Klarinet Archive - Posting 000292.txt from 1998/11

From: "Sherry Katz" <slkatz@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] doubling
Date: Mon, 9 Nov 1998 18:09:37 -0500

>A good cheap source of instruments is eBay online auction. In saxes, stick
>to major brands. In newer horns, look for a Yamaha YAS-23. There are some
>Vitos out there that were made by Yamaha and look identical, except for
>lacquer color, which are just as good. Avoid Bundys. Their keywork
>idiosyncrasies are much worse than those of the clarinets.
---
The Bundy II saxes are dreadful. Some older Bundys are actually pretty
good. But unless you know what you are doing you can't tell so stay away
from them.

Also, Ebay has been a mixed bag for me. I've had GREAT luck with a soprano
sax and a C Melody sax. I've also had a flute that literally flew apart
after three weeks and a "silver" vintage sax that was nickel. Luckily for
me the sellers of both the flute with keys that flew off and the "silver"
sax agreed to have them returned. But you never know what you are getting
on Ebay, and there's a really high chance that you'll get a student sax with
dried out pads. I do buy stuff on Ebay, but generally only from dealers or
people that I know have high quality stuff. The worst I've been burnt is a
sax that needed a full repad (but my bidding had taken that possibilty into
account) which was advertised as playable and I didn't try to send it back
because I had built the repad into my bidding. Even then, as I said I've
had to send stuff back (which is why dealers are the better bet - also you
can use your mastercard which is safer than sending a money order).

Unless you can see and check out the sax for yourself, the next best place
to get a cheap sax is from a dealer in used saxes who can send you a good
one and who will take the sax back if you don't lilke it.

The safest choice in a cheap sax is the YAS 23 which at least can be played
full the full range and which has good intonation. There are other vintage
horns that sound better (I've seen and played a gorgeous sound King Zephyr I
could have bought for $475 and I've seen nice Conns for $600). But the YAS
23 is a safe choice. Some Vitos are the same as Yamahas and some are not,
so the Yamaha is safer. Avoid the Buffet Evette, it is very hard to play at
least in my experience. Do not buy a Winston, or Jean Baptiste or Monique,
or Jupiter or any of the Taiwanese "student" models. You can get them
really cheap but you get what you pay for.

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