Yanagisawa S-800 Soprano Saxophone Mint

Description

This is a mint/near mint original Yanagisawa S800 Soprano. It is Mark VI style with a more-comfortable plastic thumb hook. The pads are older but still sealing well, and the horn plays great, with the typical Mark VI tone that so many players love so much on soprano. In case you are not familiar with these horns, Yanagisawa is a Japanese company that makes only saxophones, by hand, and that has been doing so for many decades now. In the 70’s and 80’s their design was heavily influenced by the Selmer Mark VI, and these sopranos are nearly exact copies, with equally good or better build quality than Selmer sopranos of this vintage (gasp!), and often better intonation. This horn has a high F# key, and it has good intonation, like virtually all Yanagisawa sopranos. If you haven’t played one before, note that the palm keys are “in line” like a Mark VI, which takes some getting used-to. Tone wise, both John Coltrane and Kenny G got their sound on a Mark VI, so if anything, that tells you that player and mouthpiece make a really big difference to overall sound. The tone is medium bright and kind of reedy, and can go in lots of different directions depending on mouthpiece. Structurally, the horn is mint/near mint, with no wear, no dents, no dings, no past repairs, and just the lightest of scratches in the lacquer, if any. It comes with the original case, in great shape as well.