Having spent a bit of time trawling the forum for advice on purchasing a new, good quality alto sax, I would firstly like to thank everybody for their very helpful input 
I bought a budget sax a few years ago on ebay and my missus has really taken to it and now I feel she's ready for a better one; this Christmas!
The 901 has been recommended many times, so atm I'm leaning in that direction (although I'm open to any suggestions). Again, due to your advice, I would like to have her try one first but I don't know of a shop locally to me (Norwich, England) that sells this make. Having searched online for a shop I have found quite a variation in price; from 999GBP to 1350GBP.
So my questions right now would be:-
1) Would you think that online buying would be advisable for this sax?
2) Is the mouthpiece that ships with it good quality or should I go for buying a better one?
3) What sort of percentage haggling is possible on these prices for cash?
Many thanks for any advice.
I bought a budget sax a few years ago on ebay and my missus has really taken to it and now I feel she's ready for a better one; this Christmas!
The 901 has been recommended many times, so atm I'm leaning in that direction (although I'm open to any suggestions). Again, due to your advice, I would like to have her try one first but I don't know of a shop locally to me (Norwich, England) that sells this make. Having searched online for a shop I have found quite a variation in price; from 999GBP to 1350GBP.
So my questions right now would be:-
1) Would you think that online buying would be advisable for this sax?
2) Is the mouthpiece that ships with it good quality or should I go for buying a better one?
3) What sort of percentage haggling is possible on these prices for cash?
Many thanks for any advice.