The Aquilasax Alto Saxophone

As some of you may already know, Steve Wedgwood of Aquilasax ( NZ ) kindly offered to send me one of his nickel plated alto's, to evaluate in advance of production of the new C Sax. It is from the same factory in China that will produce the C Sax. Steve also enclosed an Aquilasax alto metal mouthpiece with the saxophone. Whilst waiting for the Aquilasax alto to arrive, I warmed up on my Martin Magna alto to get my alto 'lip' back - probably a bit unfair to go from a 60's 'top of the line' Martin to a modern $450 student alto, but then again, I might be presently surprised ! Obviously the C Sax should be of a different build quality, with more 'hands-on', and guidance from Steve.

Let's hope so, the new Aquilasax C Saxophone (at a sensible price) is one project that I really do want to succeed, as a C-Sax enthusiast. But my evaluation of the alto will be honest and fair, I know you wouldn't expect anything different ! It is most certainly a demonstration of Steve’s confidence, in the quality of manufacture, to allow me to evaluate the alto. How embarrassing would it be if the Aquilasax alto, with modern keywork, was much easier to play than my beloved 60's Martin Magna. As it turned out, the Aquilasax alto acquitted itself very favourably.

The sax arrived, well packed, and in a substantial hard case, with all the usual accessories - reeds, plastic mouthpiece (not bad...), sling, fluffy bore cleaner that doubled as a neck plug, and white gloves. Seemed like a solid sax - certainly no lightweight, and the action was even, with the keys all easily falling under the fingers. First impressions were good, no sloppiness, or even bendability found. I'd done some checking on similarly priced 'student' alto's whilst it was in transit, and was immediately struck by the resemblance to the Selmer Prelude AS700, and then possibly even more so to the Keilwerth Evette - both of which are also manufactured in China. I think that China is, at the current time, in the same area that the US 'Stencil' manufacturers were with many differently 'badged' saxophones coming onto the market - and also with the ability to meticulously clone major manufacturers offerings. I couldn't resist recording an initial quick sound sample using the metal mouthpiece - an extended sample, and comparison with my Martin, is further on in this article

Rather than re-invent the wheel, let me point you towards a couple of excellent articles by Stephen Howard - one of the UK's leading saxophone specialists - the first on cheap Chinese alto saxophones Check out the December 2006 Postscript at the end of the article and (again) compare the alto at the bottom of the page with the Aquilasax. I'm beginning to suspect that the better Chinese saxophones (and I include the Aquilasax in that category) have quite a lot in common, in terms of production and components. The second article is Stephen Howard's review of the Chinese Selmer Prelude AS700 - which, as I've mentioned before, bears more than a passing resemblance to the Aquilasax....

	I'm really at a loss to find any real problems with the Aquilasax alto. The sax played well - and evenly - throughout entire range. Previous experience with cheap student horns was that they usually struggled to produce the full depth of sound at the extreme ends of their range - this sax had very acceptable high palm notes, and the bell notes spoke easily and with authority. None of the keys were at all awkwardly placed or hard to operate, they all fell nicely under my relatively small fingers, and (once I'd got used to it) the tilting left-hand 'pinkie' table was easy and a pleasure to use - I'm not a fan of those, but I'll readily admit I didn't have to fumble for any of the bell notes, the layout seemed logical and the action fluid. For the more experienced player, spring pressure could useful be slightly reduced, to make the action even more responsive. As well as in it's normal teaching role, I'd be happy to gig with this sax, although with an upgraded mouthpiece, like the $50 Aquilasax metal one supplied - I really am a fan of that mouthpiece, although I've never played it before. China being 'China', I'm sure it's a copy of something a bit special. I'd started to test the alto using the bronze '0' chamber Berg that I normally use on my Martin Magna alto, but I found that the Berg was a little too 'raw' for the Aquilasax - after all, it's hardly the sort of mouthpiece that a student would use. So I switched to the Aquilasax metal (silver plated Bronze ?), and the combination played superbly. So well that I tried the Aquilasax metal mouthpiece on my Martin Magna alto, found that it played superbly on the 60's pro sax - and it hasn't been off it since....... It wouldn't be a fair review if I didn't mention that I experienced a few very minor initial problems, easily rectified, and (to be candid) often found on saxophones selling for far more. One pad stuck a little, one spring needed a little extra tension, the auxiliary front-f key was sometimes a little sticky on the return ( I'm sure that's a case of 'manufacturing tolerance', no adjustment made, it's easing already) - and the bell C# pad lifted very slightly when low B/Bb was played - easily adjusted on a usefully placed screw ! The alto sent to me was nickel plated, I expected to have to wear sunglasses, but the finish was not at all garish - it had a tinge of darkness, a hint of black, which nicely took the edge off the brightness of the nickel.
If you'd like to look at higher resolution pictures, for which broadband / ADSL is recommended, then click here for hi-resolution versions of the pictures. About 3 Megabytes in total. I recorded a short sound sample of Grover Washington's "Make me a Memory" on the Aquilasax alto [click here], and, for comparison purposes, using the same Aquilasax metal mouthpiece and Rico Royal 2.5 reed, on my normal (much more expensive 60's professional) alto, the Martin Magna alto [click here]. Naturally the 'pro' vintage 60's Martin sounds fuller, but not by as big a margin as I'd expected. Hmmmmm. Both samples are about 1 Megabyte, so dial-up connections may take a while...

Once a saxophone player has been playing (and hopefully practising....) for a few years, a personal sound begins to emerge, after which time more of the sound is with in the player, and the mouthpiece - and the sax becomes a little transparent. For a beginner however, a sax has to be easy to play - with stable intonation plus a reasonable range of dynamics, and an action that need not be fast or particularly light, but has to be even and logically fall under the fingers - with as little quirkiness or awkwardness as possible. The Aquilasax alto fits perfectly into that slot.

So - now for some conclusions, apart from the fact that the alto is a surprisingly good player, and very well put together at around $450 - that's 450 US dollars.

I originally came across Aquilasax through my interest in 'C' saxophones, which, with very few exceptions, were produced in the 1920's and early 30's until the Great US Depression killed them off. Steve Wedgwood, of Aquilasax, has financed the production of a limited run of '2007' C Tenor saxophones. As Aquilasax is relatively unknown outside New Zealand, it was very useful to try an alto from the same factory that’s making the new 2007 C Saxophone. I’m realistic enough to know that the alto has doubtless been cloned from a more expensive sax - and looks very similar to the Selmer Prelude AS700, plus bears even more resemblance to the Keilwerth 'Buffet'. The build quality is impressive, and it’s a solid alto. Plays well too… I'm sure the new C Sax will be a 'stretched' version of the alto (as were the 20's C melody saxophones), so it bodes well for the new ‘C’, coming as it will from the same factory.

I’m now happy that the Chinese factory produces to a very good build quality, and, given that the intonation and design of the new 'C' is fine, under Steve's guidance, the rest is in the hands of the player….. I’ve gone out of my way (over the years) to enjoy, and compare, the ‘quirkiness’ of vintage saxes - so I found the Aquilasax somewhat predictable - but only because the intonation was fine, the keys fell to hand, and the acoustics were even across the sax. Exactly what a saxophone student (and that is where this alto sax aimed) requires. In fact I had to make several recording ‘takes’ because, being more used to vintage saxes, I was automatically compensating where it wasn’t needed on the Aquilasax - you can hear me doing it ! I’ve been doing it so long with vintage saxes that it’s now second nature to me. Oops.

Meanwhile, back with the forthcoming Aquilasax C-Sax, assuming the factory gets it right - which I have no reason to doubt - it’ll almost certainly be built well, in tune, and playable. And I suspect the majority of players would put that first, even leap for joy - playability above character, the latter often comes combined with that mixed blessing "quirkiness". The new C Sax will undoubtedly be compared with 1902's C-melody saxophones. If I had compared the Aquilasax Alto with a 1920’s Alto, which I have also done privately - but in all honesty, I wouldn't like to record with the 20’s alto - then the noticeable difference is very much more.

And that’s where the 2007 C-Sax will be judged, against 1920’s C-Mels. Has to be a winner. And this Aquilasax alto is worth ever penny of the couple of hundred UK pounds it sells for. And as for the Aquilasax metal mouthpieces - I wouldn’t be surprised if I was still using this $50 (£25) alto one in years to come. It really is growing on me… I now need to try one of Steve's metal C-Melody mouthpieces, I could be in for a very pleasant surprise there as well !