Best Student Curved Sop ?

[djackson_manchester]

What's the best cheap curved soprano available in the UK ? The most common ones are Elkhart and Arbiter , but it's a bit difficult to tell what they're like in a busy music shop with the cheapo mouthpiece provided , the Antiguas are the older models and the Stagg looks a bit too cheap -
any ideas ?

[keithm]

I've got an Arbiter Pro sound curved sop, not bad but not a patch on the old Selmer I stupidly sold about 20 years ago :x
The Bently sops get quite a good name as well although I've not played one, there are a few on ebay.co.uk at the moment.
happy searching !
Keith

[yana sax]

hey, keithm, i'm also from edinburgh! small world!

- Yeah, i don't know about Bentley curved sops, but i have a Bently straight sop, from ebay, and i like it very much!

[singlereed]

I would try the Bently one, the guy offers a money back guarantee. The cheapest used to be an Elkhart from www.starland.co.uk, but Bently beats that price by some margin and the pictures show it to have better keywork. We used to have an Elkhart that my daughter started on, it was tough and reliable but had a rather rough tone and some slightly dodgy intonation. The next step up are the Yanagisawa ones that cost about three times as much. Whatever you get, do get yourself a decent mouthpiece to go with it, the one included is unlikely to show the sax in its best light.

[Greyduster]

I'm looking for a sop, preferably curved. Tried 2 Staggs the other day curved and straight . Best use I could see for either of them would be flattening a bassoon.