{"id":12990,"date":"2009-09-25T10:07:02","date_gmt":"2009-09-25T17:07:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bassic-sax.info\/blog\/?p=12990"},"modified":"2024-05-05T11:17:35","modified_gmt":"2024-05-05T18:17:35","slug":"the-zephyrs-first-real-test-with-the-band","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bassic-sax.info\/blog\/2009\/the-zephyrs-first-real-test-with-the-band\/","title":{"rendered":"The Zephyr\u2019s First Real Test With The Band"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Right-Side<\/a>
\nSince picking up my Zephyr from Sarge at World Wide Sax<\/a> a week ago, I have been blown away by this horn’s versatility. It is absolutely a killer sax.<\/p>\n

Besides being perhaps the most incredibly versatile of my all my saxes with regards to what it can do tone-wise, I am stunned by the accuracy of its intonation, and the incredible ease with which it plays. I find there is hardly any resistance at all, and the altissimo notes just pop out without me even thinking about them. The ergos, including the left pinkie table, are all intuitive for me. Within 5 minutes of playing the sax for the first time, it was as if I had been playing it for the last 20 years. There is no doubt about it: This 307XXX (1950) tenor was meant to be my horn.<\/p>\n

The best way to describe this sax is probably to say that it really seems to be the perfect blend of all the best qualities of my primary tenors combined. It has a tonal depth & breadth similar to my Martin Handcraft; the lack of resistance reminiscent of my 10M; as well as ergos that make it easy for me to play as fast as I want\/need to over the full range of the horn, just like my Mark VI. <\/p>\n

The Zephyr seems to be equally happy playing jazz as is does doing raunchy rock ‘n roll with a nasty attitude. I love the rich & lush tone that it can offer up, as well as its subtone.<\/p>\n

However, since I don’t really play in acoustic environments very much (read: at all), the test came on Wednesday night when the Zephyr had to go up against the electric guitar sounds of Deception’s<\/em> front man, Art Panchishin. Art and I spent equal amounts of time soloing, and a fair amount of the time duelling with each other on stage, much like 2 guitars might in other bands.<\/p>\n

Well the Zephyr had no problem cutting through, and coming out over top of the guitar when it needed to. The sound was also different enough (compared to my Mark VI with its Master Piece neck and metal resos<\/a>) that even our bass player noticed that my sax sound was different from the week before.<\/p>\n

This is the sound I’ve been chasing for years, and I can easily see the Zeph now becoming my primary tenor. While I won’t be selling my Mark VI, it will most likely be relegated to the role of back up sax… Something I would not have thought possible a few short weeks ago.<\/p>\n

While she might not be the prettiest Zephyr out there, the natural lacquer loss due to nearly 6 decades of pro playing, definitely has added a great deal of resonance to the horn’s sound.<\/p>\nngg_shortcode_0_placeholder\n

  Photos by H. Kahlke \u00a9 2009<\/h6>\n

This is the kind of sax that really proves the point that vintage horns, when properly looked after throughout their lifetimes, can be played professionally for decades. I wonder if in the future we will be able to say that about the current crop of horns coming from the East?<\/p>\n

These old timers have stood the test of time. They are a testament to an era when quality<\/em> and handmade craftsmanship <\/em>were not just advertising buzzwords, but actually still meant something.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Since picking up my Zephyr from Sarge at World Wide Sax a week ago, I have been blown away by this horn’s versatility. It is absolutely a …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[15],"tags":[150,617,43,620,324,35,644,661,630,643,31,224],"class_list":["post-12990","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tenor-saxophone","tag-american-saxophones","tag-bands","tag-blues-band","tag-deception","tag-h-n-white","tag-king","tag-photos","tag-styles-of-saxophone-playing","tag-tenor-saxophone","tag-vintage-horns","tag-vintage-sax","tag-zephyr"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t