Yesterday I spent the afternoon playing my newly restored 10M (thanks Sarge!), and comparing it to my Martin Handcraft & my Mark VI. They are of course all very different, and each has its own unique qualities that makes it stand apart from the others.
As sax players, we are somewhat biased, and tend to favour one horn over another. But yesterday I had the opportunity to play all 3 tenors for non-saxophone playing types, to a get an impartial opinion on what horn they preferred. The results were surprising… Or perhaps not… You be the judge…
BTW, my mouthpiece & reed set up was what I use in with the Blues band Deception: My Dukoff S7 with a Rovner ligature, & a Fibracell 2½.
My first impartial, non-saxophone listener was Art Panchishin, the guitar player who fronts Deception. Art has listened to my sax playing for 3 years now, as I have played opposite to his lead guitar playing. My screaming altissimo sax, either sets up, or comes in after his solos, or in some cases duels with his guitar. Bottom line: he knows my playing & my sound.
After listening to the 10M, Mark VI, and the Handcraft, Art preferred the sound of the Selmer Mark VI. He said it had a quality to the sound that the others didn’t, which made it “fuller & richer” sounding.
Just a side note on the Selmer, I’m not using the stock neck on the horn. For the last 8 years I’ve been using a Master Piece neck. Also, this is the first time Art has heard the Selmer in over 6 months. The low Eb keyguard needed soldering, so I’ve been playing my Handcraft.
Just before dinner I had the chance to play for 3 more impartial listeners. We had guests over, so the pre-dinner entertainment was me noodling some Blues in the foyer (it has great acoustics) on the 3 tenor saxes. The unanimous consensus was: they preferred the Selmer.
What’s interesting is that I haven’t played my VI since the end of April when the keyguard loosened during a live performance, and the sound crew picked up the vibration over the PA. So it’s not that I’m more comfortable with the sax. If anything, the Martin would be one that I’m currently more comfortable with.
I definitely am not comfortable with the 10M. I will need to spend some time with the Conn over the next couple of weeks getting to know it. It plays quite differently, and I do want to get know it before taking it in front of a live audience. Deception is hosting a jam as part of its series of weekend shows at the end of this month, so I’ll likely use it for that.
So there you have it. Four impartial, non-saxophone players, 1 of them a professional musician, the other 3 Blues fans, prefer the sound of the Mark VI tenor over the Martin Handcraft & Conn 10M, in an un-amplified, unaccompanied sampling of a Blues solo, similar to what I would do with the band.
YMMV of course, but I was rather surprised by the results. I was thinking most everyone would prefer the Martin. (I’m not doing the 10M justice yet, so it didn’t really stand a chance.) Interesting…
