I looked up the three sopranos you've mentioned but if you were in my scenerio... which one would you purchase or serves as your preferred sax. What will give me good intonation/sound. Also... the necks that come with the soprano, the curved neck is used for more concert band performances and the straight neck is used for jazzier performances. Am i correct? Back to my first question about the Selman and Cecilio... has anyone heard anything about these saxes. My friend order one for his sister and she's a beginner... in fact he got a Cecilio. I have heard nothing about Selman. Could someone please give me a background of these two besides the fact they are genaric (spelling). I really want a soprano of my own and I keep researching then I found this site and I read every forum pertaining to sax brands. I NEED TO KNOW THIS INFO FOR MY PERSONAL GAIN!!! i think i'm going crazy...

I can't help you as far as the soprano goes -- The only thing I can say is I'm looking for one too, and a heavily used sax from a good brand that you get fixed up might be the best way to go (that's what I'm doing for my alto -- upgrading to a vintage 20's -- theres a repair shop near me that will completely overhaul an instrument for $150). As far as the alto mouthpeice, I think a more important thing than a different mouthpeice is a different reed. I play bari sax in my jazz band and I get a great sound out of 3 1/2 Fredrick Hemke brand reeds. I also use 3 1/2 on my alto (4 for classical music). You're gonna neeed to work up to that level (even a 3 should do you-- I don't know many sax players who actually use a 3 1/2), but it'll be well worth it. If you really want a new mouthpeice, I'd suggest taking a look at some metal mouthpeices. I have found that I like playing on metal a lot more than plastic. By the way -- what year are you in?

I make a good living playing saxophone and I always felt I should use only the best equipment, no matter what kind of gig I'm on. I've recently changed my position. I bought a SELMAN tenor for the gigs where my Selmer SBA may be in "danger". Guess what.... the horn is great. Understand, however, that out of the box it barely got below low D. I guess there is not much going on in Selman's quality control department. But with a regulation and a few swedges I got a great knock-around club date horn for about $300.00 total. Pitch is quite good. And it's shiny! (I've never had a shiny horn...) When it needs an overhaul I'll just throw it away! It's almost suicidal to walk the streets of NYC at 3am with a MKVI or an SBA. I now reserve my SBA for studio, legit and jazz gigs.

First off, there is no chance that you will find a good soprano for under $600. If you are really serious about playing soprano, save up and look into Cannonball or P. Mauriat. Those are both new horns that have devolped a very good reputations in the past few years, not to mention that they are a lot cheaper than Selmer, Yamaha, etc... One thing to consider is how much will you play soprano. Many high school jazz bands don't have many (if any) songs where a soprano part is required. If I were you, I would spend my money on really good alto mouthpiece. (jjBabbitt models are quite good.) For jazz playing, I would recommend on alto a Meyer hard rubber 5. That is a very standard jazz piece for under $150. Also, if I read your question correctly, I would try new reeds. Vandorens are quite good and have a very good jazz sound (java reed) I would hold off on the soprano for now, eventually maybe, but even before then, it would be a better idea to invest in a flute and start doubling.

I know you're not going to want to hear this... just wait a bit until you can afford something better. No sense to rush into something "right now" and get a piece of frustrating crap - when you could wait a few years and get something very nice. Remeber this is a life long hobby, not a date to the prom. and you should be able to find a good mouthpiece for that range, keep asking, look though old posts, and/or post a new thread about it. =)

Hello, You might check out LA Saxes on eBay. I'm a clarinet player who wants to learn soprano sax. I was in the same situation- not wanting to spend a million dollars on an instrument (in my case, I can't play it yet. though- you're way ahead of me, you can). I talked to one of the reps. at Woodwind and Brasswind and asked him about two very inexpensive (comparatively) horns they had and that were on sale to boot. He said he wouldn't recommend getting either one for the reason already mentioned- they're not made well and instrument repair folks can't (or as stated above, won't) work on them. (I also saw some even cheaper ones on eBay that even I was suspicious of- about $199.) I decided I agreed with the WWandBW rep.- that it would be better to spend more money on something that wouldn't fall apart immediately, would be decent, and is reparable. I'd read some fairly good things about LA Sax in catalogs and online, so I checked them out on eBay and found a reputable dealer who sells (slightly?) used LA Sax horns, exclusively. I know they're not up there with the really great ones, but it's all I need (and it was less than $600 for their pro model). It's quite heavy (at least for someone used to the clarinet), so it must have a lot brass in it and isn't puny. Others here can tell you what they think of LA Sax horns. If you're interested, let me know and I'll look up the user name of the eBay seller. I've watched his auctions since, and he seems to have at least one soprano for sale every week, with the option to "buy it now" instead of waiting for the auction to end. I made sure to check his feedback before buying from him and it's excellent. However, you must be 18 to register and bid on eBay, so perhaps your parents could help you with this if you decide to go this route. For such a big purchase, please make sure to check the seller's feedback (his reputation on eBay for good customer service, honesty, and just being a decent person to deal with) very carefully before buying. This seller gives a warranty period of a year (additional?) with his purchase. The horn I bought looks brand new. I can't tell that it was ever used. Could have been a very well taken care of demo model. Good luck. Deb J.