Soprano saxophones for sale
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- Conn New Wonder II Sopranino Original Silver, Overhauled 153973$4,950
This is a rare and beautiful example of a Conn New Wonder II SopraNINO Saxophone in original silver plate. It has a recent overhaul done at Saxquest, and it’s ready to play, right out of the case. They used black kangaroo leather pads and noyek/hollywood waffle style resonators. Black felts complete the look.
The great thing about Conn sopranos and sopraninos is that they are warmer, darker, and rounder tonally than what you might think of as a typical sopranino or soprano tone. More like an alto and less like an oboe than modern instruments tend to sound, if that makes any sense. These horns tune well with the right mouthpiece. This one doesn’t come with an original Conn piece, but we can discuss options if you don’t have one already.
It would be hard to find a Conn sopranino in better condition than this. It’s the nicest one I’ve had in years. They’re hard to find in any condition, but original silver and no evidence of past repairs like this is very special.
Only one available!
- Conn NWII Soprano Burnished Gold w/ Train Portrait Plays Great! 184812$4,000
You never see burnished Conn sopranos with special portrait engraving. This one has a train scene, which I find extremely delightful. This beautiful gold-plated soprano saxophone was also recently overhauled and plays well on the fresh pads. There’s no significant past damage. Original gold plate.
The tone is warm, spread, and pleasant to listen to. Compared to modern sopranos, it almost sounds like a different instrument. It’s hard to capture on the recording below, but listen with good headphones and you’ll get a rough idea. It’s better in person!!
I’ve only seen one other portrait soprano like this, and it had an owl on it and sold in 1 day.
- Ishimori New Vintage Soprano Gold Lacquer Two Necks New$4,500
- Keilwerth ToneKing Soprano (Couf Superba 1) Old Pads Great Value! 91506$1,450
- Lyon and Healy Bb Soprano Original Silver 200211$850
Lyon and Healy branded straight Bb soprano saxophone from 1928 or so. Who actually manufactured this is disputed, as Couturier (the usual name) was both a cornet manufacturer, and also was not actually involved in making this saxophone (having retired in 1923). But the quickest way to find them is to look for Lyon and Healy Couturier saxophones.
- Martin Handcraft Soprano Beautiful Original Silver Overhauled Amazing 83569$3,950
- Martin Handcraft Soprano Original Silver Plate Near Mint + Overhauled 67718$3,850
Amazing example of a near mint Martin Handcraft soprano saxophone that just got a fresh high-end overhaul through GetASax. You won’t find a nicer sounding vintage soprano! The ergonomics are vintage, but pretty comfortable. I play a 68k Handcraft just like this myself. Warm, balanced, round, medium spread, good intonation, and even not very picky on mouthpiece compatibility.
- Selmer Mark VI Sopranino 5-digit RARE Original Lacquer Excellent! 98569$8,250
This is an incredibly rare 5-digit Selmer Mark VI Sopranino saxophone. Serial 98569, close to Coltrane’s famous VI soprano. Original lacquer at about 98% intact; extremely clean condition with no damage and no past repairs. Original case is great as well. I may have this significantly underpriced. A 5-digit Mark VI soprano of this serial would sell much higher. In any case, it’s the ultimate sopranino saxophone. This is the only 5-digit sopranino I’ve had in the history of GetASax, so there is most certainly only one available!
- Selmer Mark VI Soprano Near Mint Original Lacquer 222370$6,000
- Selmer Mark VI Soprano Original Lacquer Excellent Condition! 210073$4,950
Gorgeous original lacquer Selmer Mark VI soprano. The later serials like this tune the best of all the VI sopranos, and sound great. Both Coltrane and Kenny G play(ed) a VI soprano, so that should give you some idea of the range of tone possible on one of these. This one is about as clean and nice an example as you could find. The pads are original, and still sealing fairly well, but plan on a repad soon. Priced to be a great deal for someone.
- Soprano Brilhart Reproduction 3-Band Ligature Hard Rubber Mouthpieces$165
For Hard Rubber Soprano mouthpieces. This fits everything including vintage Buescher and Conn, Meyer, Selmer Soloist, Selmer S80, Yanagisawa, Vandoren, and virtually all of the boutique soprano mouthpieces.
As an added bonus, this EchoMaster ligature also fits metal Dukoff alto mouthpieces like Dukoff Miami alto saxophone mouthpieces perfectly!
There’s a reason why the vintage Brilhart 3-Band ligatures have been singled out by the market (players) as by far the most desirable vintage ligatures. They are great ligatures! But there will never be enough vintage Brilhart ligatures to meet the high demand for this style of ligature. And never before has there been a Soprano ligature available! (Brilhart only made alto and tenor.) This is an amazing ligature and also fits almost every soprano hard rubber mouthpiece ever made.
- Yamaha SILVER YSS-82ZRS Soprano Saxophone Mint Condition Setup Excellent$4,900
This is a mint condition Yamaha YSS-82ZRS soprano. The Yamaha 82ZRS is basically a reissue of the popular Yamaha 62 soprano. The silver versions were the most desirable of the Yamaha YSS-62R on which the 82ZR is based. So if you have always wanted to get a Yamaha YSS-62RS this is nearly identical, but with some upgraded keywork. The main changes are thatthe left hand pinky (spatula) keys are now easier to operate and the palm keys are a little more comfortable. Yamaha tells me that the bore and dimensions of the 82ZR are exactly the same as the 62R, and on purpose. It is meant to be a modern reissue of the enormously popular 62R.With the 62R, Yamaha finally brokewith the Selmer Mark VI soprano tonal concept and do something warmer, rounder, and more pleasant. It became an instant classic. There’s a big demand for more of these, so Yamaha helpfully rose to the occasion.
The reason that the 62R/82ZR is so popular is the combination of one piece design – no neck joint to lose air or resonance – and the warm, complex tone that these horns get. And the bent neck, which brings the horn down onto the neck strap for added comfort. Branford Marsalis plays this model, and sounds wonderful on it. I think he helped with the keywork improvements also. In short, it’s probably the best modern soprano available: Lightest, most resonant, very in tune, most comfortable to play, best long term investment. It’s a modern classic.
If like me, you have always wanted one of these horns in silver, now is your chance. They are hard to find! This one just got its checkup and is ready to go! It is in basically mint condition, but has been played maybe a couple of hours total.
- Yamaha YDS-150 Digital Saxophone – In stock now!$799
November 2022 Inventory Update: Two in stock!
The Yamaha YDS-150 Digital Saxophone is a new kind of digital saxophone. It is more like a real saxophone than any digital saxophone that has come before, because it has regular saxophone keywork. So unlike an EWI 4000S, 5000, or a WX5, you don’t have to switch to a different keywork feel in order to play the digital saxophone anymore.
This is going to be huge for people who want to practice saxophone quietly rather than people who just want a midi or digital interface sax. You can practice with headphones on and not bother your neighbors at all hours. Or play it quietly on one of the 15 volume settings. The Yamaha YDS-150 Digital Saxophone also works fine as a digital input into whatever sound processing software that you want to use. But it feels more like a regular saxophone under the fingers. I’ve been having fun with digital saxophones ever since the Casio DH-100, and I think like the Casio, this Yamaha YDS-150 Digital Saxophone will probably become an instant classic of its genre for the same reason – it feels more like an actual saxophone to play than any similar option.
In brief (more below) are the main features of the Yamaha YDS-150 Digital Saxophone that you might care about:
- The Yamaha Yamaha YDS-150 Digital Saxophone has a speaker in the brass bell, so that the sound you generate vibrates the instrument’s body tube. As you play louder, you feel more resonance.
- The Yamaha YDS-150 Digital Saxophone has a regular saxophone mouthpiece (basically a repurposed Yamaha 4C soprano piece) and even a ‘reed’ so that it feels like a saxophone in your mouth also. The reed doesn’t vibrate though! You can even swap out the Yamaha mouthpiece for your own mouthpiece, as long as it has a similar bore to a 4C, though this won’t do much to the tone if anything. It might make it feel a little more like ‘home’ to you.
- The Yamaha YDS-150 Digital Saxophone has an advanced breath sensor that responds instantly to small changes in breath support by changing the tone that you generate. Again, you see the theme – feels a bit more like a saxophone to play.
- The sound it generates is actual sound samples taken from real Yamaha saxophones. You can switch among Yamaha soprano, alto, tenor, and baritone tones on your Yamaha YDS-150 Digital Saxophone. It’s a pretty good idea, thought it still sounds like a midi sax to me. The bari sax model is actually pretty good though.
- There’s an app that lets you further modify and control the tone you get from the Yamaha YDS-150 Digital Saxophone. The app is actually quite good! And you can also input the sound from your Yamaha YDS-150 Digital Saxophoneinto Ableton or Garageband or ProTools or whatever you like and modify it there, or even run the output into analog or digital pedals, like in our saxophone looping video here.
- Interestingly it’s keyed from high F# down to low Aso you can use it as a baritone model! And the tuning is adjustable within 5 hz so you can play with a flat piano or in different temperatures with acoustic instruments whose tuning changes with changing weather etc. Not a bad idea!
Shortcomings of the YDS-150 are as follows:
- It’s a bit awkward changing notes with the digital switches on the keys versus the analog feel of a real sax.
- Similarly, starting and stopping notes with breath is different from how you articulate them on a real sax. So playing four quarter notes staccato requires you to learn habits that don’t transfer to sax.
- Reed doesn’t vibrate, so it doesn’t really feel like a saxophone to play.
- Saxophone sound samples don’t sound all that much like a saxophone. See our A/B comparison video for comparison of a Yamaha custom alto vs the YDS-150 alto sound model.
- No vibrato or control of tone with embouchure – breath only.
I’ll put more Yamaha YDS-150 Digital Saxophone details and some review videos and sound clips in the long description below, so scroll down for the additional info! And for only $799, it’s not bad even just as a tool to get some late night practice time in.
- Yamaha YSS-61 Soprano Good Condition Good Value 2042$2,150
- Sold OutYamaha YSS-62 Soprano Purple Logo Older Pads Plays Well 12153$3,500
Sold
- Sold OutYanagisawa S6 Soprano Selmer Mark VI Copy 473961$1,200
Yanagisawa S-6 soprano in good condition. The lacquer is fairly worn and the pads are older, but it’s a great price! These are copies of a Mark VI soprano, and they actually play better than the original in many cases! The intonation is better, and the keywork is built just as well. If you want that brassy, projecting soprano tone like Kenny G gets, or the thin, oboe-like tone that John Coltrane gets, those are both the direction these horns lean. (You’d need the right mouthpiece and a lot of practice to actually sound like those players stylistically, but the tone goes in that direction naturally.)
- Yanagisawa SWO2 Solid Bronze Professional Soprano Saxophone New! + Setup$3,950
One just in!!
This is a new Yanagisawa SWO2 Soprano saxophone in solid bronze. The one piece solid bronze Yanagisawa SWO-2 soprano is one of my favorite modern soprano saxophones of all. It has a noticeably darker, more complex tone than the SWO1, so to me, it’s worth the extra money to spring for the bronze on soprano. The one piece design means no neck socket to leak, and the horn resonates beautifully under your fingers when you play. It tunes beautifully as well. The keywork feels great under the fingers – dry and snappy. Yanagisawa has the best build quality of any modern saxophone, and it shows. Plus I get all new Yanagisawa saxophones checked out pre-sale by one of my excellent repairmen, so that any tiny improvements that will take it from good to great are done before you get it. This is a surprisingly big deal, and something you want to have done, regardless of where you happen to buy a new saxophone. A couple of tiny, smart fixes often take an already good horn into the exceptional category.
If you’ve been thinking of getting a soprano, then Yanagisawa is really a great choice. These are precision instruments that are built to last and that sound beautiful. They work with a wide range of mouthpieces (Selmer sopranos are more ‘mouthpiece picky’), which is nice because you can shape the tone with mouthpiece choice a LOT.
I have an extremely limited availability of these Yanagisawa saxophones, but ONE SWO2 is currently available as of November 2022. Whoever gets it will be one lucky saxophonist!