Italian-Made Evette - Are They Any Good?

[Ronnie]

Hello again! I drive around a lot, checking news ads looking for treasures to keep, well - and play. I called a couple of people with saxes for sale and will be seeing them over the weekend. The first one owns an Italian-made Evette tenor and the other one (to be queried separately) an Evette Schaeffer Tenor. About the Italian Evette's, can anyone share his/her experience with this sax? (God, I'm on a wild shopping rampage!)

[singlereed]

Don't expect much of them, Evettes of modern times are low budget student horns. You are not looking at an undiscovered professional classic!

[Ronnie]

Thank you, Singlereed. I'm backing off this one.

[usda]

Before you judge... you try...take your best mouth piece and give them a blow...you never know when something unslung might surprise you...but this advice is only for horns priced really cheap. Some cheap medicore or student horns, with the right set up might really set you on fire.

After all, if the student horn couldn't preform at acceptable levels it would not have made it on the market. Reason would say...it must play at some level of acceptability. Experience, I think, show, when budget is a consideration...mouth pieces are the first victum...so often these horns come with mouth pieces and set ups that are pitiful (or non existent)...they are by default, designed to fail by those ommissions alone.

But chances are the horn was a copy of a really great designed horn...like the Japanese/Chinese Selmers etc. With computer designs of orginal horns, there is really little chance for deviation...unless it is in materials and the way it was put together. Since even budget horn makers...and no one had better say the Orientals are not out to make a buck...probably make some decently designed horns. Weeding out the poor materials and assembly...that leaves reed, mouth piece and setup. Since most parents are just trying to please or encourage a youth...they may not know that the horn has a poor set up...and in exteme cases may not be able to be properly tuned at all...much less the more esoteric problems assosiated with reeds and mouth pieces.

My point being...besides a proper horn tube and proper keys, tone holes and the rest...lack of knowledge of set up, reeds and mouth pieces lead to the poor response from what otherwise might be decent entry level horns. And probably account for various reports of some 'satisfied' and really 'unsatisfied' customers of the same horn manufacture.

The old 'saw' of Saxophone great Sonny Rollins seen leaving a studio with a first class Selmer, in one hand, and in the other a Bundy...may have something to it.