Yamaha YAS-62 Alto Saxophone Vintage Purple Label

Description

If you follow this site much, you will know that I think that the best-sounding modern altos are the 80’s Yamaha 62 and the 80’s Yanagisawa 880. These horns combine modern keywork, ergonomics, and intonation with a warmer, more interesting basic tone than has become the recent trend among major manufacturers. There are, thankfully, lots of good horns made today, and mouthpiece choice makes a huge difference to the tone that you get, so there are lots of good options besides these two altos, but I still think that they are both very good options. This particular horn is SN#11xxx and has just been put into good playing condition on a mix of older and newer pads. There is some light lacquer wear and a small dent was removed from the side of the neck. The bell flare also had a small dent removed from it, and it’s also hard to see that one. Other than that the horn is nice and clean structurally.

The basic tone on these is medium between bright and dark, lyrical and resonant. One thing you notice about the purple label horns is that they come alive in your hands more easily than the more heavily-built Custom series Yamahas (which are also good horns, by the way). Intonation and ergonomics are good, as I mentioned above. This horn comes in the original case, which is also in good condition. It’s a nice alto for the money and would suit a whole range of playing situations and potential owners. It also holds its value because these horns are rightly becoming more desirable as people realize that they are quite good.