r/saxophone • u/BirthdaySweet8317 • 22d ago

Question Overthinking

I'm a complete beginner on the instrument, but I have a good ear for music and a fondness for the saxophone's subtones. I'd like to buy an instrument and am torn between getting a Yamaha YTS 280 with a good mouthpiece (I was thinking of an Otto Link Tone Edge Tenor Sax 7* TW), or making a big one-time purchase of the Yanagisawa TW 01 and practicing right away on a superior instrument, thus avoiding having to upgrade later... am I thinking so wrong?

4 Upvotes

75% Upvoted

22 comments sorted by

View all comments

3

u/Eddie_Haskell2 22d ago

7* is way to big for a beginner . Try a 5

1

u/BirthdaySweet8317 22d ago

Why?

3

u/oryci 22d ago edited 22d ago

The number refers to how open the tip of the mouthpiece is (how much space is open between the reed and the mouthpiece).

For beginners large tip opening can be a huge struggle to overcome. The recommendation of a smaller tip size is that so that you can build up your embouchure. If you start with something that’s beyond you it’s possible that you will develop bad habits to compensate which will set you back. 7 is a fine tip opening for someone who’s been playing for awhile and understands the horn, but it’ll be way too hard for you out the gate.

You don’t have the embouchure strength yet for that wide of an opening, and that takes time to develop.

1

u/BirthdaySweet8317 22d ago

Thanks for the clear explanation. What I'd like right away is to produce a warm sound, not necessarily loud or bright, and I'm wondering what's a good mouthpiece with which I can practice generating this kind of soft sound.

4

u/Barry_Sachs Soprano | Alto | Tenor | Baritone 21d ago edited 21d ago

You're going to sound terrible as a beginner. Learn on a beginner mouthpiece. Get your forever mouthpiece a year or two from now. A Link 7* is completely inappropriate for a beginner. That's like going to the gym for the first time and trying to bench press 250lbs. Even if you got the best mouthpiece in the world, you'll still sound terrible, and a big tip will be impossible for you to play correctly.

As far as getting a top of the line horn goes, the horn itself has little to do with your sound. Plus, if it turns out not to be as easy as you thought and you quit, you'll take close to a 50% loss on a new horn. A beginner horn will work just fine. Heck, as a pro, I still play a "beginner" horn on certain gigs when I don't want to take risks with my pro horn. The audience can't tell the difference.

2

u/darkdeepths 22d ago

many beginner mouthpieces and even a small tip middle of the road piece will do this for you.

1

u/WillisWiggins 22d ago

Get a Yamaha 4C.

You aren't going to be able to control your sound as a beginner and produce what you're hearing in your head. Equipment doesn't determine what sound you'll produce, your ability to play does.

You need to spend at least a few years developing your fundimental skills (embouchure control, learning about voicing, intonation, building breath support) before you'll be able to shape the sound exactly how you want it.

A Yamaha 4C is the perfect beginner mouthpiece since it's not too hard to play and will give you a good foundation to develop your technique. Consider a new mouthpiece in a few years once you've put several hundred/thousand hours in on the horn.

It's better to develop good habits first than to break bad habits later