if yours happens to be a lemon. you should be more mindful of your instrument if you know from experience how easily the metal dents!

Remember, any horn that's not in good adjustment will play out of tune. For example Yamahas are notorious for being unusually flat on the low end right out of the factory. Of all the well-adjusted instruments I've played, Yamahas take the cake in terms of intonation.
 
#14 ·
Nothing quite as durable as old rumors, such as the "soft" brass used in Yamahas. This old saw seems to have originated back when Yamaha started to be competitive with certain European brands. I wonder where this story originally came from? And, Dr. G is correct in asserting that the composition of the brass should have nothing do to with intonation.

And, while I am quite happy with the intonation of the 61s and 62s that I currently have, the best intonation that I have ever experienced was with a Yamaha-built Vito student alto. It was spot-on throughout the entire range of the horn.
 
#23 ·
Bill Gaulke said:
Yamaha,,, best intonation???? egads,,,,I played a Yamaha tenor for about 5 minutes,, and that was 6 minutes too long... Without a doubt that is the worst horn I ever played. I wouldn't have one if someone gave me one..For one thing,, the metal is extremely soft, so it does dent very easily. It is impossible for a horn to be made of this material have good intonation...
You gotta be kidding me. I've had a YAS-61 for 27 years, and it doesn't have a single ding, and the intonation is near perfect. I think maybe you should do more than 5 minutes research before deciding the entire line is worthless.
 
#26 ·
Every horn has its own intonation glitches. There is no such thing as a horn with perfect intonation, it's all about how well you can work around intonation glitches on your horn. None of the sax-greats had perfect intonation, not even Coltrane, and we all know how diligently he practiced, doing 30-second longtones on every single note on his horn before playing. The significance of intonation is greatly overestimated. As long as you're pretty much in tune, you'll be fine, and nobody will notice anything wrong.
 
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