Mauriat tenor after two months of use.

[enrico]

I buy my Mauriat tenor two monts ago,and i'm very happy with the sound,projection and tuning of the instrument,but as an advice to those who have plans to buy one, i have to say that after this two months of use, gigging every nigth with the instrument except three days,the sax beguins to look very ugly (having careful cleaning after the gigs) with some parts of the mate finish showing small black points all over the instrument,and around the soldered bottom and other points with soldered parts.
I don't recomend in any way buy this sax to those who like to have a shining sax or a sax that looks like new for a long time,even if they are very careful with the cleaning, because it's obvious to me that the poor accurate mate finish of this horn can give some serious problems to keep the horn lookin' good,after a short period,if you work with the horn a lot.
On the other side,it's a great horn,easy to play and with a great projection,but not with the centered round and muscular tone of a Conn,for ex, but more selmer-ish in his ergonomics and sound quality,without reach,of course,the potential of the GOOD selmers,like BA or SBA.

[gary]

Hey, thanks for passing that information along, Enrico!

[tonyg]

So what's the cause of the black marks, doesn't it have a lacquer finish.

[enrico]

i don't know the cause,but it's hard to believe.
I try to post some pics of the horn,just to advice those who have plans of buy one.
Several years ago,i've had the same problem when i buy a brand new "mate finish"selmer,and after contact Selmer itself, they take charge of the problem and they change me the horn for another new one (the same mate finish),and,again,the problem re-appear.
After this,they (Selmer) agree to send me another horn to try,and,once again,the same problem with the black marks around the soldered points.
Finally,to resolve the problem,they agree in change the mate tenor for a black lacquered one, to resolve definitively the problem.After a couple of months,dissapointed with the sound of the black laquered superaction,i sell it.
The mos interesting thing about this matter is that, in the long process of send my tenors to selmer and test the new ones,wich happened,as i said,three times,and last about a year with three tenors going and coming from spain to france,i became a friend of one of the guys at Selmer ,who finally admit that due to a new reglament,the use of some laquers have been prohibited,because they contain some chemical product that now is considered not desirable, and they were just trying to find a substitute,with a lot of problems,because the new one didn't work as good as they expected.
That's all,and now,three years after this and with another brand of saxes (Mauriat) the problem it's the same.
Different makers,diferent horns but one thing in common,"mate finish".
I have to say,that i'm very happy with the sound and mechanics of the mauriat.

[tonyg]

The mauriats are supposed to be coming out with more finishes, nickle silver and burnished. So for those who want these there will be options vs. dealing with the antique finish. Of course, the new finishes are a little more money, and in the case of the nickle silver its alot. The lower prices were supposed to be one of the advantages of purchasing one of these, to but so much for that.

[Saxydude]

The lower prices were supposed to be one of the advantages of purchasing one of these, to but so much for that.

TonyG- You can still always buy a matte finish Mauriat for $1990 from SaxAlley. I have not yet had any problems with the finish on my antiqued finish 67R alto and I've played 4 hours every day for 1 1/2 months. These horns are still a bargain over everything else on the market. Is it a necessity to have nickel silver finish?---NO. Since it's a preference the company can naturally charge more, and at that price for a nickel-silver horn it's still a deal! These horns are amazing horns and the price just makes them even nicer. I'd be more upset about gas prices going up than P. Mauriat charging more for a nickel silver finish and raising their prices $100.

[tonyg]

No doubt about the gasoline prices, they are killing me and my dodge ram! I am ready for a nation wide gas revolt by the public. Not sure what that would mean though.

I am definately going to make a point of trying some of the mauriat horns, regardless of the price. If I am going to spend +2k plus on a horn I better like the finish.

[Chris S]

I've had my Mauriat for about 8 months now, and I play an average of 2-3 hours a day on it. Haven't had any problems with the finish, but I'll let you know if I do.

On a side note, I'm not one to care how an instrument looks. As long as it sounds good.

Chris S