Originally Posted By: Gordon Scott
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1) "A good musician can get a good tune out of a poor instrument."
... but a poor instrument discourages practice and learning.

2) "A good worker never blames the tools."
... because a good worker will use good tools and keep them in top condition.


When I started I bought a mid-range synthesiser that seemed to do a lot. Before long I bought a good weighted, hammer-action, keyboard. I now almost never play that synthesiser with all its tricks and bells and whistles.<...>

I have a Taiwanese custom-built sax. MacSax brand, but all the Taiwan saxes are the same (I got this from a sax manufacturer who has 2 or 3 brands built in the only Taiwan sax factory). It's a great top-of-the-line sax. I had it plated in nickel, and changed a few other things that I could customize on it.

Quite a few years ago, I got a gig playing outdoors on a salt water lagoon, near the beach, and that moved to playing outdoors (under canvas) right on the beach, on the lee side of the dune.

I bought a used, upper-student-level tenor sax, Yamaha YTS-52, to keep the salt air from ruining my pro-level horn.

I was pleasantly surprised. It is free blowing, and the intonation is great (saxes aren't in tune with themselves, each note needs different lip pressure to play in tune). The tone is a bit brighter than my Taiwan horn, but that is actually good for the outdoor gigs.

The bell doesn't have fancy engravings on it, the key buttons are plastic instead of mother-of-pearl, and there are a few other minor (to me) differences between that and the YTS-62 pro level horn, but functionally, it's as good from a playing perspective.

I decided this upper-level-student horn is a great find, and since I play so many outdoor gigs since COVID, it's become my go-to horn, and my Taiwan MacSax is the backup horn now.

A good student level instrument these days can be a great buy and the point of diminishing returns for a new student.

Insights and incites by Notes ♫

Bob "Notes" Norton smile Norton Music
https://www.nortonmusic.com

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