[habschi2]

Hi everyone,
just learned about Lupifaro saxophones and did a little research. Turns out Luca Cardinali, the mastermind behind this new brand left the company in 2019. He then started his own business with handcrafted instruments: https://www.cardinali.it/en/
Does anyone know if this affected the qualitiy of the Lupirafo instruments? Has anyone recently purchased instruments of the current production of this brand?

 

[whaler]

Aren’t they just another Chinese sax with a different name stamped on the bell?

 

[habschi2]

.. to my knowledge no - handcrafted in Italy and Lugano/Switzerland, but they´re fighting rumors because they might have ties to china (keywork production?). But don´t know their current status ..

 

[A Greene]

Aren't they just another Chinese sax with a different name stamped on the bell?

Chad L-B has been playing one for a couple years. He's not easy on a sax.

 

[habschi2]

http://www.shwoodwind.co.uk/Reviews/Saxes/Tenor/lupifaro_platinum_vintage_tenor.htm
The detektive and all the clues point to china :-/

 

[milandro]

lots of unanswered questions especially for horns that cost as much as very good vintage horns.

 

[habschi2]

.. exactly, that´s why I´m asking ..

 

[milandro]

I think you found your answers when you read the review by Stephen Howard!

 

[habschi2]

In times like these it´s hard to bash on Italians, so please anyone who lately purchased one of their horns go for a rave review!

 

[milandro]

Well, I was born Italian. Nothing wrong being Italian and building saxophones from start to finish.

I hope someone will answer your request for information. I tried two Lupifaro ( not the platinum) and wasn’t impressed at all.

 

[A Greene]

http://www.shwoodwind.co.uk/Reviews/Saxes/Tenor/lupifaro_platinum_vintage_tenor.htm
The detektive and all the clues point to china :-/

Thanks for the link. Great Review as always Stephen.

 

[habschi2]

Just to round this up:
Luca Cardinali let me know, that the brand "Lupifaro" ".. now does no longer exist". They´re only selling the last remaining saxophones from 2019. Luca started his own brand at: www.cardinali.it
".. Regarding our saxophones Cardinali model XXV are the evolution of the Platinum Lupifaro, they are made with a different plate thickness. I used a sheet of brass thicker than what is normally done by looking for a balance between sheet thickness and annealing, to get a darker sound and richer harmonics."

 

[milandro]

Of course...

:faceinpalm:

 

[ZootTheSim]

Good time to grab one--they'll prolly skyrocket in value now.

 

[zapatista]

Just to round this up:
Luca Cardinali let me know, that the brand "Lupifaro" ".. now does no longer exist". They´re only selling the last remaining saxophones from 2019. Luca started his own brand at: www.cardinali.it
".. Regarding our saxophones Cardinali model XXV are the evolution of the Platinum Lupifaro, they are made with a different plate thickness. I used a sheet of brass thicker than what is normally done by looking for a balance between sheet thickness and annealing, to get a darker sound and richer harmonics."

Well that explains the 50% off-sale a couple months back.

 

[Enthusiast65]

Cardinalli as a supplier of saxophones and workshop had been going for many years. Luca worked for Borgani previously. He was selling Cardinalli branded saxes before the Lupifaro venture with a Swiss backer got going and he’s now reverting to his own brand name.

I think it’s established beyond every reasonable doubt that bodies and keywork were sourced from Asia. Bodies from China, possibly keywork from the same source or from Taiwan. It’s unclear. More likely the same factory for both you’d expect. You can say Made in Italy if you assemble there I imagine.

I had one for a short period of time. Very comfortable and easy to play but a bit too percussive for what I was looking for. Weak finishing and some very poor fitting rods. Not acceptable for the prices they charged even though I paid half price.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[milandro]

It would make no sense to source the body in China and the keywork in Taiwan.

I like spades to be called spades and don’t like mistery around these assemblies.

Please Enthusiast 65 disable the setting on your phone that adds the tapatalk message to each of your posts “ Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk”, it really adds nothing to your posts and only advertises a product that gives you nothing inreturn

 

[Enthusiast65]

Testing testing

 

[Pete Thomas]

. You can say Made in Italy if you assemble there I imagine.

It's a bit of a grey area legally. Inmost EU countries I think the parts need to be sourced from different locations, then assembled so that you can say "Made in..."

Italy my be different, milandro would probably know better than I. From what I know they are all from the same factory in China, but if certain parts are from elsewhere and assembled in Italy, then you have made in Italy.

But it also makes sense to import the body from China but draw the toneholes in your own or nearby country (I know, I am in the process of producing a saxophone in England) and then use keywork from yet another country and hardware such as screws from somewhere else. You can get screws that are better than both Chinese and Taiwanese from France or the USA.

However most customers don't really care about the quality of the screws so that is a bit moot!

 

[Enthusiast65]

You can get screws that are better than both Chinese and Taiwanese from France or USA.

However most customers don't really care about the quality of the screws so that is a bit moot!

....But useful for when your sax ends up on Steve Howard's workbench.

I've met Luca Cardinelli over a long lunch and I am fairly sure he said the keywork was from Taiwan. I appreciate that doesn't mean it was from there and I concur with Milandro it would make sense to buy the whole kit and caboodle from a single source, except from what you say sourcing from various places is useful so as to be able to show made in [Italy].

So tell us about your sax project!