This post is a question, not a declaration. If you think it should be answered in the negative, feel free to cite your evidence.
Item 1. Yanagisawa, a major sopranino supporter in the past, seems to have largely abandoned the voice. The Yany sopranino is still listed as a current model on the company's official website, but good luck finding a new one on sale in the United States. I'm not sure that Europe is much better (e.g., the sax is "Out of Stock" at sax.co.uk, and can only be "pre-ordered.") The sax itself seems to have been mostly frozen in time since the late 1970s. Not only is there no WO sopranino, there really wasn't even a 9xx series sopranino. The model is called the SN981, but it retains the old-fashioned, Mark VI-style palm keys and LH table keys from many decades ago. The range tops out at high E -- another aspect of the Yany nino that has been awaiting an upgrade for more than 40 years.
Item 2. Selmer Paris is still chugging along with the old Series II sopranino, although I believe the model did receive the Jubilee enhancements a decade ago. There is no Series III nino, and never will be. There won't be a Supreme sopranino either, I'm confident. Good news from Selmer on this front would be simple decision to keep making the Series II sopranino even after all other Series II horns have been phased out.
Item 3. No Yamaha sopranino, as always. Not that anyone was expecting the introduction of such a horn, but not having Yamaha in your corner is always a drawback for any saxophone voice.
Item 4. Kessler Music, one of the more popular dealers for SOTW members, used to carry a small sopranino lineup that included the company's own highly affordable Kessler Custom nino. Today, the dedicated sopranino section is gone from the website, and the Kessler Custom sopranino model has been discontinued. If you do a search, you'll find that the Yany SN981 is "Not Currently Available"; there's not even a price listed. The Selmer Series II, which costs almost $12k with the discount (!), is "out of stock."
Item 5. The RS Berkeley sopranino, which was discussed frequently here some years ago as a reasonably priced, solid alternative to a Yany or Selmer, is "Currently unavailable" on Amazon, one of its primary sales channels. "We don't know when or if this item will be back in stock."
Item 6. My impression is that the SOTW sopranino subforum, never particularly busy, is slowing down even further. There seems to have been more discussion here a few years ago, when the nino horns themselves were more readily available. The partial drying up of the instrument supply seems to have tamped down the talk as well, which is not surprising for an equipment-oriented community.
Is there any good sopranino news? Well, P. Mauriat is still producing its nino, which you can actually buy at the Woodwind & Brasswind. Rampone & Cazzani continues to offer an interesting lineup of specialty sopraninos, although they are uniformly expensive and hard to find. And thanks in part to the efforts of SOTW's own Dr. Paul Cohen, Legere now produces a synthetic sopranino saxophone reed (although a synth reed alone, while great for existing sopranino players, won't bring in any new players by itself).
Item 1. Yanagisawa, a major sopranino supporter in the past, seems to have largely abandoned the voice. The Yany sopranino is still listed as a current model on the company's official website, but good luck finding a new one on sale in the United States. I'm not sure that Europe is much better (e.g., the sax is "Out of Stock" at sax.co.uk, and can only be "pre-ordered.") The sax itself seems to have been mostly frozen in time since the late 1970s. Not only is there no WO sopranino, there really wasn't even a 9xx series sopranino. The model is called the SN981, but it retains the old-fashioned, Mark VI-style palm keys and LH table keys from many decades ago. The range tops out at high E -- another aspect of the Yany nino that has been awaiting an upgrade for more than 40 years.
Item 2. Selmer Paris is still chugging along with the old Series II sopranino, although I believe the model did receive the Jubilee enhancements a decade ago. There is no Series III nino, and never will be. There won't be a Supreme sopranino either, I'm confident. Good news from Selmer on this front would be simple decision to keep making the Series II sopranino even after all other Series II horns have been phased out.
Item 3. No Yamaha sopranino, as always. Not that anyone was expecting the introduction of such a horn, but not having Yamaha in your corner is always a drawback for any saxophone voice.
Item 4. Kessler Music, one of the more popular dealers for SOTW members, used to carry a small sopranino lineup that included the company's own highly affordable Kessler Custom nino. Today, the dedicated sopranino section is gone from the website, and the Kessler Custom sopranino model has been discontinued. If you do a search, you'll find that the Yany SN981 is "Not Currently Available"; there's not even a price listed. The Selmer Series II, which costs almost $12k with the discount (!), is "out of stock."
Item 5. The RS Berkeley sopranino, which was discussed frequently here some years ago as a reasonably priced, solid alternative to a Yany or Selmer, is "Currently unavailable" on Amazon, one of its primary sales channels. "We don't know when or if this item will be back in stock."
Item 6. My impression is that the SOTW sopranino subforum, never particularly busy, is slowing down even further. There seems to have been more discussion here a few years ago, when the nino horns themselves were more readily available. The partial drying up of the instrument supply seems to have tamped down the talk as well, which is not surprising for an equipment-oriented community.
Is there any good sopranino news? Well, P. Mauriat is still producing its nino, which you can actually buy at the Woodwind & Brasswind. Rampone & Cazzani continues to offer an interesting lineup of specialty sopraninos, although they are uniformly expensive and hard to find. And thanks in part to the efforts of SOTW's own Dr. Paul Cohen, Legere now produces a synthetic sopranino saxophone reed (although a synth reed alone, while great for existing sopranino players, won't bring in any new players by itself).
