Tenor Saxophone for Beginner Musicians - Silver Nickel

I am a professional musician. For the last 25 years I've played an EWI (Yamaha's WX5 with a VL-70m synthesizer). Recently, I was asked to play sax in a local theater production of "Lobby Hero": I've got four weeks. I have not played a single reed instrument in 50 years, and never a tenor sax. My choices were--say no; borrow an alto of unknown quality; buy a sax, but money is tight. I saw several videos on Youtube demonstrating inexpensive Chinese saxophones with good mouthpieces and reeds. I was impressed! I bought the Mendini Tenor. Out of the box, it did not play. The reeds it ships with might work as kindling (I'll try in the fall when it's cooler outside) or cat toys (I won't try this, I don't want them to think reeds are fair game). I had the foresight to order a box of good reeds, when I ordered the sax. With a good reed, I got a couple of notes. The octave key would not seat properly, so I bent it a tad, it was off by about 1/32" (it could have gotten bent in shipping). I had six notes. Suspicious of the no-name mouthpiece, I went out, and bought the only named mouthpiece available in town (Prescott, AZ), a cheap Rico. I got two octaves . . . so I ordered a good mouthpiece. On day four, I got in an Otto Link Metal #7, and a Legere 2 3/4 plastic reed, just to try one. On day five. I had a solid, in tune, responsive and expressive, 2 1/2 octaves. Altissimo notes will, of course, take time, although I've got F#, easy-peasy. Several YouTube videos talked about the cheap feel of these Chinese saxophones, "the rods bend . . . feels tinny . . . hit something with it and it could break . . ." It feels solid to me. I pick it up by the bell, and I try to avoid walls, doorways, tables, and chairs when I move around with it. I treat it as if it cost $6,000, as one should. Will it last years? Will it give me altissimo notes? Will I sound like Ernie Krivda (look him up) in a month? I don't know . . . okay, I know I won't sound or play like Ernie. But for $500 (horn and mouthpiece), I have an instrument that I am confident in . . . and I have few weeks until the show goes up. Last night (day 9) was the first rehearsal where I played. Good enough, the director wants more. September 20: six weeks in and I enjoy the horn more each day. I had to tighten the roller screws for the Eb and low C keys. The lacquer on the thumb rest and the octave key is flaking off a little, but practicing 4-6 hours a day might well do that! We've had eight performances and people love the sax.

I don't understand why people don't like this line of saxophones. This is my third one from Mendini / Cecilio and I am once again more than happy with it. I also own the alto and soprano from this company and those two perform without fail! However, let's clear the air about this line of saxophones. These are NOT top of the line, high-end instruments. If you are looking for that, you need to look further. With that being said, this saxophone performs quite well. The sound is bright when it needs to be and dark when it needs to be! It can easily hold its own when playing with a band or in a church worship team. All of the keys were in perfect working order and the only adjustment that was needed was with the thumb rest. The accessories that come with it are good as well. The only thing that you will need to replace is the strap that comes with it. The strap is nothing special and cuts into your neck after a few minutes of playing. Do yourself a favor and get a padded strap!! The reeds that are included are not top of the line, but they still sound okay for what they are. If you know how to prep a reed, you can make it work for you. Overall, this saxophone (as well as the other Mendini / Cecilio horns I own) is a great horn that is perfect for beginners or someone looking to try the sax before spending major money on a high-end brand! Happy playing!!

For the money very good. Sounds good. For the beginner very good. Let's be real here. This tenor saxophone is really really good for what it is. Everything you need in one box. Not bad at all. Mine had no problem right out of the box. I'm really happy. Got some money let over. If you not a professional and just what learn and have fun. This is the way to go. Some advice. If the pads fall off. Just replied them. I even saw replacemen pad set on wish. What I'm saying fix this your self if simple and possible. The reed aren't good. The only real problem i had was tuning this tenor. The little note wasn't clear or me not understanding it. Alot of people had problems with tuning and not getting it right. I went on line and learned what I did wrong. You tune you tenor saxophone c button to b flat on the tuner. Don't ask why it just the way it is. I hopened this helps

Beautifully presented, came with all the accessories (reeds case stand etc) beautiful soulful sound.would recommend to others to buy

THUMBS UP! GAVE IN GIFT AND IT IS A VERY NICE SAX FOR DEBUTANT!

To give my review some context, I played various saxophones for 7 years in school. After a decade away, I decided I wanted to play music again. For the price, this thing is great. Yea it's not as good as a Yamaha, but it plays just fine. What I paid works out to renting a better instrument for about 10 months, and as this comes with a 1 year warranty this seemed the smart choice. You probably wouldn't use this sax as a career musician, but if you're a student or someone who just likes to play every now and then for fun, this is a great inexpensive option. And it's gorgeous! You will want to buy something to use to swab out the neck and bell, and you might want a better neck strap. Pro tip-there's not a lot of solo music out there for tenor sax, it's generally a support instrument. If you want solo music, get music written for the clarinet-the instruments are in the same key.

Love this item. So beautiful. The sound is lovely.

I am a complete beginer on the sax so didn't want to spend a lot of money. I purchased this sax and it arrived way sooner than expected. It looks great and feels solid to hold and has some weight to it the case is great for what I need but if carting the sax around I would recommend replacing it for a hard shell. I liked that it came with all the extras the reeds are ok. BUT the tuner does not work ended up downloading a free app to tune the sax and that worked way better. The neck strap keeps coming unattatched during playing (plastic clasp) and is of poor quality so I have orderd a new one with metal clasp. The mouthpiece is poor quality so I am replacing that also. All in all so far sax is worth the money and seems like a good student sax if you accept that the extras are garbage and will need replacing right away.