my new big bell tenor

[EmAgIn3]

this past week i went to melhart music in mcallen texas. i tried the mad meg, raven, laquer, silver, and my new baby the black nickel. i was very pleased with the service that i got at melhart music. i have played a sa80 now for three years and i needed a new horn for myself instead of using the schools all the time. so i decided to check out cannonball but i was a bit weary because of all the smack talk i have read about them. all of that was put behind me when i put my mouth to the mpc.... it was heavenly. i was able to get low notes out withought even having to be warmed up. it had a very rich tone on all of them. the silver was a bit brighter sounding, jazzy style. the mad meg was by far the ugliest thing i have ever seen and i didnt like the playing of it. the raven was amazing and then i tried the regular laquer. that didnt seem to want to play for me. i must have went back and forth a million times from my sa80 to one of the cannonballs. and to my surprise the people at melhart didnt get the least bit uncomfy or agitated with me going back and forth a million times. but once i got to the black nickel... i knew it was for me. it played the easiest and had the best tone.

i highly highly highly recomend melhart music in mcallen texas. http://www.melhart.com/
the band department there is amazing and the people are friendly. it was even sealed with a handshake.
if you live in texas and are looking for a sax. check them out

also another thing i was happy about with my cannonball was when i emailed sheryl at cannonball music i recieved a free big bell t-shirt

well i highly recomend the cannonball tenors. if you play a certain style. theres a cannonball for you

[mark_m_ny]

I wonder what the profit margin is on a Taiwanese horn selling here for more than $2K? Must be well worth it to buy one of these (from the sellers point of view).

My recommendation would have been to try a silver plated series 3 neck on that SA80, might have become a better canonball for just $300 at a better resale value. But too late now...

[WriterMom]

Congratulations on your new saxophone!

[T992]

To each his own. Id take the cannonball over the SA for sure. Price value who cares if you are happy with the horn! BTW I love those big bells in black nickel, they are killer! Congrats on your purchase!!!

Joe

[saxchado]

I live right here in the heart of cannonballl country. In fact, I know Tevis Laukat personally...played a concert with him in April. Anyway, Those horns are fantastic. I'd also take one over a SA any day of the week. They are tai made, it's true, but the quality controll is unbeatable, and on top of that, each horn is fine tuned, not only mechanically. There is a reason their motto is "necks above the rest" (at least, it used to be) and that is because each neck is hand finished (by Tevis, I think) and tailored to the horn. I was once a great skeptic of the horns, but having seen the improvements from the very first ones off the line to what they are producing now, I am really excited to see where cannonball may be in 15 years.

Best of luck to you with your new horn! Anyone who tries to tell you that you were taken advantage of has not discovered for themselves the wonder of the cannonball!

I myself am looking at their big bells as the answer to my hunt for a soprano. Monster players, those things are!

[danodownunder]

As A pro player and repair tech all i have to say is nothing sounds better than SML saxophones. they are louder richer and more in tune than anything built today.

[Captain Beeflat]

Danz.
A bold statement. Are you saying that the SML is better, and more in tune than anything made today, or better & more in tune than enything that you have currently tried? From your postings one gets the distinct feeling that you have recently obtained the SML & are still in the honeymoon period; am I correct :?: .....Bb

[danodownunder]

Yes it is a bold statment and no i have had the horn for a while and every now and then i am in a position to be re surprised by the power and tone of my rev d tenor, as i was the day i wrote that post after being in a local music store and trying out the latest and greatest from Keilworth and Yanagisawa bronze horns etc and a few other makes from Taiwan, and i am thinking that these horns are nice then pop out to the car for the SML to see how it stacks and the differance in power and tone was outstanding to all in the shop as well and i don't understand how come the Japanese or Taiwanese have not copied the bore and taper of these puppys and erged up the keywork a bit because they really do have somthing I have not yet heard in ALL other horns and yes i see own and play vintage horns including mk 6's in bulk. I still own a selmer tenor and rarely play it . This is of course my opinion. peace..........

[gary]

Scheiß. Got something against punctuations and sentances much less paragraphs?

[danodownunder]

sorry did not know it was a school test, call it flow of thought writting, but hey the spelling is correct and people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. sentances. !!! sentences (: peace............

[Jerry K.]

... i don't understand how come the Japanese or Taiwanese have not copied the bore and taper of these puppys

Danz, I personally loved the tone I "could" produce on my SML alto but the left pinkie table was really bad for me. Just too close and uncomfortable to get used to, though I tried.

Regarding why the Japanese or Taiwanese manufacturers don't copy SML, I'd say they went with the people's choice and copied Selmer. Not many companies would target a company that quit producing saxophones, and produced very limited quantities of horns through the production run. Having said that, if an enterprising company were to reproduce the Rev D horn with all of the features of that horn, the same brass, the same wall thickness, rolled tone holes, etc..., and it had the same tone and intonation with modern ergonomics, I would probably buy one. As a lot of things impact a horns tone and intonation beyond bore size, one would have to invest very heavily in tooling to produce a horn that in the end will probably still not be as good as the original.

[danodownunder]

Thanks Jerry, yes i understand about the left hand pinkie table and i have modified the one on my tenor, as i have posted elsewhere on this forum the solution was quite simple. they were to my mind made for a large hand, so i moved the left thumb rest down the horn about an inch then silver soldered an extension to the mechinism to meet it and increased the size of the G# pinkie strike plate. Plus moved the neck strap ring to rebalance the horn and voila good ergos all round to go with the sound and what a sound after 30 years of playing and repairing i was prepaired not to be impressed again but i was wrong. Still reckon somone should copy there bore and taper etc. peace.......