Now, in all seriousness… Is there no end to the cheap, American-designed, Asian-made bass saxophone names out there? Who is buying these things? If anyone knows, please tell me.
A few days ago, I saw this JinYin bass sax for sale by Noteworthy Music. I thought that I’d seen the brand name before, so I just bookmarked the auction and kept checking in on it occasionally to see if there were any bidders. This morning I finally realized that I hadn’t seen a JinYin bass before at all. I was getting it confused with the Jinbao I’d seen in March.
OK, so now that we’ve got the name confusion out of the way, here is yet another cheap, American-designed, Asian-made bass saxophone brand: JinYin.
Notice the bass has double arms on the low C key.
Source: eBay.com
Source: eBay.com
Noteworthy Music is selling this bass through its online store and says the following about this bass:
The JinYin Model A600G Bass Saxophone. Through its vast resources of engineering and manufacturing skills, JinYin is only one of a handful of companies in the entire world producing a bass saxophone. This instrument they produce has it all! Excellent tone and response, good intonation and comfortable key work.
This bass sax, without a doubt, is one of the most incredible values you will find, with other models costing anywhere from $3,000.00 to $10,000.00 more. Comes complete with mouthpiece, cap, ligature and deluxe lightweight case.
Source: eBay.com
Although the ad copy doesn’t mention it, the horn obviously comes with a floor peg, since it has the mounting posts for it on the front of the bell.
Source: eBay.com
The JinYin bass has 2 bell to body supports. This is a common feature on many of the new, American-designed, Asian-made bass saxophones.
Source: eBay.com
It also has the triple strap rings, that we’ve seen as a common feature on many of the new, cheap Asian horns as well.
Source: eBay.com
This bass sax by JinYin, appears to be the identical horn to the one that was being sold by DLM Music in the UK, just this last April. That sax did not have a brand name advertised.
Noteworthy Music is selling the JinYin bass saxophone for the Buy It Now price of $5,995.00. The auction for this bass ends on July 10. At the time of writing there was 1 offer on the sax.
Update: This JinYin bass sax appears not to have sold. When the auction ended, there was still only one offer on the sax.
Noteworthy Musical has another listing for a JinYin bass sax in its on-line store. Same price ($5995.00). End date for this listing is August 9.
I’m glad they provided two peg mounts. On all the instruments which have just one, I can just see the player get bumped from behind causing the mount to tear off, and the whole horn crashing to the ground. I believe the Selmer Serie III bari suffers from this as well, and it costs twice what these basses do.
Maybe some people would be wearing a neckstrap as backup — I wouldn’t. To me, the whole point of setting the horn down is to keep it from being an anchor on my body.
Having the sax detached from your body allows you to be quite theatrical with it… Much like the upright bass players who spin their instruments.
Is there anyone that makes a non-permanent kit for attaching a peg to a bari sax? You have probably seen and maybe used the stands that have a ring attached to the horn, and it is the ring that attaches to the stand or slides off it. I was thinking of something with two rings like that, with peg mounts. This way I could stand and play bari, without having to have it on a stand or tripod (not possible when I have to move frequently). I may have to cover the tuba role (on bari) in the next “Señor de los Milagros”. We don’t move very fast, so I can stand in one place for 15 or 20 seconds, lift the peg and take a few steps, and set it down again.
No rush, they won’t be doing it again until next October.
I’ve never seen anything like that before, but it sounds like a great idea.
I’m thinking you could make one yourself using one of those Hamilton bari stands, and then attaching a peg somehow. Does your bass clarinet have a peg it could share with your bari? Otherwise you could always use something else and make your own peg.
My bass clarinet is lacking its peg, though it does still have the mount. It looks like that size peg would be a bit flimsy for a bari sax though, especially at standing height.
I could most likely rig something up with large hose clamps and neoprene, but I was hoping it already existed. If so, I figured you or one of your fellow bass sax players would have heard of it. Most likely I’ll just add “peg mounts” to the to-do list when the Dolnet goes to Martin Mods.
Nope, it’s never been discussed among us bass sax types on the Bass Sax Co-op. Although if I threw it out for discussion, I’m thinking some of the 350+ members would think like I do: that it would be a stellar idea.
When I deal with the current crises, I’ll ask for measurements at a couple places on your bass — don’t worry, it will be of the measuring tape around the outside variety. I figure the only difference between doing this with a bari and doing it with a bass will be the size of the hose clamps.
Tonight I have to figure out why my (main) computer has decided to die, and perhaps look into replacing the TV that died the day before that.
There are actually two factories (only) making bass saxophones in China. All the variations you see are from those two sources. I know both companies well.
Hi Steve. Welcome to my site.
It would make sense that there are only a couple of sources, and that they are stencilling horns for everyone, since the start-up costs would be phenomenal. That would also explain the similarities across all the brand names.
I don’t imagine that we’ll be seeing a Goodson or Sax Gourmet model bass. Perhaps with high copper content, roo pads, kick ass resos, and all your innovations? Talk about limited appeal… It’s fun to dream though.
Thanks for stopping by.
Regards
Helen