[batonstar]

I'm looking for an alto sax as an xmas pressie, and I am looking on Ebay for ideas.
I live in the UK but if I think there is a sax from a different country such as USA etc. I would be interested.

Thing is I don't know much about some sax brands so I would be grateful if you could list the brands I should avoid (such as the Chinese makes) as I am not sure sometimes if the saxes I am looking at are any good or not.

You don't have to spell out the whole words on the brands if you don't want to but as long as you can use enough letters so I can work out for myself which make it is that will be fine.

 

[queperknuckle]

I am selling a sax. How much do you want to pay? And are you looking for a pro horn? I'm selling my yamaha yas62 for $1500. It's currently being completely repadded. The horn is in basically in mint condition, with no dings or dents and has its original case.

 

[stitch]

... so I would be grateful if you could list the brands I should avoid (such as the Chinese makes)

The trouble is there are so many brands it's just about impossible for anyone to give an opinion on all of them. Add to that the fact that importers may put the same brand on saxes from different suppliers at different times and it gets even harder.

Bearing in mind you're in the UK, and it probably makes sense to go new (or at least good condition modern second-hand), it would be hard to go wrong with a Yamaha, which tend to hold their price in the second-hand market. The Jupiter 700 series saxes are well regarded, and Trevor James models are often recommended by teachers. If you look on this forum you'll find that both Gear4Music and Walstein saxes seem to offer astonishing value for money, and people have also been complimentary about Bentley and Hanson.

You don't have to avoid Chinese/Taiwanese horns per se (most of the above originate from one or the other), but you DO most definitely want to avoid Indian ones - they really can only in the very loosest possible terms be described as saxophones. Once you start looking at proper saxes you should be able to spot them easily enough, but the red pads (and professed ignorance of the sellers) is usually a good giveaway.

I'm sure others will add more, good luck in your search.

 

[Canadiain]

How much is your budget is the first question.

If its high then just ignore the cheap new horns, if its low then you need to find one of the chinese horns that is OK (there are a few it seems), or else dabble in the used name brand or second string brands, and thats where is gets more complicated.

Generally speaking though, if its New, and less than a couple of hundred quid on ebay, then its not going to be too good.

 

[stitch]

The saxes I mentioned above are commonly available in the UK, but if you want to look further afield, Bob Campbell's Legend saxes have a great reputation (and having dealt with Bob I can recommend him as a fine guy) on this board, as do Dave Kessler's (sponsor link at the top of the page). You'd have to factor in customs/VAT too, but they may still be worth considering. Best advice is to search around the forum before making a decision.

 

[stitch]

Hey guys, I'm also looking to buy a saxophone for the very first time. My budget is only around £300 and I'm a completely a newbie. I recently got a PM from a guy offer to sell this saxophone to me for £280 and he said he had it for 6month.

http://www.gear4music.com/Woodwind_Instruments/Saxophone/Jupiter_JAS-565GL_Alto_Saxophone7.html

Can someone please give me some feedback? This will be my very first saxophone.

Don't have any experience of the Jupiter 500 series, but my impression from others' posts is that it is a competent student instrument (a search of the forum might show more info); certainly a 700 series horn would be better. However, as you're looking at the Gear4Music site, how about considering their own brand alto at < £180? Again, I have no personal experience, but if you read what other UK posters have written on this forum it looks like it's well worth looking into.