Low cost sopranino

[singlereed]

I just acquired an Earlham sopranino from Saxophones.co.uk - the UK cost is £535 inc VAT, that's £455 for those of you outside the EEC who don't pay the VAT - about US $700.

It is heavily modelled on the Yani, with only a few subtle changes. The finish is only marginally poorer - I did own the Yani for a while and never thought it up to the standard of their other horns. I played it top to bottom against a tuner with the supplied mouthpiece (which plays at least as well as the Yani one) and it was easy to centre a note in tune all over the range. The set-up out of the box was fine, it has quality pads that are seating well. Even the engraving is good and the case is well up to the job.

I am sure this is the same instrument being offered from time to time on eBay under the 'Dixon' name (and maybe by Sugal too?) - the bulbous pearl touches are a bit distinctive. Earlham is a brand of a major UK distributor, Bill Lewington a family business who have a good name for service over here.

I am very pleased with it and think a Nino for a reasonable price is well overdue. Roll on the $2000 bass....(that's just wishful thinking!)

http://www.saxophones.co.uk/Earlham%20Sopranino.htm

Go to the saxophones.co.uk homepage for the on-line store, the individual items do not come up under separate urls.

[Dave Dolson]

What?! No High F? DAVE

[singlereed]

Yes, exactly like the Yanagisawa. At least, no high F key, but the note is easy enough to get.

[Dave Dolson]

Maybe I shoulda written a "tongue-in-cheek" statement. DAVE

[cmelodysax]

Considering the size, possibly 'nino-in-cheek' would be more appropriate ? (size of the sax, that is.....)
Maybe I'll just spray my little Eb clarinet gold and confuse the he!! out of everybody, now that's a cheap nino. :lol:
Seriously, it's good to see something nice from Earlham, a few years back their alto's were a bit on the 'agricultural' side - and that's putting it nicely. I suspect the overall quality of their instruments has gone up if Lewington is handling them. What mouthpiece comes with it - a Babbitt like the other Earlhams ?

[paulwl]

Has anybody tried the Rampone-Cazzani sopranino? I tried their Saxello at WSC XIII and really liked it.

[Dave Dolson]

Paulwl: I own a Rampone sopranino. For a 'nino, it is terrific - well made, gorgeous finish, nice case, good intonation, good response, etc. It is light years better than a Selmer 'nino I once tried at Rayburns.

It is keyed to hi-F, too, but I do not play those high notes (heck - EVERYTHING is high on this number) in defference to my doggie.

I sold my tipped-bell Rampone soprano, but only because I had difficulty dealing with it on stage while playing other horns. It was a really nice soprano. The Rampone 'nino is of similar quality. DAVE

[singlereed]

For the Eb,E, F it is easy to play with fingering for G, A, A+G# each using the side E key - I learned these from a Mark VI soprano player, as that model lacks the front F. These are more reliable than the high palm key notes as you are working with more length of tube.

The only difficult area is pitching the very highest palm key notes, which is extremely sensitive to mouthpiece placement. Moving from C# to D doesn't really change the pitch at all unless you drive it up with your embouchure and breath, but that, generically, is sopraninos for you. On the notes above that you can easily hit it half a tone low.

The mouthpiece has a funny name, it looks like 'Sendefu' in some stylised script, cheaply silk screened on. Nevertheless, it does the job and is well-finished. I will try a better one when I get the chance, I was just making the point that it comes as a perfectly playable outfit.

Tinminer, the Earlhams generally are unashamedly low budget student horns but like most Taiwanese jobs are becoming less agricultural in feel, as I say, there isn't much difference between this and the Yani. Certainly not £1000 worth of difference.

Dave, we don't have a dog but our cat immediately got very disturbed when we got this out. Up till now, he has tolerated saxophones, he has learned to recognise flute, clarinet and piccolo so I am sure he will soon learn to recognise what is coming when he sees the nino.

[cmelodysax]

Singlereed - yes, I wasn't putting Earlham down, just that when I taught a few years back, there was a very noticeable difference between what students could get out of an Earlham vs. the basic Yamaha alto.
Indeed, I have an older Jupiter soprano (looks out of place with the Martins) - but for the little use it gets it's OK - beefed up with a slant sig HR Link (found in a junk box in Hunts music shop in Camberley in the 60's) .
At least, it'll do until a repairable Martin sop comes along for peanuts - OK, I can dream.

(back to the subject) How about 'nino reeds, is the mpc table much too small for soprano ones, or maybe I can use my little Eb clari reeds... ?

You can see I'm getting tempted, especially when I can source one this side of the Atlantic, with good backup.. At that price I suspect they will hold their value better than some, considering the alternatives.

Regards, Alan.

[Dave Dolson]

tinminer: I use Vandoren blue-box #2 reeds made for sopranino saxophone, on a Selmer S-80 E-facing 'nino mouthpiece.

My Rampone is keyed all the way to hi-F but like I said, what's the point? I suppose if one were playing music written for a 'nino and need to play that high, it could be done. But I play improvised old-time jazz and have the freedom to NOT play that high.

The horn is gorgeous, though (gold-plated like it's bigger tipped-bell Bb brother) and fully engraved. A real work of art. I'd have no trouble recommending the Rampone sopranino to anyone interested in buying a 'nino. DAVE

[paulwl]

Thanks for your evaluation, Dave. I'll have to check one out!

[singlereed]

I'm using Vandoren Sopranino 2 reeds. Eb clarinet reeds can be cut down to fit, but the nino reeds are better.

[singlereed]

I'm in the middle of a sax summer school and had the little Earlham nino played by two members of the Apollo Sax Quartet - they reckon it's more in tune than their Yanagisawa, agree that it feels identical. The tone is slightly less smooth, but this is with the standard mouthpiece, the only one we had to try it with, and probably inferior to the Yani mouthpiece.

[UOPJohnny]

I have 3 more years of school left to go at the Conservatory.

I'm thinkin it would be impressive to acquire that Earlham 'nino and play somethin at my (super-)senior recital. Hopefully that'd be unforgettable in a good way! Maybe I could play Ibert's Histoires, you know... just naturally up an octave. I got it out, leafed through it and found that the highest note is a high E; it must be a sign! I figure Histoires is slow enough that I could successfully tackle the intonation issues, plus, the piece is sexy and gorgeous. Of course, if I could acquire it now, I could have tons of playing experience on it and my repertoire could be far less limited...

[saximum]

Do you mind if I ask, how much did you get your Rampone nino for?

I borrowed a Rampone curved "Super" (cheapest) edition soprano, and I was not impressed at all. The price was 2000 Euros. I kept having the plastic glue-on buttons fall off while I was playing. There was a rounded
out (stripped) adjustment screw, and I never quite found the center of tuning. I would like to try an R2 or deluxe.

In fact in a few weeks I will be in Italy, an hour from the Borgani
factory. Certainly I can try to find a Rampone to try somewhere.

In a few months I will own a Yanagisawa sopranino, but I have not
signed any papers yet. I will get it for 1700 Euros. Rampone wanted
nearly 5000 Euros for their sopranino model when I asked for a quote.
It might be worth it, but there is no place within 1000 km to try one, or even look at one, let alone any Rampone saxophone, nor do I have the money. I have a Yanagisawa alto, and I like the quality.

I have seen the cheap ninos on Ebay under the name Mason. I also saw
someone with "mason" in their e-mail address selling a Yanagisawa nino
for about 2500. The cheap ninos are probably "Jin Yin" from china.
I have a Jin Yin soprano, and it is otherwise good, except that the neck holder has just a screw that digs into the neck directly. It does not tighten the the brass around the neck. One neck is quite loose, and it plays clearly
worse than the other neck which fits tighter. Strangely enough, I haven't
seen any other saxes like this, Jin Yin included. It must be some prototype or something. It is otherwise a pretty accurate Yanagisawa imitation.





Paulwl: I own a Rampone sopranino. For a 'nino, it is terrific - well made, gorgeous finish, nice case, good intonation, good response, etc. It is light years better than a Selmer 'nino I once tried at Rayburns.

It is keyed to hi-F, too, but I do not play those high notes (heck - EVERYTHING is high on this number) in defference to my doggie.

I sold my tipped-bell Rampone soprano, but only because I had difficulty dealing with it on stage while playing other horns. It was a really nice soprano. The Rampone 'nino is of similar quality. DAVE

[singlereed]

I am sure the Earlham is identical to the 'Mason' and as I say is a very good imitation of a Yanagisawa. I wouldn't buy the Yani if I were you, get the Earlham and save euro 1200 or whatever it is.

[Dave Dolson]

Saximum: I bought the Rampone 'nino from Woodwind and Brasswind, Indiana, USA, a few years ago when they offered them in their catalog. I recall paying around $1900 for it. DAVE

[Jack W.]

I thought I'd resurrect this thread because I found a cheap sopranino, stencilled "Century", over here:

http://www.1800usaband.com/htmls/itementryview.asp?itementryid=5886

This retailer also supplies the Musica curved soprano, which was mentioned in a thread in the "Soprano Sax" area and of interest to some posters.

This looks like the Earlham and Saxophone.com Yani copies, keyed to high E.

Could it really be, under $600 for a sopranino? I am trying to figure out a way to rationalize buying one, though I'm sure I can't think of a single use I'd have for it, apart from scaring my cat! :o

[singlereed]

I think that is the same baby. I'm still using mine, it still plays great and my cat is still scared.

[Mime]

Oh god, don't even think of buying a Century!!!
Century is nearly the worse sax I've ever played! or heared!
I can just say they sound like crap and I wouldn't buy a century ever again.

[singlereed]

That looks like the Earlham, which is still playing great after a year with no adjustment. Incidentally, Earlham saxes in general are rubbish, but the 'nino is a good'un and I am sure the budget brands are just stencilling it.