I’d like to get one used for my son’s birthday, but I don’t play myself and don’t know what to look for.
What sort of price range are you looking at? Also, has your son played before?
It has been bent in half, and the tube where the mouthpiece is inserted has been squashed flat
Love, a former saxophone player
What sort of price range are you looking at? Also, has your son played before? If he’s got a few years behind him, he might know what he’s looking for.
If you know anyone who plays, get them to test the instrument for you. A lot of the time, dinged-up horns can play alright.
Tiny dents are ok. Often, larger ones are, too, but there’s some physics involved here, and there’s no way to know what a dent will do before playing. Trust your eyeballs on this one. Same goes for creases in the bell, bent tubing, etc.
Ask how often it was played and maintained. Make sure that all the valves work, all the slides move (but won’t fall out on their own.) If the owner or seller won’t let you oil valves and grease slides to see if they work, then don’t buy it. These should all work after a few seconds of lubrication.
Ask if it was cleaned regularly. Ideally, it should have been cleaned by the owner every few months, and professionally cleaned every few years. This is assuming it was played on a daily basis.
Remove the main tuning side and look down the leadpipe. (the long tube along the right hand side, where the mouthpiece goes.) This is where the most buildup occurs. There should be no gunk along the side. If it’s been played recently, it’s possible that there’s water in there, so make sure if there’s something in there that it’s water.
Pull out one of the slides and look inside. If you can see any green corrosion, like on an old penny or the Statue of Liberty, don’t bother with it. It’ll fall apart on you. Green slime might be ok; that’s just old food.
Pull the valves out; check for corrosion.
Put the valves back in, press the middle one down, and pull the slide on the side of the horn that corresponds to that valve. If you can see more than a sliver of the valve through the hole, intonation and feel could be affected.
I approve, by the way, of the ‘used’ option. New horns are way more expensive, not broken in, and won’t necessarily be better anyway.
What price range are you in? For $50-100 you could probably find a decent Conn, King, Holton, etc. At about $350 Besson, Benge, or Martin might be good. The Besson International intermediate trumpets are nice. At $750 and up Yamahas and Bachs start to appear.
Unless your son is experienced, I would avoid Bachs. One Bach in twenty is amazing, another three are pretty good, and the rest are somewhere between mediocre and awful. Yamahas are very consistent, and the playing characteristics are better for a student anyway.
ps sorry if this double posts, stupid touchpad.