I’ve mentioned before that I get emails from companies that make stencil saxophones. Usually these companies assume that my website is a commercial one, and that I sell horns. No, I do not. Nor can I ever foresee a day that I will be hawking Bassic Sax brand saxophones through my website.
That said, I find the emails from these Asian manufacturers interesting, because they provide us with the names of, and a bit of insight into, some of the companies that might be making the saxophones we regularly see for sale all over the ‘Net. (Or in the hands of players sitting next to us in our bands.)
The other day I received an email from Jinan Xuqiu. Jinan Xuqiu is a Chinese manufacturer of musical instruments. This is what they wrote to me:
Dear bassic-sax,
Have a nice day. we get your information through Google that you specialize in saxophone and other woodwind instruments.
do you import from China? we hope to establish long term cooperation with you. you can start sample order from us.
we are the manufacturer and exporters of wind instruments over 20 years. main products are: saxophone,flute,clarinet,oboe,bassoon,trumpet,etc. more information welcome to visit our website: www.xuqiumusic.com . we accept OEM orders.
Any idea or question,pls feel free to tell us. we will reply you asap.
Best Regards,
Jessica
Export Department
Company:Jinan Xuqiu Musical Instrument Co.,Ltd
Website: www.xuqiumusic.com
Email: XXXXXXXXXX
Tel:XXXXXXXXXX
Fax:XXXXXXXX
Add:No.1111 Chonghua Road,Jinan Shandong,China
I went to Jinan Xuqiu’s website, and found saxophones in sizes sopranino to bass listed there. Here’s their current line up of saxophones, with the specs they provide listed below the gallery.
Source: xuqiumusic.com
Sopranino Saxophone:
- XST3001 Sopranino Saxophone
Tone:Eb Key
Range:Low Bb to High F# (actually, this is a mistake on their website, it is only keyed to high Eb)
Material:Brass
Surface:Gold Lacquer
Soprano Saxophones:
- XBN1001
Curved Soprano Saxophone
Tone:Bb Key,High F#
Material:Brass
Surface:Gold Lacquer - XST4001
One-piece Straight Soprano Saxophone
Tone:Bb Key,High F#
Material:Brass
Surface:Gold Lacquer - XBN1001
Curved Soprano Saxophone
Tone:Bb Key,High F#
Material:Brass
Surface:Gold Lacquer - XST1002
Soprano Saxophone
Tone:Bb Key,High F#
Material:Brass
Surface:Nickel Plated - XST1003
Soprano Saxophone
Tone:Bb Key,High F#
Material:Brass
Surface:Silver Plated - XST2001
Soprano Saxophone
Tone:Bb Key,High F#
Material:Brass
Surface:Gold Lacquer
Alto Saxophones:
- XAL1001
Alto Saxophone
Tone:Eb Key,High F#
Material:Brass
Surface:Gold Lacquer - XAL1800 Professional Alto Saxophone
Material:Cupronickel
Surface:Lacquer
Tone:Eb Key
Tenor Saxophones:
- XTN1001
Tenor Saxophone
Tone:Bb Key,High F#
Material:Brass
Surface:Gold Lacquer - XTN1002
Tenor Saxophone
TONE: Bb Key,High F#
Material:Brass
Surface:Nickel Platd - XTN1009
Tenor Saxophone
Tone: Bb Key,High F#
Material:Brass
Surface: Black Body, Gold Lacquer Keys - XTN1015
Tenor Saxophone
Tone: Bb Key,High F#
Material:Brass
Surface: - XTN1003
Tenor Saxophone
TONE: Bb Key,High F#
Material:Brass
Surface:Sliver Platd Body,Gold Lacquer Keys
(this model # is actually XTN1023 in the photos)
Baritone Saxophones:
- XBR001
Baritone Saxophone
Tone:Eb Key,Low A To High F#
Material:Brass
surface:Gold Lacquer
Bass Saxophones:
- XBS001 Bass Saxophone
Tone:Bb Key
Material:Brass
Surface:Gold Lacquer - XBS002
Bass Saxophone
tone:Bb key
Material:Brass
Surface:Gold Lacquer
Looking at their offerings of saxophones, a number of things jumped out at me:
- Like a number of the other Asian saxophone manufacturers who have contacted me, Jinan Xuqiu has more smaller horns available than larger ones. However unlike some companies, Jinan Xuqiu does sell the full range of saxophones, and offers quite a few options for tenor. (Although none are marked professional like the alto XAL1800 is.)
- Under their many soprano offerings, they have a tipped bell model (XST2001).
- They only list 1 baritone. In some ways this is surprising. Many Asian companies are producing baris in a variety of finishes. Given the breadth and depth of the the rest of their saxophone line-up, I expected more finish options here.
- They offer both short wrap (Selmer style) and vintage, American style bass saxophones. As has been mentioned many times before, only 2 manufacturers currently make these horns. Jinbao (short wrap) and Jinyin (American style) are both Asian manufacturers, who currently stencil their bass saxophones for anyone who wants them. I don’t believe that Jinan Xuqiu makes their own bass saxophones, but rather buys them from Jinbao and Jinyin, and then passes them on to potential buyers through their website.
Nowhere on Jinan Xuqiu’s website does it say they do anything than make their own instruments. This is what they on their About page:
JiNan XuQiu Musical Instrument Co.,Ltd is the professional manufacturer with the experiences of producing wind instruments for about twenty years. We have about 280 employees,and our main products are saxophone, flute, clarinet, trumpet, trombone, french horn, baritone, euphonium, tuba and sousaphone.
With powerful technologist force and advanced equipment, our company has passed ISO9002 International Quality Certification; Our musical instruments are not only of original pattern, technology and pure accent, but also loud sound and excellent playing capability. They have good sales in the global market. Also, “XUQIU” has become the world famous brand.More and more instruments experts and music universities from at home and abroad would like our products.
In order to meet all the customers’ demand, we can also make the musical instruments according to their requirements.We sincerely welcome customers out and in china to come to our company to do business or investment.
It might not say that they buy horns from other companies, but their stencil business is certainly made clear. It would also appear that they are willing to work with a particular customer to have a horn developed with all the bell and whistles that he/she wants. Interesting… Maybe I’ll get those Bassic Sax bass saxophones keyed from low G to high G made for me yet. 😉
My 13 year old is a great Alto player, 1st chair in state bands, she needs a pro sax and we were lent a Brand: RS Berkeley , model: Virtuoso, It is pricy about $2500. Has anyone any input on this brand and model. It has very good intonation. Even tone, heavy , High C# even tone in all ranges. However, any feedback would be appreciated as we are curious if there is a comparison to YAS 62
Hi William. Did you get an answer to your question somewhere already?
Hi Helen,
This got me to thinking of the first efforts out of China that I saw back in the ’60s and how far they have come.
Back then, the clarinets and oboes in particular were only superficial copies of French instruments with absolutely no understanding of the acoustics involved in bore shape or tone hole diameter and placement. The woods were improperly aged and dyed to look like ebony, and so were rarely stable for more than a year or two with regular use.
The use of computer-aided design and manufacturing has greatly improved the ability to intelligently prototype and experiment with different designs. If not from Brazil, you may just get your low G bass from China sooner than you could imagine.
:saxy:
Peace,
paul
Well the chances of me ordering any low G saxophone are about as good as me winning a lottery. Oh, I should mention, I don’t buy lottery tickets. :devil2:
I’ll never be in the horn-selling business, nor will I ever be in the market for a personal low G horn. My tongue is always firmly planted in my cheek when I make comments around this stuff. (Reminds me, I should find a smilie like this to upload.)
Rant Alert: :rant:
As far as Chinese horns goes, I suppose they’ve come a long way. I just don’t like them. I didn’t like them when they first came out, and I still don’t like them. I don’t like what they stand for. The reverse engineering done by Asian companies has killed European companies (and this goes way beyond saxophone manufacturers), as well as North American ones.
Our society’s desire for cheap, consumer goods is responsible for this I believe. If we weren’t so driven to buy the cheapest crap possible, cheap Asian-made imports—produced in factories where workers are paid pennies an hour—wouldn’t have gained a foothold.
True, this is an over-simplification of a complex economic equation. Nonetheless, I’ve seen first hand, many people I know suffer because of the effects of cheap, foreign imports, and this is very much tied to cheap consumer goods.
These people I know have lost their jobs, lost their careers, had to retrain, etc, all because their industry was no longer was viable due to cheap Asian-made imports flooding the market. I don’t see this as a good thing. While it might be a good thing for the Chinese economy, the trickle-down effects on other economies, and on the environment, are not all that great from where I sit.