What is a Steuben?

[Roger Privitt]

Has anyone ever heard of a Steuben Alto Saxophone? It is made by German
Engineering. I am considering this as a student model for learning. I
cannot find any Internet information and have no idea what it's value is.

--
Have a nice day!

Roger Privitt
Plano, TX

[Matt Carlton]

It's to my understanding that this is a Taiwanese saxophone. You can expect
mucho dinero going into constant adjustments and repairs. It's value should
be very low. A good learning saxophone would be a Yamaha YAS-23.

~Matt

"Roger Privitt" <rpri...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:Sa1y9.27822$ar4.113534@sccrnsc03...

[Electric Ninja]

Don't buy a Steuben sax as I did...it's a one way ticket to the School of
Hard Knocks.

"Roger Privitt" <rpri...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:Sa1y9.27822$ar4.113534@sccrnsc03...

[Brad Hickman]

go do a search for SOTW sax on the web saxophone forum and look under
inexpensive sax and you will see a ton of info...they are junk...don't walk
away from it...RUN AWAY as fast as you can. They are made in Taiwan an
there is nothing German about it but the lie to try to make you think there
is some sort of craftsmanship involved in making it.

"Roger Privitt" <rpri...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:Sa1y9.27822$ar4.113534@sccrnsc03...

[Roger Privitt]

Thanks for all your great advise. I am now reconsidering either a vintage
(~1956) Pro Martin reconditioned, or a fairly new Selmer AS300. My budget
is under $500. The Martin is for sale by a local repairman for $475. This
would appear to be a little pricey for it's age. Anyway, I'm still looking.

Again, thanks for the advise about staying away from a Steuben.

"Roger Privitt" <rpri...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:Sa1y9.27822$ar4.113534@sccrnsc03...

[Tom Joyce]

Roger,
If that's a "The Martin," you should grab it at that price. That is a MUCH
better sax sound-wise than the American Selmer and if you ever decided to
sell it, providing it is in decent condition, you would make money. See
http://www.xs4all.nl/~adasof09/ for more info on Martins.
Good luck,
Tom J.

"Roger Privitt" <rpri...@hotmail.com> wrote in message

news:epty9.71591$bG.51700@rwcrnsc53...

[Roger Privitt]

I am trying to figure out what sound is better than another. I see a lot of
talk about the vintage sound. What music genre would best describe the
vintage sound and which genre would best describe the current sound?

This is my impression. When I imagine the vintage sound, I think of the
50's R&R that is a bit brighter and with more growl. When I think of the
current sound, I think of a student sax the has less edge to the brightness
and a lot smoother then the growl of the vintage. Would this be an accurate
assessment? I realize that a good player can achieve the type sound they
want by playing style and tweaking the reed & mouthpiece settings.

I was strongly considering the Selmer AS300 because it is a fairly new horn
with less risk of being playable & repairable. The Martin that I'm also
considering is a real beauty. The color has very evenly turned a nice dark
copper/brown with some small hints of various colors. It looks rustic yet
interesting. It has the original finish. I am going to look at it again
today to verify if it is a "The Martin Alto". I think it is because it has
those distinctive deco looking guards at the lower notes.

I am still interested in having a better sense of what the differences if
Vintage and current sounding sax' are. Is there a good listening reference
(CD) that you could recommend?

Roger

"Tom Joyce" <dontspam...@toast.net> wrote in message
news:3dcb098f$1...@news.toast.net...

[Tom Joyce]

You're right about a good player being able to sound any way he or she
wants. The Martin is going to be a little "darker" starting point than the
AS 300 and much "richer" to my ears. Describing sound is a little like
describing wine. What words can you use that describe something so
subjective?
The "growling" is not part of a sax's sound. That can be done with any sax.

For some tasty tunes on a Martin alto, pick up anything by Art Pepper. He
played them pretty near exclusively. He is pictured with one on almost all
his album covers.

Tom J.

"Roger Privitt" <rpri...@hotmail.com> wrote in message

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