I felt the same way until I actually played one. By the way, how does that Z play. I trying to get my parents to buy me one. What finish do you have

The "deal" with vintage horns is that they do not sound like modern horns. Eventually if you stay in music you'll have a chance to play a some well maintained vintage horns and you will see that they are different. Not better but also not worse just different and suited to different things. For many years you could pick up a vintage sax for a quarter of what a new student sax would cost. At that time vintage was a much better value than new. I don't think that is the case as much any more. In my opinion the big drawback to a vintage horns is consistency. I've played a few that sounded great but had horrible intonation problems. If you are or know a very good tech you can work around some of this but it is something to be wary of.

Thanks for the replies! Rob, I find the Z to play great! In all honesty, though, I am still learning quite a bit about playing the saxophone in general, so it's tough to make any specifc value judgements about the horn. I bought it unlacquered - mostly just because it looks cool. Peter, thanks for the info! I have to admit that even more intonation problems scare me as I have enough trouble with them already, but I will make it a point to play some older horns through some means or another...