Some Considerations for the Next Step
By this time you have finished book 1 & 2 and are probably on an intermediate or advanced book. For the purposes of this report we are going assume that you have decided that you love the saxophone and that you feel that music is in your long term future…Yea…! For this reason I’m going to skip over moving to an intermediate quality horn.
Let’s look at the differences between a student saxophone and a professional one.
One difference I believe is the quality of the brass. The quality of the brass is determined by the purity of the copper and zinc. For a student sax, one wants a sturdy, durable well built horn, but not necessarily capable of producing a fine tone. Many student horns are made with a cheaper and in some cases recycled brass. A saxophone made with high quality brass will have a warmer, richer tone, giving the player more freedom to develop his/her own unique sound.
Quality of construction, & craftsmanship Many of the newer professional horns with modern keywork design have a more comfortable feel and allow for a faster response, which is not possible in a student saxophone.
Other materials such as Italian leather pads (Pisoni) German springs, Pearl or Abalone shell buttons and metal resonators add to the general higher quality of construction.
These are some of the basic differences in the comparison of student to professional quality in a saxophone.
Next up we will look at acquiring a professional horn, vintage horns versus newer models.