$ 3,449.00 $ 1,399.00 Home / Woodwind Instruments / Saxophones / Alto Saxophones / Professional Alto Saxophones / Antigua Power Bell Alto Saxophone. In good condition.(posted on April 20th, 2017) 506-ns Antigua Antiqua Winds Alto Saxophone (70.4% similar) The case, and accessories are in great shape-this sax was used school band for 1 semester. They are out of Taiwan and only recently introduced themselves into the US market when they established a distributorship in California.The design of the neck, the process of annealing the body, the double key arms on the bow and bell- no detail is spared. The other new company I just came across is called Chateau.
ANTIGUA WINDS SOPRANO SAXOPHONE REVIEW PRO
In the last decade they introduced a line of professional quality saxophones, and have recently introduced a new model, The Pro One, which I will discuss shortly. Founded in 1991 by Fred Hoey in San Antonio, Texas, its original mission was to provide students and schools with low-cost quality brass and woodwind instruments. Antigua Winds has actually been around for a while now. The first is Antigua Winds, and the other is Chateau. Recently I have been introduced to two fairly new companies who have recently entered the saxophone arena with what I consider quality instruments. In a short time they were being endorsed and played by some of the best contemporary players in the world. They were the first company from Taiwan in my opinion that showed that a premium saxophone could be made outside of Europe and Japan. Mauriat very quickly established itself as a force to be reckoned with in the saxophone world. I love these saxophones because they look great, play great and sound great. I've already discussed the Buffet 400 line, which is built in China and Taiwan, and P. Now, with manufacturers from Taiwan and China building excellent instruments at a competitive price point, the pro player and student alike can have a quality instrument that won't break the bank.
Generally, the high cost of a high quality instrument makes it difficult for many players to afford the instruments they need to get those sessions. Many professional players need to double not only on flute or clarinet, but also need to play at least two to three members of the saxophone family in order to get those competitive gigs. Once a company can establish itself in the marketplace with decent quality, reasonably priced student and intermediate models, they then have the resources to develop and market higher quality pro horns at price points which gives the pro player many more options. It would have seemed almost impossible just a few short years ago for any new company, particularly from Asia, to join the ranks of the top manufacturers in the world, but it is happening. This has resulted in giving not only students, but also professionals a wider choice of options when looking for a new saxophone. Taking advantage of the low cost of labor and production coupled with the modern factories built in China, the established makers in Europe, Japan and Taiwan have contracted Chinese factories to produce high quality saxophones in their name to their specifications. As for China, it has rightly earned its reputation as churning out inferior junk, but this has now also dramatically changed. Mauriat have placed themselves in the world market as makers of high quality and even innovative professional saxophones. However, as the demand for reasonably priced professional saxophones grew, Taiwanese manufacturers stepped up, improving the quality of the saxophones. Until the early part of the new millenium, Taiwan was producing at best, student to intermediate level saxophones of varying quality, mostly so-so or just plain terrible. Where earlier the best saxophones were made in either Europe or America, now the scene has shifted to Europe and Asia, with Japan, Taiwan and China producing more saxophones per capita than anywhere else. It also showed that saxophones manufactured in Asia could be made as well as the best made anywhere else.
However, companies like Julius Keilwerth of Germany and Yamaha and Yanagisawa of Japan came along and introduced top quality saxophones into the world market and giving musicians a wider choice. Eventually saxophone production in the US ceased, and for a short while Selmer seemed to stand alone as far as premium professional saxophones went, though Buffet was always present. The first Golden Age of saxophone manufacturing which went from the 1920's through the 60's, saw some of the greatest saxophones ever made by some of the best craftsmen and women from Europe and the USA, from companies like Selmer, Conn, Buescher, Martin, King, Buffet and smaller factories like Dolnet and SML. It seems that we're in the midst of a new Golden Age of saxophone manufacturing.