Be Excellent To Each Other

Does anyone know anything about saxophones? Anyone ever played one? I might be buying one as a gift; I suspect the cheapest ones you see around are probably crap but I don't know how to go about picking the non-crap out.

With my knowledge of wind instruments (I used to play the cornet, for real), I can say that, like most things, there isn't a great deal of difference between them. My parents went for an economy cornet for me, and it played just as well as anything more expensive.

The only difference, which was aesthetically critical, is that my cornet wasn't quality brass (perhaps it's not brass at all, never checked), because after a few years it tarnished horribly. A decent instrument won't, but the sound quality isn't greatly affected. Unless you're an elite expert, obv. Much like wine, 90% of people can't tell the difference.

Don't forget to buy a fair few replacement reeds, decent ones. Those things go like anything.

This I know. The giftee in question plays the clarinet at the moment.

My general thought with buying instruments is that if you're just starting to learn, it doesn't hurt a great deal to get a slightly rubbish one if necessary. You can buy a better one later, just as long as the first one you buy is robust.

You don't need a fancy instrument to make most good music anyway. Like this.

Granted -- it's the line between "slightly rubbish" and "total tat" that I am trying to find

Hey, you're talking to that line right now.

Don't forget: there are two very fine looking musical instrument shops in Cardiff city centre, you might want to pay them a visit and ask.

Just remember, it's not "saxamaphone".

A mate of mine, who is one of those lucky gits who seems to be able to pick up and play pretty much anything, bought a saxaphone but the problem he found with it was that it's not possible to play them quietly, and they're really quite loud. I don't know if this is a consideration for your giftee but it's worth bearing in mind.

If the person in question can already play the clarinet then apparently it's very easy to pick up the saxamaphaxamaphone. It's not like where you're buying someone an instrument for the first time and having to worry about whether they'll touch it after the first week.

Is this for Heather? In which case I would be inclined to investigate the subsidised rental of said instrument first - check with her school, I'm sure there'll be a facility where you can get something decent for not much money and then if she likes it the rental can be deducted from the purchase price.

However, a sax playing friend of mine recommended buying something decent and second hand, that way you should be able to sell it on for close to the purchase price if it doesn't take.