Favorite Horn Of Tenor Players

[bombastic]

What's your favorite brand of horn? My teacher recommends either a Selmer, Keilwerth or Yamaha. Currently, I'm using a Conn intermediate tenor that's fine as a student horn, but i'm getting close to buying a professional tenor, and am leaning toward the Selmer. Any advice? I use an Otto Link # 5 metal mouthpiece and Rico # 3 reeds. Thanks for your responses. :smokin:

[BeBop]

I like my Yamahas - tenor as well as alto and flute. They've been reliable as heck over the nearly thirty years I've had them. Solid feel and predictible action and response.
Perhaps a better player with more refined tastes will have a more valid/transferrable opinion.

[PatMisgod]

I love the sound a Selmer Mark VI makes. Great action on them too. I don't own one myself, but I've played a few. I'm on a search for my own right now. Currently I play a yamaha but I'm not very pleased with it. I use a selmer metal mouthpiece and van doren reeds.

[bombastic]

Somehow I trust Selmer more than the other 2 brands.

[Tenorman]

I have a Yamaha (picked up in West Africa for $550 in 1979). I don't play enough to be a good judge, but I am not 100% happy with the tone, but it will do me. A couple of (professional) musician friends play Yanagasawa (spelling?), but then you could buy a good second hand car for the price of one of these things, even second hand. Having played one, I know where the money goes. Lovely tone and beautiful action. It's an instrument that wants to play - you don't have to push too hard

[clifton]

When I played, I owned an Elkhart, which was actually an American subsidiary of Selmer located in Elkhart, Indiana. I bought it for $200 in a pawn shop and never regretted it. The best horn I ever played was a Selmer Mark VI, no doubt about it. I used a Bobby Dukoff #6 metal mouthpiece, which give me a huge sound that projected very well. However, be advised that a hard rubber mouthpiece will give you a lot more control over the nuances of your sound. I used a Rico Royal 2 1/2 reed. A harder reed gives a harder, brighter sound, not what I was looking for, although I confess to using a Rico Royal 3 on rock gigs to get a sound that I preferred for louder, less nuanced music.

[bombastic]

Cliff-You didn't feel that you needed a high quality, professional tenor? I've heard to only get a Selmer made in France, as those are the high quality horns.

[clifton]

bombastic: I played what I could afford. If you can afford a new Selmer or Yamaha, more power to you. Truth is, a good musician can get his own sound on any instrument. He makes the horn work for him (or her). I never claimed to be anything more than a competent musician but I kept my horn in good condition and, for the most part, it did what I wanted it to do.

[bombastic]

That's the difference Cliff- I am way beyond the "competent musician" stage! JUST KIDDING!!!!! :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: Actually, I'll be happy when I can humbly say i'm competent. I like the Conn, but from what my teacher tells me, there are tone differences on the pro horns, the action on the keys is better, and the current horn has slight design flaws, like by the thumbrest, the rod pokes into the back of my thumb. Thank you for your info, and I do agree that ultimately, it is the player, and not the horn.

[markvi]

mark vi's ---definitely try before you buy. they are a great horn , but there are some out there that have severe intonation problems and some that don't speak very well (or at all) in the low range. if you find a good one, it's a work of art. you may want to look at the yamaha "z" model. it's priced right and the people i know who have tried them liked them . it's the one that phil woods worked on with yamaha. i'm anxious to try it at the iaje conference in january. i play a mark vi (obviously), but i might like a "z" as a back up and big band horn because my vi doesn't respond politely in the low range and sometimes the big band work needs a mellower low range. also the old conn model 10 is a good horn and i've played some wonderful old martins including one i really wish i bought.

[bombastic]

Thanks Markvi. The Conn I currently play is an intermediate model. My teacher, who knows his horns, tells me I'm ready for a good pro horn. He loves Yamahas-he's got a Black Custom model. He tells me the YTS-62 is a great horn.

[markvi]

the new downbeat has a bit on the yamaha z series. you might want to check it out. the z is a combination of their custom and another model but the reviews are very good. their goal i believe was to recreate the markvi and from what i've heard, they've done a pretty good job.

[Spiman]

I've played a Buffet Crampon alto for 30 years and it has been a remarkably durable horn for the marching band (HS and college) heck that I put it through. It still has a wonderful sound for an instrument with original pads and cork.

I was extremely blessed to walk into the Mars Music going out of business sale to find a Selmer Series III tenor for $2,000. Anthough I was looking for a bari, I could leave that Selmer in the store. It's action ang tone are flawless. In my ensemble, I end up playing bass tenor parts and I've never played a sax that produced the low notes with such ease.

BTW Clifton is correct about the hard rubber Selmer mouthpiece. My Bobby Dukoff #5 baffled mouthpiece mostly stays in the box. I can drown out three clarinets with that sucker. In fact if anyone is interested in the Dukoff let me know.

Spiman

[markvi]

maybe is should scrap my meyers and get a dukoff just to drown out a certain singer i occassionally have to work with.