This section is for people who might be purchasing a saxophone for the first time. Often younger students have just decided that they want to play the saxophone, and parents are left not knowing much, if anything, about what they need. Schools will make recommendations, but these should be taken with a grain of salt. Sometimes these recommendations are made with little or no consideration given to resources outside the immediate community. Also, band directors forge relationships with local music stores that give them the best prices on merchandise and instruments. This discount may not apply to you as a consumer. The best course of action is to include recommended sources in equal stature to the other sources that you find.

The saxophone is a complex instrument. It is a woodwind instrument, yet is made of brass, which means from a buyer's standpoint, you must be familiar with the design of the instrument and the materials used to make it. Also, the saxophone relies on a mouthpiece and single reed (just like a clarinet) to produce the vibration that becomes the saxophone's tone. Mouthpieces are a separate purchase and will be covered only briefly in this guide.

Saxophone Materials

The saxophone is comprised of two major parts: the neck and the body. The neck is a removable metal tube that attaches to the top of the body (the soprano saxophone follows a different set of rules that I will cover later) and is covered with cork on the very end of it to allow a mouthpiece to slide onto it. The body consists of a conically shaped brass tube with posts soldered onto the body, (or plates called "ribs" attached to the body) which support rods, keys and key cups that hold leather pads to cover the holes on the body. The keys are usually made of brass or nickel and are often covered with mother-of-pearl where your index, pointer and ring finger touch. Sometimes the thumb and pinky also have mother-of-pearl on touch points. Some rare horns had mother-of-pearl on every key.

The saxophone body is generally finished with some protective coating. Nowadays, that coating is usually a high-gloss brass lacquer or clear-coat lacquer which is baked on. Very old (and some new) saxophones were plated in silver, gold or nickel to protect the brass. There are also new anodized black nickel finishes, colorful lacquer finishes, and auto-body paint styled finishes. The finish is mainly designed for appearance, although it does have an effect on the sound of the instrument (there is a great deal of debate about this, and I will address it further later).

The rods of the saxophone are very important. They support and facilitate all of the movement associated with playing the instrument. If they are weak, your saxophone will not stand up to extended or rigorous playing. Also, weak rods are a sign of an inferior horn. Rods can sometimes be the only way to tell if that shiny new saxophone is made to last! On some horns, the rods will be silver while the body is a gold color (remember it is 99% sure that the finish is lacquer and NOT gold plating!) This is generally a sign that the horn is a student model. Common student models include the King 613 and Cleveland models, Selmer Bundy II, Evette Schaeffer, Olds Parisian, Vito, Armstrong, as well as later Buescher Aristocrats and Conn M series horns, which started as professional models. (I will address student models in detail later.)

Another key element in any saxophone (especially used) is the pads. Pads cover the holes on the saxophone so different sounds can be produced. If pads do not completely cover the holes, the saxophone will not play properly and will be a great source of frustration for beginning and intermediate students. Even professional saxophonists must deal with this problem on a daily basis. Pads should be soft to the touch and completely cover the adjacent tone holes. Pads should be a light brown color and will commonly have metal or brass discs on them called resonators. These discs help reflect sound back into the horn to aid sound projection and increase overall volume.

Part Names

Saxophones have specific names for parts, just like a car. As mentioned earlier, the removable tube at the top of the saxophone is called the neck, or sometimes gooseneck (presumably due to the "goose-like" sound produced when you blow on it with the mouthpiece attached).

1920's Conn alto saxophone neck with tuning mechanism

On the neck is a single key and hole called the octave vent. If you follow the mechanics of that key down to the body, you will find a small (usually round) platform where the left thumb rests. Just above this thumb rest is a flat metal key called the octave key which operates the octave mechanism on the neck.

The saxophone body is comprised of three parts. The first length (running from the top to where the curve just starts to form) is usually referred to as the body tube or main body. This is where your fingers operate the keys.

The body section of a silver Selmer Mark VI tenor saxophone

The second part is the U-shaped tube on the bottom of the saxophone called the bow.

The bow section of a silver Selmer Mark VI tenor saxophone

The final part is the large flared part at the end called the bell. The two large round keys on the bell are called bell keys.

1920's relacquered Buescher True Tone alto saxophone bell

On the main body of the horn towards the bottom, before the bow, is a hook-shaped piece of metal or plastic called the thumb rest. This is where your right thumb supports the weight of the horn (important: note that on most horns, the serial number and horn pitch indicator is located just below the thumb rest).

Serial number detail from a silver-plated 1925 Conn alto saxophone

A few inches above the thumb rest is the small, metal loop where the neck strap attaches.

Strap Ring from a 1925 gold-plated Conn alto saxophone

There are two sets of keys that are grouped together: one in the middle and one down low by the bow. These are called spatula keys.

Spatula keys from a 1953 Selmer Super Balanced Action alto saxophone

There is also a long, skinny group of 3 rectangular keys near the bottom right side called the side keys.

Side keys from a gold-plated SML alto sax

After familiarizing yourself with the mechanics of the horn, it is important to know what type of horn you are looking at. Saxophones come in many different shapes and sizes. The lowest pitched saxophone is the contrabass which stands a good 7 feet tall.

The mighty contrabass saxophone!

The smallest saxophone is the sopranino which stands just 7" high.

Selmer Mark VI Sopranino saxophone

In between there are many types, some more common than others. The most common saxophones are the soprano, alto, tenor and baritone saxophones. More unusual saxophones include the mezzo soprano, bass, contrabass, Conn-O-Sax, F baritone, C soprano, sopranino, and many others. The following is a description of the most common saxes.

Soprano

The soprano can come in straight or curved models.

1928 Conn New Wonder straight soprano saxophone

1914 Conn curved soprano saxophone (with removable neck)

Most new sopranos are made straight, straight with a slight bend in the neck or bell, or both. Curved sopranos were more common during the thirties and look like miniature altos. In my opinion, curved horns tend to have a richer, more saxophone-like sound, while straight horns have a more oboe-like quality. Straight horns typically have better intonation than their curved counterparts. The soprano is generally accepted as the most difficult saxophone to learn and master and is not recommended for beginning players. The soprano is, however, a great deal of fun to play. It is most commonly used in jazz and has a limited but growing classical repertoire available.

Alto

The alto is the medium sized saxophone and the most commonly played size.

1950 Selmer Super Balanced Action Alto

The alto is curved in a backwards "J" shape.

1920's Buescher True Tone alto

The alto is the most recommended horn for those just starting on the saxophone due to its comfortable size and shape. It sometimes comes in a straight model with a slightly tipped bell. There is a good amount of classical repertoire available for the alto, including works by Glazunov, Ibert and Debussy.

Tenor

The tenor saxophone is slightly larger than the alto with a small bend in the neck.

1920's Buescher True Tone tenor sax

The tenor is usually personified as a "jazz" saxophone, even though there are some excellent applications in classical music. The tenor has longer rods than the alto, and larger tone holes. Also, because of the shape and length of the neck, neck damage is fairly common. The tenor is the second-most common saxophone.

Baritone

The baritone saxophone is the largest of the "regular" saxophone family and comes in two sizes: one with a range to low A and one with a range to low Bb.

Conn (to low Bb) student model baritone saxophone

The range of the bari with the low "A" extension exceeds the standard written range of the saxophone family by one half-step. Consequently, horns with this extension are called "low A" baris, as opposed to a "Bb bari."

The baritone is unfortunately the most abused of the common saxophone family due to its size and weight. Baris can suffer from a whole host of problems including rod damage, tone hole damage, large dents, and body twists. When purchasing a baritone, having a friend at a music shop can be a great help. As with a car, sometimes there are problems lurking in unexpected places. Also, the bari can be prone to severe intonation problems, especially in the highest and lowest registers.

C tenor, or more commonly, "C melody" sax

The C tenor is an important part of the history of the sax and its amazing popularity.

1931 Selmer Paris C tenor saxophone

The story of the C melody saxophone was relayed to me by the principal tubist in the Oregon Symphony, who is also a musical instrument historian.

The C melody saxophone was originally intended to be a part of the orchestral set of saxophones which alternated between C and F instead of Eb and Bb. The C melody, however, took a different and unexpected role in popular culture. After the first world war, a great influx of saxophones that were used in military bands in the US became available. To boost sagging sales, American instrument manufacturers developed the C melody saxophone concept. Essentially, the saxophone was marketed as the easy way to play vocal music on a woodwind. And, since the saxophone is one of the easiest instruments to learn quickly, the popularity of the "new" instrument was truly phenomenal. During the 20's, it seemed as though every family had a C melody saxophone under the bed or in the closet. Unfortunately, the C melody saxophone died out as did other novelty saxes at the end of the 20's. Nowadays, C melodies are rarely played and not very valuable. Since there were so many produced, the collector value is not even that high. Many pawn shops have this infamous sax lurking behind the counter waiting for someone who doesn't know what it is.

About now you are asking yourself why C melodies are not played anymore. First, with the incorrect mouthpiece and reed (both exceedingly difficult to find) they can play quite out of tune. Often they are in terrible disrepair. They have an inherently muffled, "stuffy" sound, even when you can actually find an original C mouthpiece. The exceptions to this rule are the straight-necked Conn models (very awkward to play because of the way the neck forces the horn away from the body) and the rare Selmer Paris models. The primary dilemna associated with them is finding a mouthpiece that works. Alto mouthpieces are a little too small and tenor mouthpieces are too big. Saxophonist Bill Street has produced some new C mouthpieces, but he is definitely the exception and not the rule.

Furthermore, the cost of repadding this saxophone usually is greater than the value of the horn. With no written parts to play and "iffy" intonation, my recommendation is to stay away from these instruments unless you find one dirt cheap and just want to play it for fun. I recommend that you never pay over $200 for a C melody unless it is a rare example of something unique or plays particularly well. I once saw a Buescher C tenor that was engraved form stem to stern, inlaid in gold plating and had gold-plated keys. Obviously this horn is worth more than $200. There are also some nice gold-plated Conn C melodies out there that are good collectors' horns.

Gold plated Conn "portrait" C tenor sax featuring an engraved woman in a 20's bathing suit.

You can usually identify a C melody by it's unique shape. It is slightly larger than an alto, yet has a neck similar to a tenor (except the aforementioned Conn). Also, they almost always have a "C" above the serial number on the back of the horn by the thumb rest. (If it has an A, a Bb, or a T, it is not a C tenor.)

C melodies are almost always silver plated. The most common models you will see are the Buescher True Tone, Conn New Wonder, Holton, Pan American, King and Wurlitzer (which was actually contracted to Conn, Buescher, and King respectively). If you suspect a saxophone is a C melody and the person behind the counter swears up and down it isn't, find someone who really knows to check it out. I once bought one at a second hand store for $10 because it had been returned 3 times. The first time they sold it, it was marked "Soprano Sax." The next time they sold it, they labeled it "Alto Sax." The third time they sold it, it was labeled "Tenor Sax." Finally when I bought it, it was stuffed behind the counter marked SAX!?!?! $10. Apparently, a local music store kept seeing it under different descriptions and set the respective owners straight.

The bottom line on these horns is to be careful when identifying them. The person behind the counter may not know, or may know and misrepresent the horn to you. My recommendation is to hang out in jazz clubs for a while and ask the sax players what sizes of horn they are playing. Most of the time they will laugh and tell you. Then you can become familiar with what they look like, and also hear some really good music!

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