[Granto01]

Hi there
I was recently roaming the Chinese equivalent of amazon, Taobao
And something caught my eye, supposedly there was a yanagisawa soprano sax (listed as a s-901)
The only issue was, the price for the instrument was incoherently suspicious, 2200 yuan is equivalent to approx. 300 usd for a new Yana?
So is this a real Yanagisawa?

https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id...ea023768eb3e69607fa843&spm=a230r.1.1957635.16

Thank you guys for your help
-Granto

 

[milandro]

It is impossible to buy a Yanagisawa for that amount of money, so despite of any pictures, no, it is NOT a Yanagisawa.

 

[Granto01]

ok, Thx for the info
-Granto

 

[Christian1]

There's a lot of fake Yanis on eBay as well.

 

[kjkev]

Any tips on how to spot a fake? I saw a Yanagisawa SWO1 on reverb for $2200, which seemed low for even a used instrument

 

[Dave Dolson]

I haven't checked current pricing on new Yanagisawa saxophones, especially sopranos, but a couple of years ago, I bought a new AWO1 (authentic), which was listing at U.S. discounters at over $3,200, for $2100+ (total cost including shipping), from Matthews Musiek in The Netherlands. A price of $2200 doesn't sound too far off . . . not like $300 sounds far off.

I used to investigate and authenticate feature films on video for the major motion picture studios, for a living - a court-qualified expert. There were many TELLS in that process and authenticating a saxophone isn't dissimilar. Look for spelling errors in the stampings, packaging errors, missing expected markings, poor finishing, and evaluate the source.

The asking-price in this case is a major clue. The source in this case (China) is another major clue, although the case shown with the S-901 looked on the surface like a genuine Yanagisawa case. But that alone is no guarantee of legitimacy. It is the totality of the circumstance that leads one to conclude counterfeit. DAVE

 

[LostConn]

When the price is an order of magnitude (or more) lower than it should be, the photograph becomes irrelevant. Even if it depicts a genuine instrument, that is not the horn you will receive for your money.

Only if the price is plausible for the brand does the photo become important, because then it is possible that the photo shows the actual sax that you'll get.