jSAX By Nuvo: Another Starter Sax

Over the years I have written about a number of both vintage and modern starter saxophones. There has been the Buescher Academy, the Schiller American Heritage Kids Series, as well as the Alphasax. (You can debate amongst yourselves if the Vibratosax is a starter saxophone or not.) Now we have another starter sax flooding the market place: the Nuvo jSAX.

The Nuvo jSAX is available in a variety of colours, and is pitched in the key of C. In saxophone speak, it is keyed from C1 to G2.

The jSAX is the latest in a variety of student starter instruments by Nuvo. This is what the company says about this quirky, Saxello-shaped, saxophone-esque piece of plastic:

The jSAX follows traditional saxophone fingering patterns and enables kids to develop sax embouchure and playing skills at an early age. It has a surprising mellow sax sound and is a lot of fun to play even for an accomplished amateur sax player.

 

The jSAX is pitched in C like all other NUVO instruments, so it can play along with all WindStars music. It has a fully chromatic range from middle C to G in the next octave. For beginners with small fingers there is a set of plugs (training wheels!) which can be used to help seal the tone holes in the early days of learning.

 

The jSAX is lightweight and super-durable and is 100% waterproof, making it very suitable for the classroom as well as a fun travel instrument.

 

The jSAX uses the standard Nuvo resin reeds with a 1½ and 2 provided with the kit. It can also use an Eb clarinet cane reed and some soprano sax mouthpieces will also fit. You may also want to try the synthetic reed by Légère which fits all Nuvo instruments.

 

The jSAX comes with a durable blow-molded case, carry strap and fingering chart.

 

U.S. PATENT PENDING

Source: nuvoinstrumental.com

Mmm… 100% waterproof… Perfect, in other words, for those times when players get the sudden urge to practice outside in rainstorm, or perhaps the hot tub??? 😈 … But there’s a visual we really don’t want in our heads… Sorry about that, but I couldn’t help myself. All that talk about it being “fun to play even for an accomplished amateur sax player”, and being able to use soprano sax mouthpieces and Légère reeds, got my mind going in all the wrong directions… 👿 Back to it being a start sax….

There is also an attachment available—sold separately of course—that converts your Saxello-shaped jSAX into a straight soprano-like instrument. The conversion kit is called, naturally, the “Straighten your jSAX kit”. It gives you a straight neck and bell for your jSAX.

In case you’re wondering what the jSAX sounds like, I would suggest you not listen to the many uploaded videos on eBay, which feature young children playing the instrument. When I first heard the jSAX via those videos, I thought: What a piece of junk. It doesn’t play nearly in tune.

However, and here’s the rub, when I went to the Nuvo YouTube channel, and listened to the samples provided by the company, I was genuinely surprised. In the hands of an accomplished player, these things actually sound like a soprano sax.

Since we know that the soprano embouchure is one of the most difficult to develop, I was left pondering whether an alto mouthpiece might not have been more appropriate for this instrument. Granted, the jSAX would not have produced a soprano sound, but it certainly would have been easier to develop a correct saxophone embouchure. I mean there is a reason, after all, why we don’t recommend students start of soprano. I’m just saying…

Appropriateness of the mouthpiece for beginners aside, as you can hear from the following example, the jSAX does quite convincingly sound like a soprano sax. (Because what could be better than a soprano quartet. 😉  )

Or then there’s this one, with an interesting improv solo thrown into the mix…

OK, so clearly these things are not perfect. That said, perhaps they have a niche market somewhere. I did notice that Canada’s largest chain of brick and mortar stores currently sells them for $135 Cdn.

That being said, prices online seem to vary quite a bit. If you are going to order one online, do your homework and shop around.

Here are some jSAX pics from a couple of eBay auctions by haya-ken-29051. That dealer is selling the jSAX for $149.98 US, and the “Straighten your jSAX kit” for $46.98 US. Like I said, do your homework. These dealer prices are not great. I’ve seen the jSAX for just under $100 US—and that’s on eBay. I haven’t even checked Amazon, or any of the other online dealers, but I suspect that prices will vary quite a bit there as well.