Yanagisawa A-990 Alto Excellent Condition! Plays Great 176857

Absolutely gorgeous example of one of my favorite modern alto saxophones – the Yanagisawa A990 professional alto. By the way – for you parents out there wondering Yah-nuh-gih-sah-wah is how you pronounce it. The 990 is the top of the line model, equivalent to the subsequent A991 and WO-10 models which you will also see around for sale, and also to the A880 which came immediately before. Yanagisawa also makes a slightly less expensive, but also professional line which lacks a few bells and whistles present on this line of instruments, called the A900, A901, and WO-1. It’s not too confusing once you get used to it, but I find that it is confusing to many folks initially when they start shopping for these, both to be confronted with the array of model numbers, and the two parallel lines of professional horns, and the difficult-to-pronounce-confidently-name.

Ok throat clearing how behind us, we turn to this extremely nice example of a Yanagisawa A990 alto. This horn is one-owner, and was very well cared-for. It shows very little use, no wear, and no previous or current damage or past repairs. It’s about as nice as you could ask for. The reason I like these horns a lot, is that the 880 and 990 models have a bit warmer, more complex tone than the 991 and WO-10 do. That extra warmth can give you just a bit of extra depth to the sound, though your choice of mouthpiece and reed will make a larger contribution. Besides that, you won’t find a modern saxophone that is better built than the 880/990/991 Yanagisawa saxophones. That’s because Yanagisawa makes only saxophones, and has been doing so for 90 years. The company is small and highly specialized, and its workers are all master builders, capable of building one of these single-handed, and taking turns on the different steps to keep the work interesting.

So if you’re shopping used saxophones and feeling nervous about upkeep, Yanagisawa is your safest bet, though you’ll also find good build quality on Yamaha pro saxes, and to a lesser extent on Selmer and Keilwerth, both of which tend to need more of a thorough overhaul when they burn through their intial factory setups.

This particular A990 has excellent pads, and plays great on them. It is just freshly tuned up, and responds easily throughout the entire playing range without any trouble. The tone is medium bright, and rich, and will darken down with a classical mouthpiece, or project extra with a higher baffle jazz mouthpiece. You can do what you want with it, because the intonation is good and the horn is not mouthpiece-picky at all. The keywork is comfortable and snappy, and the feel is nice under the fingers. The underslung octave key on these adds some interest to the look of the horn, and also works great as a mechanism.

If you want a horn that just works, dependably, tunes well, sounds great, and gets out of the way so that you can focus on the music, that’s what a Yanagisawa does for you. It’s easy to maintain, with just regular checkups and the occasional cleaning and adjustment. If you happen to be interested, I also have the A880 and the A991 in stock at the moment, and can even get you a great price on a new WO-1 or WO-10 if you email me directly.

Only one available!