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Taiwanese produced bass - why not?

19K views 66 replies 32 participants last post by  milandro 
#1 Ā·
Hello everyone!

I've got an old Triebert bass-saxophone, but I am not satisfied with it's intonation, playing comfort and range. But this model was the only one who was affordable for me. I would like to buy a new bass saxophone, but the only new ones available are Keilwerth, Selmer and Eppelsheim, which are about 12.000 $. I've got an excellent Cannonball Soprano, which was about 1500$ cheaper than other professional sopranos and I like it very much. Considering this, I wonder: Why don't they produce bass-saxophones in Taiwan? It would be wonderful to own an affordable bass-sax with good intonation and handling like the Antigua and Cannonball Sopranos. Why are the currently available basses so expensive? I doubt that the material is 2 times as expensive as the bariton material. I think that they are so expensive, because there is no mass production, they are produced in Europe and/or they are made by only one worker. But I think there will be demand for bass saxophones in the price range between 5000 to 6500 $. Don't you think so? Is there a taiwanese company which is interested in producing bass saxophones?

Thank you, Benny
 
#53 Ā·
Diva when you say "affordable bass" what do you mean. I would love so much to get one of these things . Because when you look at it , the Bari is not that low. I want to be low , like R-Kelly Low.
 
#56 Ā·
bari_sax_diva said:
I've played the IW bass sax...The keywork on this one, however, included a right-hand reach that was so long as to be virtually unworkable for me...The Keilwerth I tried at Roberto's a couple years ago didn't give me the same problem, nor does a friend's Conn.
Looks like IW has a modern bass available now. I'm not familiar enough to know whether it's based on a Keilwerth or Selmer. Also, a little more expensive than their earlier model.
 
#60 Ā·
Gear4Music are selling a low Bb Bass sax modelled on the Conn/Buescher type. It's about Ā£2,600 ($5,500). I don't know how it plays, but they offer a no questions asked, 14 day refund if you don't want to keep it. All I can say is that their Tenor Sax (which costs about Ā£200/$400) is a respectably solidly built instrument, heavy (ie. not flimsy) with good solid keywork that would be frankly very difficult to bend, and pretty decently in tune with itself. I think the sop-bari models that they make are Yani copies.
I'd say this bass is worth a go, although if you're not in the UK and did want to send it back for refund you'd lose out on the shipping costs.

http://www.gear4music.com/Woodwind_Instruments/Saxophone/Bass_Saxophone_by_Gear4music_Gold.html

Best wishes,

John.
 
#61 Ā·
John - I'm truly tempted - especially by the fact that it's in UK prices, and in the UK already - no dreaded import /shipping problems. They're only in York, and even provide a map !

I just love a couple of quotes on their website, specifically the bass sax page you provided the link to-

a) This instrument is ideal for beginners to advancing players alike. (and)
b) This sax features an innovative built-in instrument stand, which is particularly useful for younger or smaller players.

I suppose it'd make a change from starting kids on alto sax, or curved soprano... :D
 
#64 Ā·
If a bass would have come from Taiwan it would have been considerably more expensive than a Chinese one and given the possible market size and the price that it would have had I am not sure that I would be so appealing once it reached the final buyers.

It never happened and probably will never happen.

Orsi, before stopping their saxophone production which had been in agony for years, tried to find a customer for their ancient tooling for Bass and Contrabass.

The first company which they got in touch with were Italian makers who, once they had seen the ancient wooden tooling, turned down the offer and are still considering whether to develop their own bass. This might happen, or not.

Benedikt Eppelsheim makes his great instruments in Germany ( not cheap!) which are by far the best engineered instruments in the world. Keilwerth is thinking what to do with this. They would make one if you order it... I would always prefer the instrument of Eppelsheim who makes these things more often.

The Brazilian companies mentioned in this thread ( Stainer and Lopes) do produce Basses and have done so all these years, but they tend to produce special instruments with reduced dimension or extended range rather than what most would consider a standard bass .

The person who has been involved in distributing these instruments around the world is the Italian importer Gilberto Lopes.

 
#65 Ā·
About the Keilwerth bass....
I was at the factory in Nauheim before it closed and up tp that time, they would make a bass when ordered. I am not sure it is still that way, since they closed the Nauheim factory some years ago, but I would assume that they still have the tooling. Their bass is keyed to High Eb, although 2 of their apprentices in the past made a couple of high F# to low A horns for their apprentice graduation projects.

The sound, and intonation of the JK bass, to my ears and experience, is head and shoulders above the Selmer design (which I also played extensively), which several of the Chinese manufacturers have copied.

Gotta say, I am intrigued by those Brazilian horns I keep seeing clips of....but leary as they all seem a little pitchy to my ear. When I hit the lottery, maybe then I can get an Epplesheim, lol!

To my knowledge, none of the Chinese horns have copied JK yet.
 
#66 Ā·
About the Keilwerth bass....
I was at the factory in Nauheim before it closed and up tp that time, they would make a bass when ordered. I am not sure it is still that way, since they closed the Nauheim factory some years ago, but I would assume that they still have the tooling. Their bass is keyed to High Eb, although 2 of their apprentices in the past made a couple of high F# to low A horns for their apprentice graduation projects.

The sound, and intonation of the JK bass, to my ears and experience, is head and shoulders above the Selmer design (which I also played extensively), which several of the Chinese manufacturers have copied.

Gotta say, I am intrigued by those Brazilian horns I keep seeing clips of....but leary as they all seem a little pitchy to my ear. When I hit the lottery, maybe then I can get an Epplesheim, lol!

To my knowledge, none of the Chinese horns have copied JK yet.
The Eppelsheim bass mechanism is extremely complex, although it is solid and dependable. It wouldn't be easy to copy. The bell-to body braces on the Asian bass marketed by Oleg are copies of Eppelsheim parts, however, done with Eppelsheim's blessing.
 
#67 Ā·
JK representative on this forum declared, after the company passed in new hands that they bass was made to order.

Hello Jolle,

Thank you for your post and question. The JK Bass Saxophone is available but at this point is basically "made as ordered" unless a dealer happens to have one in stock already. The actual sale price is up to the retailer you choose to purchase it from, and the delivery ETA would depend on when the confirmed order is placed with Buffet Group and the factory. I believe an ETA for end of the year delivery for an order placed now would be accurate. Please keep in mind these instruments are made entirely by hand - every key - so it does take time.
 
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