Ryton 875
Chinese made saxophone
Weight, 5.5 lbs
Patterned after the YAS EX 875.
Vendor: top_eseller
Ordered Feb. 29th, arrived Mar. 16th.
The case is pretty sturdy with a slight convex top and bottom for a clam shell like strength. The appearance is a bit off putting to me. I can't find much history on this model but I have seen one for sale here in the U.S. recently although it did not appear to be in near as good a shape as advertised from what I could see. It had a very nice looking streamlined black case with gold color locks suggesting a manufacturing variant in the production line or location. This case has what I call “fashion patches” and a case chastity belt. I removed the horn from the case and placed it in a gig bag.
The mouthpiece said to be from Germany, is very well made with a conservative tip opening .059 mildly bright with an edge tendency and low playing resistance. It's an easy player that appears to respond very well to Fibracell reeds but is a bit picky with cane reeds; The good ones play well and the bad ones play really bad, there's no middle there. A distinctly bright responsive sound emanates from it with the 2.5 Fibracell in play although a 3 provides more flexibility being more resistant to closing up with the modest tip opening.
(10/16, I discovered the mpc is made by ESM, like my JK#6 with .075 tip, it's much much louder with a high baffle indicating jazz model, the mpc for this horn is classical with no baffle).
A Rillion and Flying Duck 2.5 reed was included. I could barely get a note with the Rillion and nearly tossed the MP thinking it was the cause until I tried the other which was decent. I also tried a couple of my Benz reeds with similar temperament among the weaklings.
In the simplest terms the horn favors the bright side in sound. Low notes Bb and B sound out with very little extra effort, something I'm accustomed to having to work for, but they come out on cue with this horn (over 3 different mouthpieces) which makes mention of this quality in its advertisement. The spring action is on the tight side compared to my other horns (JK EX90 III Alto & Kessler Sonus Tenor), and any I can recall playing, especially on the right, but I like it. The key layout is comfortable to me as the advertisement states it is. I was able to move up and down the horn without tripping over any keys on first play despite being unfamiliar with it.
I find it a real joy to play.
This horn really vibrates at times and gives off a tone that I find very appealing along with harmonics that occasionally wake up something in the room with resonance. I'm not a pro player, but I've played a horn or two that did nothing for me, the last I remember was a Wood Wind model Alto I purchased from WWBW about 10 yrs ago for $400. It looked good and was a solid (heavy) horn but nothing about it made me want to keep playing it. Not the case with this horn. I have no complaints with the intonation, the transition from note to note is uniform with no stray big step.
It played right out of the case except for an intermittent squawking middle D and high G which turned out to be a problem with the octave key. It appeared to have been installed in a misshapen state causing mal alignment and then bent to cover the octave vent in the neck but poorly adjusted. I plugged in the neck from my JK EX90 which fits perfectly and it played without a problem. top_eseller offered to pay for a tech visit but seeing what was going on with it and the possibility one of the pivot flanges could possibly break with a repair attempt of the deformity. I declined and he agreed to send me a proper crook.
I'd like to see the bell lip completely rolled and tucked under and non decorative engravings removed as some keys were engraved with the partial S/N underneath and better glue to keep the cork pieces for regulation and bump stops in place. The horn looks and plays great otherwise in my opinion.
I'll play it regularly and see how well it holds up.
Chinese made saxophone
Weight, 5.5 lbs
Patterned after the YAS EX 875.
Vendor: top_eseller
Ordered Feb. 29th, arrived Mar. 16th.
The case is pretty sturdy with a slight convex top and bottom for a clam shell like strength. The appearance is a bit off putting to me. I can't find much history on this model but I have seen one for sale here in the U.S. recently although it did not appear to be in near as good a shape as advertised from what I could see. It had a very nice looking streamlined black case with gold color locks suggesting a manufacturing variant in the production line or location. This case has what I call “fashion patches” and a case chastity belt. I removed the horn from the case and placed it in a gig bag.
The mouthpiece said to be from Germany, is very well made with a conservative tip opening .059 mildly bright with an edge tendency and low playing resistance. It's an easy player that appears to respond very well to Fibracell reeds but is a bit picky with cane reeds; The good ones play well and the bad ones play really bad, there's no middle there. A distinctly bright responsive sound emanates from it with the 2.5 Fibracell in play although a 3 provides more flexibility being more resistant to closing up with the modest tip opening.
(10/16, I discovered the mpc is made by ESM, like my JK#6 with .075 tip, it's much much louder with a high baffle indicating jazz model, the mpc for this horn is classical with no baffle).
A Rillion and Flying Duck 2.5 reed was included. I could barely get a note with the Rillion and nearly tossed the MP thinking it was the cause until I tried the other which was decent. I also tried a couple of my Benz reeds with similar temperament among the weaklings.
In the simplest terms the horn favors the bright side in sound. Low notes Bb and B sound out with very little extra effort, something I'm accustomed to having to work for, but they come out on cue with this horn (over 3 different mouthpieces) which makes mention of this quality in its advertisement. The spring action is on the tight side compared to my other horns (JK EX90 III Alto & Kessler Sonus Tenor), and any I can recall playing, especially on the right, but I like it. The key layout is comfortable to me as the advertisement states it is. I was able to move up and down the horn without tripping over any keys on first play despite being unfamiliar with it.
I find it a real joy to play.
This horn really vibrates at times and gives off a tone that I find very appealing along with harmonics that occasionally wake up something in the room with resonance. I'm not a pro player, but I've played a horn or two that did nothing for me, the last I remember was a Wood Wind model Alto I purchased from WWBW about 10 yrs ago for $400. It looked good and was a solid (heavy) horn but nothing about it made me want to keep playing it. Not the case with this horn. I have no complaints with the intonation, the transition from note to note is uniform with no stray big step.
It played right out of the case except for an intermittent squawking middle D and high G which turned out to be a problem with the octave key. It appeared to have been installed in a misshapen state causing mal alignment and then bent to cover the octave vent in the neck but poorly adjusted. I plugged in the neck from my JK EX90 which fits perfectly and it played without a problem. top_eseller offered to pay for a tech visit but seeing what was going on with it and the possibility one of the pivot flanges could possibly break with a repair attempt of the deformity. I declined and he agreed to send me a proper crook.
I'd like to see the bell lip completely rolled and tucked under and non decorative engravings removed as some keys were engraved with the partial S/N underneath and better glue to keep the cork pieces for regulation and bump stops in place. The horn looks and plays great otherwise in my opinion.
I'll play it regularly and see how well it holds up.
