Hey Sax Players!
Greg Vail here and excited about a new set of saxophone tests we just completed today at Yamaha! I was asked to help with a little experiment at Yamaha with the Cryogenic machine they have been playing with. I love being involved with equipment experiments and love sax gear and development.
I have gone thru periods of time that I bought a dozen different ligatures or mouthpieces just to see what I might get in tone or range. I have even taken a few projects on myself like silver and gold plating Bari Sax necks to see if a neck could change a Bari's sound. I have also tested hundreds of saxophones over the past 15+ years and regularly talk to manufacturers with ideas I would love to see explored. This stuff gets me excited.
All this said, I loved being the guy that got to play these saxes and experience the change caused by the Cryo process.
We spent a day testing 2 Yamaha Alto Saxophones, Custom Z standard lacquer, before they hit the Cryogenic machine last Monday. Both saxes played great out of the box. I am a Yamaha guy and have been for many years, so Yamaha's always feel great to me. They are very familiar and my preferred saxophone, so of course I generally love them. These Custom Z's were no exception.
Jeff Peterson and Greg Vail in the Saxophone Shop at Yamaha Los Angeles, CA.We did Video and Audio recording for sax players to see and hear, and compare for themselves any audible differences in tone. Since there was no way to be truly scientific about this, I did the few things I could to make the tests as beneficial as I could. We made notes as I played the saxophones. Many of these comments are on tape, some were made for my own comparison. I took the reed I used and set it aside for the next test since a reed change can really color a compare and contrast experience. We even made notes as to the differences between the 2 saxes and marked them by serial number.
The saxes were then torn apart and put thru the Yamaha Cryogenic treatment, reassembled and made ready for my play test today.
Yamaha would not let me play them today off camera because they wanted the reactions to be real and fresh. I was pleasantly surprised that the sound did seem bigger and rounder. The low range and mid range showed the most dramatic improvement. The saxes seemed to sing with greater depth all the way to the bottom Bb, and the middle D, E, F had a noticeably rounder sound. I think I said on the video, "It is like taking a great sounding stereo mix and then hitting the wide button, and the sound seems to go even further out and fuller than you would have thought possible."
Another interesting thing that I thought could be the case, but really had no idea - the differences between the 2 saxes tested seemed to be less obvious. I had liked the second one better than the first on day 1, pre-cryo. Today, I found them to be almost identical in sound and feel. I have always felt that Yamaha is the most consistent saxophone manufacturer on the planet! But this Cryogenic process seemed to take that a step further than I thought possible.
Both of these instruments were great playing, out of the box. But, to quote a favorite movie - these saxes go to 11! I was very impressed and not real happy to leave them sitting at the office. They even come with a great new case that I hope Yamaha will make available. It was a beautiful hard case shell, form fitting should bag, with 2 tone brown leather attached to the case shell. I just got back from Nashville yesterday and had to use an old trashed Selmer hard bag to fly. I soooooo wish I had this new bag! It's worth the price of admission! I always loved the old Reunion Blues bags, but knew any sax was destined to be destroyed in them due to the design - visually awesome, structurally retarded. I don't know how Yamaha did it, but this case has the class of the old RB cases but a sturdy shell to keep the sax safe as well.
Sorry for going on so long, but I do wish I had that dang case....
What is Yamaha doing with this footage?
A video will be going online at FaceBook and the Cryo debate can continue to rage. Sax Players will be able to see and hear the before and after tests, learn about the process of Cryogenics and get my reaction to the Players Experience playing them.
The Yamaha Winds Blog will have the information on this limited, numbered series of saxes. They are making 20 of them. The dealers they ship them to will be listed so you can go play a Yamaha Cryo Sax. I hope many will go blow one just to check it out. You don't have to be in the market to buy one this second, but it is really cool to play and hear!
Yamaha has a few different things they are working on right now. I was included in the Cryo tests and the other project is a Artist Select Saxophone. I'm not going to say anything about it because I don't know if it has been announced at all yet. But I will say, it is a great idea and there are going to be some really excited sax players out there!
The dates and link for the Cryo video release will be posted on my blog and my Face Book Pages since, that was the place Yamaha said the Cryo Video will be posted for y'all to see. (Bad case of the Nashville!
It might be a few months before everything is done and shipping, but it is pretty exciting news and, as always, some really great sax stuff from my fave!
SAXBOY
