Monique Saxes

[hotsax]

Can someone give me some info on the Monique line of saxophones.I have seen on eBay that they are comparing these horns to Mark VI's, I find that hard to believe,but who knows maybe they are.If anyone has in-depth info on these horns please let me know or tell me your opinion if you have personally played one of these horns.

[tonal ambition]

Your words were " ... I find that hard to believe, ..."

I'm here to tell you that you should trust your instincts on this one.

[tonal ambition]

Oh, and this is so not a French sax ... it's made in Taiwan,
"French Engineered" means they copied a Selmer.

[Andrew]

I've actually played on one before, and really, it wasn't all that bad. I mean, it wasn't a VI, but it played fairly well for such a cheap instrument. The metal was kind of soft, though. I played one of those Purple Altos...it looked cool, and I played it and it gave a nice full bright sound w/my NY Meyer on it.

[JPrince]

Well, I own a Silver Satin and Gold Tenor. Let me tell you, it is no Mark VI! With that out of they way, it is still a good horn. I find it a good advanced intermediate horn. But then again, I usually play Bari and not a Tenor, but I like it as a doubler.

[arsenic87]

I had one for a total of two days. Took it back and traded it for a king 615. The king is a much better built horn, not the greatest thing in the world, but it was better than the monique. Some of the problems I had with the monique: the low C# would not operate, the spring for the low E would not hold the key open, it appeaared that the horn was made of pewter, could have been a nickel alloy or something, whatever it was, it wasn't brass. The horn was not in tune with itself, overtones on low C were at least a quarter tone off C2. G2, G#2 and A2 all tended to break into multiphonics.

I may have just got a crappy one.

Ron.

[phathorn]

I have one that is about to become a lamp....sucks isn't even close to a powerful enough term to decribe that piece of excrement.

[capo]

vespro saxophones?? anyone has tried it??

[Saxdaddy]

I just had a very nice looking silver with gold keys come across the bench. At first I didn't want to work on it, but I also wanted to take a real close look, so I took it in. This was one bought from that guy standing in front of his store on Ebay. Here is the run down.
Neck fit was very poor, and tenon was lacquered.
3/4 of the pads leaked, and this was brand new.
Tone holes were poorly finished.
Key fit poor. THe usual pivot screw drilled at a odd angle bothing the post and the key.
Pads very soft to make up for tone hole.
Hey the horn had so so intonation, not very good, but not as bad as one might think. The response was ok, but the tone just was kinda a void, lacking character, volume, color.

I don't know how much they sell them for, but I would have to say that these are not for me, much rather have a Yamaha student horn.

[colibri]

Here's my in-depth experience with a Monique silver plated soprano.

Negative: Opened the case and took the horn out, one piece of felt (which aren't really felt, it's a blue synthetic material) fell out of the horn. The C# key was bent out of whack, which made low notes near impossible to play. The octave key was levelled a lot lower than the plastic thumb rest. It delayed the action of the whole octave mechanism, but it's a relatively easy fix for an experienced tech. The spring tensions were uneven and the whole key work just felt awkward, comparing to let's say, a Yanagisawa SC-901 or Keilwerth SX90II. The neck was badly fitted. Even if you tighten the screw, the neck is still too loose. There was a dent on the neck tenon. The palm keys are relatively easy to play, but they all play sharp (I'm experienced with the soprano). The palm keys were too low. After an hour of playing, another piece of cork fell. :Rant2:

Positive: It has a nice big sound. With a Lawton 8BB and Rico #4, it almost sounds like a little alto.

[Phat Pat]

I have a monique bari. I have had a lot of problems getting it to play with a smooth dark sound. but for an edgy sound it is pretty good, low end sounds a lot better than a lot of the saxes I have played. I am still experimenting with mouthpiece/reed combos, so I'll see how it turns out. I'm pretty happy with it overall. Oh and the secondary octave key hole (the one that triggers on the G key when you are holding the octave key) tends to make noise when open.

If your looking for a sax on a budget, its not a bad way to go, well, in a bari anyway. If you want something amazing, be prepaired to pay the price of 2 or 3 of these

[Dr G]

If you want an amazing bari, find a good Buescher TrueTone from the late 1920's!

[Randall]

Moanique is probably a better spelling for these "horns".
And please, whatever you do, don't buy from the huckster in Mass. named D*m*n*c.
You'll rue the day you plunked down your cash.
For roughly the same money, you could pick up a Cannonball Big Bell that will really make you smile (among others!).

[Phat Pat]

the big problem with Monique horns is that they are verry hit or miss one is great another is horrible, even if they were manufactured side by side. anyway IMO if you get a good one, its a good price, so try it before you buy if at all possible. I got a good one, apperently I was lucky.

[Ronnie]

I'm not biased at all when it comes to musical instruments. Like Steve Goodson said, you have to do a lot of research. Branch new horns doesn't mean they will sound right the moment you pick up the instrument. Same goes with the vintage saxes. You have to try them first. If you are opting for any horn, have a knowledgeable saxophonist, if you're not sure of yourself testing it, to try it for you. This way you have an assurance or someone to blame if something goes wrong (lol) with the horn OR someone to give credit to. If a new or vintage sax doesn't sound right,
have a tech find out why. I learned my first lessons with a Jupiter. I bought it cheap, too. When I brought it to class, the tune was so out of whack, my instructor almost fainted. He took a look at it, tried it himself, whipped out his chromatic tuner (just to be sure), and found out that it needed a lot of adjustments. It cost me $65 to make it sound right since I was new to saxophones. I had a lot of good times with it, learned a lot from it before I decided to let it go. Now I have a vintage Buescher Big "B" tenor and alto and wouldn't trade them for any Selmer out there (pardon me, Selmer purists, but my Bueschers suit me just fine). Don't think I'm anti-French, I have acquired a Buffet Crampon SDA tenor last week and an Evette Schaeffer Tenor (looks like a BC-SDA) earlier today.I said would not trade for any Selmer, right? It doesn't mean I will not buy a Selmer. Given the right opportunity, but of course, I will!

[musicgeek2]

I have a monique curved soprano sax and I love it! It needed a new mouthpiece and case when I got it, but the sax itself is great! I have never had any tuning issues, and everyone who has heard it has loved the sound. I find it very rich. It also has easy to play key configuration for the pinky keys which I fell in love with the first time I played it. I think it is a great sax at a great price.

[rezubler]

So far, I have been happy with my Monique Pro nickel-plated tenor (got it for under $500 in April 2005). While it is NOT equal to a top-line horn, mine is more than adequate to play any style of music with a good tone and intonation. I am sure I would have a different opinion if my Monique was delivered unplayable or was poorly constructed/packaged. I would NOT pay $800 for this horn, but for $500, it would find it hard to equal it in value. With my Berg Larsen mpcs, it can deliver a big sound -- not too different than a Yamaha-like sound. My only complaint is that the high register (above high-C) is a bit flat for my setup. Low register played perfectly out of the case with nice subtone capability.

Like the other have said -- try before you buy if you can. I've played some crappy Selmers and Conns that I would have to spend over $500 on just to get them to be decent again -- so a top-line horn is no guarantee either, but at least you can usualy get them serviced. You will have issues with getting service on most Asian or 2nd-tier German stencils...

[David.schoultz]

When i first was looking. I have my R. Malorne of Paris (they got bought up by some darn frenchies) which is really old and needs like $1000 in work on it.

So I got one and the mouthpiece it came with was total junk. Use an E. Rousseau rubber mouthpiece, and had a pomarico crystal for it.

The sound I got off the Pomarico really cleared out the sound on the horn. Its more to get used to, but its all in the chops anyhow on any horn.

Unfortunatly fumbled the mouthpiece and you can imagine (I nearly cried).

[bluesaxgirl]

I have a Monique alto sax, who I apparently named Monique. Besides it being blue, it's sound is way better than a lot, and I prefer it over the Yamaha 23 sax I rented for six weeks. It's been in the shop once for bent keys...The metal is soft. I heard Monique sax quality can be a hit or miss thing, I think I was lucky. :D