Question:
YOUR OPINION/HELP REQUIRED
My husband bought a saxophone 18 years ago in the hope that he would learn to play. After may discussions he decided on buying a 'Weltklang' Solist Markneukirchen Klingenthal' (well thats whats written on it anyway). He paid $750 Aussie dollars for it which was a lot of money 18 years ago. After giving it a go for 6 months he decided it was harder than he thought and packed it away in the hope that one day one of his children would take it up. Our daughter has decided to do just that however her music teacher believed it would need a service as it was a bit squawky so we sent it away for a full service costing $350. Now this teacher is telling my daughter that her dad got ripped off and that it wasnt a very good saxophone and that we need to trade it in. (the past 3 years my daughter has been playing clarinet and is very good at it but she did not have her own instrument so she decided to take up the sax - I dont believe the squawky sound is from a lack of experience with a reed instument) WHATS YOUR OPINION - SHOULD WE TRADE IT IN

Answer:
A Weltklang owner myself, I have used mine on gigs and find it surprisingly good. As a full time private teacher, I find band directors, for the most part, the bane of my existence. Most of the ones I dealt with were trumpet players who insisted on Yamaha saxophones, a certain mouthpiece (I forget which,) and a Vandoren 3 1/2 reed!
Is this teacher a sax player? Is he willing to share the cost of the service HE recommended?
Also, be advised that the clarinet emboucure is so vastly different from a Tenor sax, there is a need for a lot of adjustment. Sounds like some help from an experienced sax teacher may be in order and could also save you some dollars.

Answer:
Thanks for your opinion. I will pass it on to my daugher. I forgot to mention that the sax is a alto sax and yes you have it in one, she, the music teacher is talking also about a new mouth piece worth some $300 - $400. She is a saxophone player herself and I am led to believe she has a very good sax but what brand I do not know. I am very discruntled as you can imagine especially when we have just had it serviced. My daughter does seems to think that this teacher is GOD and what she says goes. I wish she had not said a thing as now I am faced with the fact that my daughter thinks she has a crappy sax. I would desperately like her to hear otherwise from other experienced users of this brand of sax so as to change her mind. Thanks again for your reply.

Answer:
Pam: I know there are a few posters from Australia, but not being familiar with the geography, I don't know if any are close to you. Sure would be nice if an independent saxophone player could give your horn a try and see if it needs anything. Maybe when your daughter hears her saxophone wail, she won't be so quick to believe it is crappy.
And, I see no need to spend $300 for a new mouthpiece. I have several that play great and they sure didn't cost me that much.
As to Weltklang horns, I don't know. Many cheaper saxophones are junk. Some though are pretty good players (witness my Antigua soprano and Unison alto from Taiwan - superb instruments).
Trade-in value is an entirely different issue. Not many retailers will take a trade-in - and when they do, the value received is not nearly as much as you could probably do privately (just like cars, the dealers are in business for a profit and trade-ins are bought cheap and sold for a profit). If the horn is truly a poor instrument, you'd probably be better off buying a better horn and selling the Weltklang privately. DAVE

Answer:
Thanks for your response Dave. Warrnambool Australia is in the State of Victoria. Near Melbourne. Right down the bottom of Aus. Opposite the little island Tasmania. We have thought of trying to find someone other than the music teacher to give the sax a try. Thought we would probably try the City Band group or the like.
I really dont want to trade it in as I truly believe that if the sax was worth $750 18 years ago that it probably would be worth quite a lot more now if you were to buy it new. I dont think it would have been classed as a cheapy. I have looked it up on the net but all the info seems to be in German and I cannot understand it. The thing is that the Sax has only been in use probably 12 months - 6 months with hubby and 6 months with my daughter- thats over the whole 18years that we have had it so it has reasonable low mileage. :lol:
If I were to sell it privately I would not have any idea of what price to put on it. Thanks again for your reply Dave

Answer:
Pam,
Teachers can, fortunately or unfortunately, assert a great deal of influence on their students. This has been a fact throughouth the ages. My first sax was an ancient c-melody. It was uglier than anything you can imagine and the low notes didnt playat all. It served me ok to learn on and later,when I was able to get a better horn, I really appreciated it. The trend of teachers today to insist on a pro or even semi pro horn and a 300 dollar mouthpiece is pretty deplorable.
My Weltklang is not a name brand or pro horn, but it works. I think a good teacher would find the root of the cause of the squawky horn and try to fix it from there. If you have a place available to do this, have your daughter try out a horn and/or a mouthpiece. If that fixes the sound, then isolate whether it is the horn or the mouthpiece that corrected it then go from there. I frankly find that a great mouthpiece on even a student horn can do wonders, but a great mouthpiece doesnt have to cost $300!
If it turns out to be the horn, it could just need some adjusting. If it is neither, then have her teacher check her embouchure.
Sorry if I am rambling, but there are so many factors involved.

Answer:
Pam - just between us (and not your daughter) there are two things I find about her teacher that are unsettling. First: Originally Posted by Pam ...her music teacher believed it would need a service as it was a bit squawky so we sent it away for a full service costing $350. Now this teacher is telling my daughter that her dad got ripped off
Why on earth, if she thinks the sax is ka-ka would she first recommend an$350 repair job. At best this a lapse of logic, at worst she doesn't know what she's talking about.
Second: Originally Posted by Pam ...the music teacher is talking also about a new mouthpiece worth some $300 - $400. B.S. Does that mean the same thing in Oz? The first word is "bull.
I think her teacher is way off base and pretty cavalier with your money. There are many mouthpieces that are excellent for your daughter at a fraction of that price. Add that to the misjudgement of sending the sax off for repairs only to turn around and say the sax is bad speaks for itself.
On the other hand (he clears his throat) is it certain your daughter is relaying everything to you accurately? If I wanted to give the teacher the benefit of the doubt I would suggest your daughter is not quite clear on the teacher's suggestions. That's your judgement call. At face value, the teacher is not giving consistant and professional advice.
I don't know where he is in relation to you but a man who has a lot of credibility with forum members here is Richard "Bootman" Booth . He can be found at and he even speaks the same language as you do. :wink:

Answer:
its ashame the teacher didnt tell you before you spent the money for a repad that the sax wasnt very good. its not a very good sax. ive checked them out. anyways if i was you i would sell that sax on ebay or wherever you could trade it in an get a good playing yamaha student sax off ebay. like a yas 23 or something like that ive seen them really cheap and i consider them to be an exce;;ent student sax. . as for as a 300.00 mouthpiece thats total crap.just because it works for your teacher doesnt mean it will work for the student. meyer,vandoren,yanagisawa,beechler,links,bergs etc.. woukld be excellent choices and the hard rubber ones you can get for 50.00 to 100.00 range. best bet is to take her to the store and let her try a few out. mouthpieces are a funny thing. price has absolutely no correlation to how well they will play. believe me! anyways best of luck

Answer:
Pam: All good advice (above). Comments though - I'm not convinced the Weltklang is a good horn just because you paid that much for it years ago. Most horns (and yes, two or more decades ago, too) are priced at retail, then heavily discounted to those who know about horn pricing (maybe 40% or higher discounts). That you paid X-dollars for a horn doesn't mean that was a good deal OR that the horn was good because you paid a lot.
Someone else may have better info about the horn's country of manufacture - but just because the website is in German or the horn has German stampings, etc., doesn't mean it was made there. Many companies/distributors buy cheap Chinese/Taiwanese/Czech, etc. instruments and put a brand name on them, calling them "German-designed" or some such marketing nonsense.
For sure, the name WELTKLANG doesn't mean much to the bulk of saxophonists who post here. True, maybe a few own them and may have even had good experiences with one or more examples (re: rsclosson above). But believe me, that horn is not going to bring you more than you paid 18 years ago. If it does, I'd really be surprised.
For instance, Dave Kessler in Las Vegas is selling a terrific Taiwanese alto he brands as SOLIST for less than you paid 18 years ago. I've played the SOLIST and even without playing your WELTKLANG, believe that for the money, I'd go for the SOLIST every time.
I really believe you need to have an experienced player check it out - one with no investment in the process. If the horn is a player, okay. If not, don't waste any more money on it and try for something more mainstream or with a better-known reputation. The brand names of Selmer, Yanagisawa, Yamaha, Keilwerth, Unison, Antigua, and Jupiter are among the brands routinely discussed on this forum. That's where you may want to look should the Weltklang turn out to be in need of major repairs. Good luck. DAVE

Answer:
I did forget to mention a few things. I only paid $200 American for my Weltklang. It literally paid for itself my first gig. I also am in the process of getting a Keilwerth stencil to replace it, though I will likely keep the Weltklang as my backup horn. It is a surprizingly good playing horn, but I am also realistic enough to know that I would be fortunate to get any kind of serious trade in value for it.
I think, in this case, many far more cost effective alternatives should be considered before trading on a new horn and getting a 300 mouthpiece. In the early stages of learning to play the saxophone, all the money you throw at a problem may not fix it and may be totally unnecessary. I happily gigged with a student Vito alto and a decent mouthpiece until my better deal came along. There can be so many factors, far less costly, to consider before a serious investment is made, especially after a serious repair investment was already made.

Answer:
Pam,
If the horn has been recently overhauled, it should play decently. It may not have brilliant tone and the action may not be butter smooth, but it should produce the full range of notes with an acceptable tone. If not, the repair job has most likely been botched. The teacher should play the horn and if she cannot produce an acceptable sound, perhaps she can be persuaded to accompany your daughter to the repair shop and take up the issue with the technician. The repairer would be far less likely to attribute the problems to your daughter's inexperience with the instrument. You paid good money or the overhaul and you're entitled to professional serivce.
If, on the other hand, it turns out to be a defective mouthpiece, there are many good choices for well under $300. My instructor, who is an accomplished professional, plays a Selmer c* mouthpiece which is generally available in the States for about 80 USD. He can produce a wonderful sound with this piece using either his professional Selmer sax or my student Yamaha.

Answer:
Thanks everybody for your replies,
I have sat my daughter down to read all these responses and she says that she has played a Jupiter. She found she got a much softer more smoother sound from it. It was a school sax picked years ago when a more experienced sax player was around.
She now feels that a new mouthpiece may be in order as she has looked at the shape of the one she has got and it is a lot different to all the others at school in that it differs a lot to the shape of a normal reed and seems uneven. It also slopes down.
My daughter Nichaela, does believe that her technique does need improving but she does not believe that it is that bad to be getting the sharper sound. Especially when she doesnt get it from the Jupiter. She asks could it possibly be that the sax may be suited to a particular style of music. Nichaela says she is after the more softer jazzier sound.

Answer:
Pam: I don't believe a saxophone alone is responsible for good or bad tone. Once a horn is shown to be well-designed and tight (no leaks and everything working as it should), then it will most likely sound as good as the person who plays it. Good tone comes from the player for the most part. Like jp3 wrote, his teacher sounded good on whatever he played.
True, we all benefit from a good mouthpiece (and we all don't sound good on the same piece - that is very personal), but once we arrive at a good playing mouthpiece on a tight, well-designed horn, then the sound is us, not the equipment.
I advise you and your daughter to 1) have the horn checked by an objective player or technician; 2) search for a good mouthpiece (they are available on a trial basis from many Internet dealers); experiment with various reed strengths and styles; and 4) develop her embouchure to achieve maximum tonal quality. DAVE