Buying a tenor sax

[Big C]

Hey all, my 9th grade son might want to make the switch from clarinet to sax, probably tenor, to play in high school jazz band. He likes band and wants to be good, but to be honest, music is not his clear #1 priority.

I was just pricing tenors and, yikes, they are often more expensive than trumpets. Anybody have any advice on buying a tenor sax, taking into account who it's for?

Maybe I apply the same "buying skills" I would use to buy a trumpet? (avoid cheap junk)

Thanks in advance for any tips.
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'78 Getzen Eterna Severinsen
'59 Reynolds Argenta cornet

[kehaulani]

If you want a reliable tenor at a reasonable price, for your needs, I don't think you can go wrong with a basic Yamaha.

I should say, my recommendation would be different if your qualifications were higher and if you care not shocked that a tenor would be consideeravly more expensive than a trumpet.

I played tenor professionally for about 16 years in Germany, playing Jazz tenor in big bands and tenor in disco/soul/pop bands. so, I am familiar with the Yamaha saxes when I taught high-school level beginner band in Germany as a Yamaha Certified Wind Band teacher.

A word of caution. You can get new, pretty, shiny instruments off of internet sites at a fraction of the cost, but most of these "bargains" fall out of adjustment quickly and some repairmen actually refuse to service them.
_________________
"If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn." Bird
"I wouldn't play like Wynton Marsalis even if I could play like Wynton Marsalis." Attributed to Chet

Yamaha 8310Z Bobby Shew trumpet
Benge 3X Trumpet
Benge 3X Cornet

[stuartissimo]

My partner plays a Yamaha Custom Z and has a wonderful sound (and supposedly it plays rather well too). Just anecdotal advice of course, from a non sax-player so take it for what it's worth.
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1975 Olds Recording trumpet
1997 Getzen 700SP trumpet
1955 Olds Super cornet
1939 Buescher 280 flugelhorn
AR Resonance mouthpieces

[CaptPat]

I'd look in the rental market, and see if he's going to stick with it before purchasing.

[plankowner110]

Rent-to-own a Yamaha standard (student) tenor sax first to see if he will stay with it. If he shows a commitment to the sax, then the store will usually offer a big discount for a cash payoff. The Yamaha is definitely the best, most dependable brand in that market segment. Be forewarned, saxophones are expensive. Whatever you do, don't buy a cheap import instrument.

Ask the band director if there is a school-owned tenor sax that your son can play in band. We had several tenors where I taught.
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C. G. Conn 60B Super Connstellation
Getzen 800S Eterna cornet
Bach 5C (Jens Lindemann is right)
https://www.trumpetherald.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=26763

[LittleRusty]

In addition to the good RTO, school, Yamaha recommendations buying used means that as long as your son takes care you can probably get your money back selling it on. You can also probably get a higher level instrument for the same money.

[Louise Finch]

[mafields627]

Band director here....I echo everything posted above, especially the rent-to-own AND I highly recommend getting whatever insurance/repair plan your rental shop offers. In my experience, larger woodwinds, like tenor saxes and bass clarinets, go out of adjustment very frequently in the hands of younger students. Also, if he ends up marching with it in the future those long rods are going to take a beating. School tenors often end up with clunky action and seal poorly for those reasons.
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--Matt--

No representation is made that the quality of this post is greater than the quality of that of any other poster. Oh, and get a teacher!

[Big C]

Thanks everybody, sounds like rent / rent-to-own on a Yamaha is the way to go.

Getting ahold of the right tenor sax for a kid sounds very similar to getting ahold of the right trumpet (just more $$$).
_________________
'78 Getzen Eterna Severinsen
'59 Reynolds Argenta cornet

[mainstay73]

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/BetterSaxTS--bettersax-classic-student-tenor-saxophone-dark-gold-lacquer

The alto version has been out awhile and has great reviews.
This is a collaboration between saxophonist Jay Metcalf and Conn Selmer

Sweetwater is the exclusive Better Sax dealer in the US

And back to the idea of renting, Sweetwater.com has much cheaper rental fees than I can find at local music stores.

[Big C]

I notice that the BetterSax that "mainstay" links to above is about half the price of some others.

Basically, for student-level tenors, you got BetterSax and Prelude by Selmer at about $1,500 and then Yamaha and Selmer and other reputable brands are about $3,000. Big price jump, considering that a Yamaha intermediate-level is about $3,500 and their least expensive professional-level is about $4,000.

Question: Are those $1,500 saxes okay for a high school player who aspires to be good-but-maybe-not-great, or are they the kind of junk where, you take it into the shop and you can almost see the look of sadness and disgust on the tech's face when you open the case?
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'78 Getzen Eterna Severinsen
'59 Reynolds Argenta cornet

[kehaulani]

How does a BetterSax hold up? The lowest cost woodwinds I know of, fall out of adjustment after, maybe, three months and many repairmen refuse to work on them.

And my second question is, who endorses them?
_________________
"If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn." Bird
"I wouldn't play like Wynton Marsalis even if I could play like Wynton Marsalis." Attributed to Chet

Yamaha 8310Z Bobby Shew trumpet
Benge 3X Trumpet
Benge 3X Cornet

[RandyTX]

Yeah, I was in a local repair shop, getting some minor tweak done, when a parent walked in with an Allora alto sax, some cheap garbage made no telling where, and the shop people refused to even look at it.

Just as likely to break it looking it over as not, not wanting to be on the hook for more. They said it was cheaply made and not worth repairing.. and after he left, I asked about it, and the guy said they were made of pot metal, and the action normally good for a few weeks, at best, then it was boat anchor material.

As with many things, there is a 'good deal' and too cheap to be worth the hassle of 'saving' that extra money, only to buy the product 2 or 3 times over down the road, instead of just buying a decent one up front.
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"Music is like candy, you throw the (w)rappers away."

[Big C]

Reminds me of when people bring a "department store bike" into the bike shop or when people have a plumber come in and they have cheapo fixtures... just flat-out not worth it, in the long run.

Still, maybe the BetterSax or the Prelude by Selmer $1,500 tenors are not that bad. In theory, they could be halfway decent. At any rate, I'm pretty sure we're gonna rent-to-own on a more established student tenor.
_________________
'78 Getzen Eterna Severinsen
'59 Reynolds Argenta cornet