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I won an eBay action for this horn back in February of this year. And this thread will sum up my experiences so far.
Shipment
The horn was shipped and packaged very well. Lots of bubble wrap, corks to keep the keys in place and along with a CE Winds certificate of warranty for peace of mind. I was also very impressed with amount of accessories that came with the horn -
The player has everything needed to get started right out of the box. This really impressed me.
The first Impression
I'll start off by saying the horn looks great! The Chines factories have really perfected the finish techniques. (I wish they spent more time perfecting the build quality!) However the errors in the details really take away from the fantastic finish job of the horn.
Very small details and not major concerns especially at the price I paid on eBay. But at retail price I would at least expect the neck/octave key to not have this kind of error.
Yea, It looks nice, but how does it play?
Upon the initial play-test I was pleased. Good response in the lower end. But the higher end was not responsive at all and especially nasty around middle E an D. The tone of these notes were completely different form the rest of the horn. But I figured this was due to the shipment knocking things out of adjustment and figured a $20 trip to the tech would suffice.
Quick Checkup with my Tech
So upon a trip to my tech, I asked him to give me his opinion of the horn. (note emphasis on the word opinion). He said the finish was fantastic however it looked like a beginner assembled the horn and compared the build quality comparable to his training days on saxophone re-hauls. I took it for what it was worth. He spent about 20 min. with the horn and made a few quick adjustments to the lower stack and it played considerable better. Middle E and D were better but were still a pain to get out.
To the wood-shed
I read that soprano sax was the hardest by majority opinion to play. Mainly because of intonation and embouchure support. I agree! The intonation on this horn was pretty tough. I struggled with some notes especially low D (i ended up pressing the low B key to raise the pitch during playing). The higher register of the horn was sharp and the mid range was flat. I spent time with the horn and eventually grew accustomed to these pitch tendencies. Finally, I was able to record a piece with it. (which is why I bought it!) You can hear the horn in action by listening to the track called "Lost and Found You" on my reverbnation page.
Link to Reverb Nation page: http://www.reverbnation.com/raymondjohnson
The careful listener will notice some intonation issues and muffled notes in some places. But overall this is a recording done after some decent practice with the horn.
A slight aging
I played a few practice session with the horn now and then and recorded backup horns on some more of my originals with it. You can also hear the horn on during the middle of the track called "I Just Don't Know" on my reverb nation page. Over time the horn developed some more problems. I noticed some leaks had developed in the F-E-D keys again. (which have a noticeably uneven height). So again the octave E,D became very stuffy. Other parts of the horn became easier with more time and practice. I was able to achieve an acceptable tone all the way up high C but the intonation issues stayed. My solution was to take another $20 and get the horn adjusted again...
Another trip to the tech
To address these problems I took the horn to my tech again. This time I left it with him for a week and he really got a good look at the horn. He ended up replacing a badly seated G pad which was causing my problems up top. Wow this really made huge difference in playability with middle E and D! And it also made the upper register more responsive. However he said that he discovered that the lower F-E-D key mechanism had some major issues. The screws to adjust the keys were cut incorrectly and would not stay in adjustment. (could not be tightened) He ended up placing some tread lock as a temporary fix to keep the screws locked in. He says the mechanism needs to be removed and put together again. :-(
So now what?
So I've contacted CE Winds with my concerns and fully expect they will address this issue with great customer service.
My overall Impression
The horn is a good horn for the price. At this level I am not expecting a tremendously fine playing instrument or top quality manufacturing. I feel it is a student horn in all aspects. (then again If I had a student I would not want to give them a horn that wasn't of good quality. It would be harder to play and harder to learn!). If you are looking for a hobby instrument to play now and then, great! This horn will fill your needs. (minus the build issues I had. I don't think they are a reflection of all the Alpha horns) BUT for professional players I would definitely recommend you purchase a more expensive horn. Personally, I would not feel comfortable performing with the horn even after 5 months. I also don't think it is an instrument that will stand up to frequent playing.
>>>>>This is MY OPINION. This is just a one time review of the many horns CE Winds has sold and I am in no way trying to bash or discredit the company. My experiences with CE Winds thus far have been great. I would deal with them in the future but I definitely wouldn't buy this level of horn again.
Shipment
The horn was shipped and packaged very well. Lots of bubble wrap, corks to keep the keys in place and along with a CE Winds certificate of warranty for peace of mind. I was also very impressed with amount of accessories that came with the horn -
- your basic cleaning kit,
- pad saver,
- cheap HR Mouthpiece,
- CE Winds Silver Shocka Mouthpiece,
- Neck strap,
- few reeds.
The player has everything needed to get started right out of the box. This really impressed me.
The first Impression
I'll start off by saying the horn looks great! The Chines factories have really perfected the finish techniques. (I wish they spent more time perfecting the build quality!) However the errors in the details really take away from the fantastic finish job of the horn.
- One of the necks was slightly bent and had a crooked octave key.
- The corks are felts are low quality synthetic. Not good for keeping adjustments.
- There is a crack in one of the MOP key touches that had simply been glued together in the key cup.
- Gaps in the MOP key touches all along the horn.
- A lot of the screws have burred edges and sort of look unfished
Very small details and not major concerns especially at the price I paid on eBay. But at retail price I would at least expect the neck/octave key to not have this kind of error.
Yea, It looks nice, but how does it play?
Upon the initial play-test I was pleased. Good response in the lower end. But the higher end was not responsive at all and especially nasty around middle E an D. The tone of these notes were completely different form the rest of the horn. But I figured this was due to the shipment knocking things out of adjustment and figured a $20 trip to the tech would suffice.
Quick Checkup with my Tech
So upon a trip to my tech, I asked him to give me his opinion of the horn. (note emphasis on the word opinion). He said the finish was fantastic however it looked like a beginner assembled the horn and compared the build quality comparable to his training days on saxophone re-hauls. I took it for what it was worth. He spent about 20 min. with the horn and made a few quick adjustments to the lower stack and it played considerable better. Middle E and D were better but were still a pain to get out.
To the wood-shed
I read that soprano sax was the hardest by majority opinion to play. Mainly because of intonation and embouchure support. I agree! The intonation on this horn was pretty tough. I struggled with some notes especially low D (i ended up pressing the low B key to raise the pitch during playing). The higher register of the horn was sharp and the mid range was flat. I spent time with the horn and eventually grew accustomed to these pitch tendencies. Finally, I was able to record a piece with it. (which is why I bought it!) You can hear the horn in action by listening to the track called "Lost and Found You" on my reverbnation page.
Link to Reverb Nation page: http://www.reverbnation.com/raymondjohnson
The careful listener will notice some intonation issues and muffled notes in some places. But overall this is a recording done after some decent practice with the horn.
A slight aging
I played a few practice session with the horn now and then and recorded backup horns on some more of my originals with it. You can also hear the horn on during the middle of the track called "I Just Don't Know" on my reverb nation page. Over time the horn developed some more problems. I noticed some leaks had developed in the F-E-D keys again. (which have a noticeably uneven height). So again the octave E,D became very stuffy. Other parts of the horn became easier with more time and practice. I was able to achieve an acceptable tone all the way up high C but the intonation issues stayed. My solution was to take another $20 and get the horn adjusted again...
Another trip to the tech
To address these problems I took the horn to my tech again. This time I left it with him for a week and he really got a good look at the horn. He ended up replacing a badly seated G pad which was causing my problems up top. Wow this really made huge difference in playability with middle E and D! And it also made the upper register more responsive. However he said that he discovered that the lower F-E-D key mechanism had some major issues. The screws to adjust the keys were cut incorrectly and would not stay in adjustment. (could not be tightened) He ended up placing some tread lock as a temporary fix to keep the screws locked in. He says the mechanism needs to be removed and put together again. :-(
So now what?
So I've contacted CE Winds with my concerns and fully expect they will address this issue with great customer service.
My overall Impression
The horn is a good horn for the price. At this level I am not expecting a tremendously fine playing instrument or top quality manufacturing. I feel it is a student horn in all aspects. (then again If I had a student I would not want to give them a horn that wasn't of good quality. It would be harder to play and harder to learn!). If you are looking for a hobby instrument to play now and then, great! This horn will fill your needs. (minus the build issues I had. I don't think they are a reflection of all the Alpha horns) BUT for professional players I would definitely recommend you purchase a more expensive horn. Personally, I would not feel comfortable performing with the horn even after 5 months. I also don't think it is an instrument that will stand up to frequent playing.
>>>>>This is MY OPINION. This is just a one time review of the many horns CE Winds has sold and I am in no way trying to bash or discredit the company. My experiences with CE Winds thus far have been great. I would deal with them in the future but I definitely wouldn't buy this level of horn again.
