Hi, has anyone played with the Maui Xaphoon Pocket Sax they sell at Lark In A.M.? It looks fun and cheap, and I aspire to be fun and cheap. I don’t play the sax, but I’m tempted to get one of these to play (I’m looking for something cheap, simple and chromatic to play around with, and yes I do have recorders). See it at http://www.larkinam.com/MenComNet/Business/Retail/LarkNet/Winds
Thanks! Fatveg.
I haven’t played the new plastic model, but I loved the bamboo one I had a few years ago. According th the Maui Xaphoon site, they have developed a revolutionary mass production process, that hasn’t been utilized in mouthpiece production, previously. Don’t know what to make of their hype. But I’m sure it is a fun and great sounding, though limiting, instrument. And the plastic is probably stouter than the bamboo.
Gosh, that’s cute! A baby saxophone! Are they hard to learn to play, I wonder? I’ve never played anything with a reed…
Redwolf
On 2003-01-24 01:39, Redwolf wrote:
Are they hard to learn to play, I wonder? I’ve never played anything with a reed…
The one I had was a lot easier to play than a clarinet. I don’t think the Xaphoon is much if any harder than whistle.
I didn’t put this in my previous post, but here’s the Maui Xaphoon Web site:
And for the folks in Europe:
On 2003-01-24 01:39, Redwolf wrote:
Gosh, that’s cute! A baby saxophone! Are they hard to learn to play, I wonder? I’ve never played anything with a reed…Redwolf
I got a bamboo sax from Eric the the Flutemaker. It wasn’t a xaphoon, but a real alto sax head married via a plumber’s joint to a length of bamboo. He could make it sound great. I never learned how much pressure to use with my lips and stuff to get a good sound. Never did learn how to play a reeded instrument.
I went and listened to the sound samples, and I’m quite impressed! I think I may just need to save up for one of those. I wonder if the whistles would be jealous?
Redwolf
Thanks for the link in Europe Walden!
Now I found something maybe even goofier there, looking strangely like a chromatic Sindt with a modified mouthpiece ? The photograph doesn’t show if the bore is conical or straight…
The “Jazzette” made “somewhere by Freiburg”. We’ll suppose it’s Freiburg Germany, not Swiss, oder ?
Anyway further searches on Google were fogged by all the answers on “jazzette” leading to jazz- drumsets…
[ This Message was edited by: Zubivka on 2003-01-24 17:45 ]
I know Zacciah Blackburn makes/sells a version of this at Sunreed Instruments. ( http://www.sunreed.com) I know only because I bought my shakuhachi from him, which am VERY pleased with. (It’s more in tune then my $320 Zen-on!) I’ve never played ANY bamboo sax, though, much less one of his…but in case you’re still looking… And no he didn’t pay me to say that!
Joey
p.s. I now see that Sunreed offers bamboo/cedar saxes AND clarinets.
edit for typo
[ This Message was edited by: joey_schu on 2003-01-24 22:00 ]
Joey, the link you posted seems dead.
On 2003-01-25 04:41, Zubivka wrote:
Joey, the link you posted seems dead.
Click on it, then when you get the error message, delete the close-parenthesis character on the right end. That will become a good link.
On 2003-01-24 17:42, Zubivka wrote:
The “Jazzette” made “somewhere by Freiburg”. We’ll suppose it’s Freiburg Germany, not Swiss, oder ?
Anyway further searches on Google were fogged by all the answers on “jazzette” leading to jazz- drumsets…
Search Google for all terms ‘jazzette’ and ‘freiburg’ and you will get their homepage at the top of the list which will display in German or it translates ‘roughly’ to English.
Edited to get the blasted terms in.
[ This Message was edited by: CDon on 2003-01-25 11:47 ]
bamboo saxophones:
http://www.asiaplus.com/bamboosax/
http://indochinamusic.com/
I’m adding this link to the other cross post about mini saxophones:
http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?topic=9240&forum=1&29
This way, it won’t be too hard to find when this talk of ‘frankensaxophones’ comes up again.
Hey there, fatveg:
I have one of those plastic xaphoon things – got it at Lark in the AM here in San Francisco – and it’s a pretty nice instrument. Not too hard to play, though it’ll take a while to develop the embouchure, and to play over several octaves.
It’s not a high-pitched instrument, as you might expect; it has a pretty throaty, lower-than-you’d-think sound.
However, I don’t play mine much, partly bec ause I find it very difficult to finger. I have large hands, and broad fingers, and those tone holes that are right next to each other (see the pic you posted) are really hard for me to cover. My fingers squish right up next to each other, and the seal is often still incomplete. So I get squeals and screeches and weird sounds I don’t intend
(not that it’s much different when I play whistle or flute, some days. . .). If you have big hands, or big fingers, you may want to try one before buying, if possible.
Best,
Aaron