Bauhaus Walstein Saxophones

(Bauhaus Walstein "phosphor-bronze" tenor)

(Bauhaus Walstein "phosphor-bronze" alto - click here to visit alto page)
 

Bauhaus Walstein Saxophones Now Available Through Just Saxes
* 2010 models are now available*

M2 Alto and M2 Tenor Models also in Stock (Click here for Details)

While vintage saxophones have been the focus here for the better part of a decade, Just Saxes has been known to carry an occasional new, retail saxophone -- a Reference 54 here, a Keilwerth SX-90R there -- and for a couple of years represented one of the first good US brands importing saxophones made in Taiwan.  I stopped carrying that brand several years ago but have always wanted to carry a good line of inexpensive, new instruments again.  There are many more musical geniuses stuck playing terrible instruments than most people would ever guess.  Even in the history of jazz greats there are stories (true) about players like Wayne Shorter achieving greatness on instruments most internet-savvy novices today wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole (Shorter was playing a Bundy when he first joined Miles Davis's band).  I have been keeping an eye out for a solid, inexpensive brand to carry for those who could best use them, and can't afford a more expensive option, for a while now.

For a time, it looked like something good might develop with the B&S line, but that possibility eventually went the way of...well...the B&S line.

I think, though -- thanks in part to coming across some reviews and sound clips by Pete Thomas, whom I once interviewed about Lee Allen and knew to be both a straight shooter and a diehard 10M fan -- I believe I have found the single best value out there at the moment, dollar for dollar:  The Woodwind and Brasswind (UK) Bauhaus Walstein line.  This is the only new saxophone Just Saxes has carried since 2004, and the reason I carry it is straightforward:  it is, to my knowledge, the best value in a saxophone, dollar for dollar, available in the marketplace at present.  It is not the best saxophone made, but it is a saxophone of very high quality performance, ruggedly made -- a legitimate saxophone, the first "real saxophone" I have played from mainland China -- that costs 1/4 or less of the price of saxophones I would term better.  The finishing cosmetic work on some Taiwan made saxophones (how the keys, for example, are filed and polished) is a bit more detailed, but you cannot play that polish, and you pay an extra $600 or even $2500 (in the case of one good Taiwan brand) for it. Additionally, the tone of the Bauhaus is darker and warmer than many Taiwan brands, and it has less of the exaggerated "blatty," flat-sounding, blaring quality at full voice that is characteristic of some Asian branded saxophones (true of the tenors especially).

The emergence of the Bauhaus Walstein saxophone line  does appear to mark a turning point in Taiwan/PROC manufacturing.  Let's face it:  PROC-made horns used to be deserving of the derision they received -- soft keymetal, abominable intonation, you name it, the stories were true.  For the first part of the history of saxophones being made in Taiwan and the PROC, one could generally predict not just where a saxophone was made but its likely playability solely with a glance at its price tag.  When the first really decent saxophones began to come out of Taiwan, the market also saw various lines begin to appear in Sam's Clubs and Price-Costcos, retailing at under $1000.  Many of these latter brand names, their pricing indicating mainland China-based manufacturing, were beyond unserviceable, and a poor shadow of their richer relations' products from across the Taiwan Strait.  While Taiwan-made saxophones were giving "The Big Four" a run for their money, and winning not just a few converts, initially they didn't have much to fear from saxophones that could be profitably brought to market at less than $1000 thanks to more heavily PROC manufacturing.  Now, though, with the Bauhaus Walstein line, the mainland factories are putting the same pressure on Taiwan-based manufacturers that Taiwan manufacturers once brought to the market at large.  These are rugged, solid, legitimate instruments that play well and that play in tune.  Truly, the market seems to be at a turning point, and the Bauhaus Walstein seems to be the marker of that change.

All of the major things that should be right are right on these saxophones.  Their tonehole and neck design are good -- they play in tune and sound good.  The tenor, for example, even subtones unusually easily.  When I first received a Bauhaus tenor from Martin, at The Woodwind & Brasswind, it had taken some abuse in shipping, and was leaking in several places, but it still came out of the box subtoning easily for me all the way down to low Bb (illustrations of this follow below).  The keywork and mechanism on these saxophones is solid, and rugged (the metal outperformed Yanagisawa's in one well-reputed tech's tests), and the alto's keyboard is especially slick, ergonomically.

There is room for fine tuning -- in some relatively minor areas of design, of finishing work, and of set-up -- but for the money, dollar for dollar, it's hard to imagine that it's possible to offer a greater value.  These are excellent and dependable instruments for students, in particular, with a much better sound than most established student instruments and solid manufacturing.  I know of very accomplished recording artists from New Orleans whose best recordings were made on much lesser instruments, in much worse repair.  Four years ago I would never have imagined I'd write this paragraph, but saxophone manufacturing in Asia does appear to be at a new turning point.
 
 

These saxophones play very in tune, and they are lush down low and not "blatty" (i.e. they are not pathologically blaring in the first octave, like some makes from Taiwan) -- the best way to get a clear idea of how they sound is to download the .mp3 files I've linked below.  While at this writing I have only had the tenor to play, and have committed to carrying these saxophones based on the quality of the tenors, all indications from testimonials seem to be that the altos and sopranos are actually the greater manufacturing and design accomplishments.  To get an idea of intonation for yourself, you can check out playtests by a relative saxophone boob (me) and a professional player (a friend who gave me permission to record him) on several horns when he playtested them below.

This is me (I am a top notch repair guy and bottom notch player, which makes this useful for beginners, I think), and this is my first playing of the Bauhaus, straight out of the box, a little damaged and still leaking, recorded through the MiniDV cam's onboard mic.  This wasn't intended for public consumption, as the critical reception captured will tend to indicate, but it gives a good idea of what to expect when receiving a saxophone shipped a long distance in a cardboard box.  This saxophone was adjusted and packaged with care, and "played top to bottom," but as the second file will show there are advantages to having it tuned up and repackaged after its arrival in the US:

For higher-fidelity (not YouTube-compressed, higher res) sound samples of the videos on this page, click on any link below:

http://justsaxes.com/sounds/Before.WalsteinPlaytest.mp3
http://justsaxes.com/sounds/WalsteinAfter.mp3
http://justsaxes.com/sounds/WalsteinJJazz.mp3
http://justsaxes.com/sounds/WalsteinPonzol251.mp3

(The last two files can be compared to files of the same player on a Mark VII and custom Conn "Chu" Berry, respectively, here:
http://justsaxes.com/sounds/MkVIIjodyjazz.mp3
http://justsaxes.com/sounds/ConnJodyJazz.mp3)

*Thank you, A, for letting me use these files*
 

For more sound samples published on the web by individual players, here is a sample of what I have run across while researching reviews of these saxophones myself:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8DGKV_tD2w

Pete Thomas:
http://www.petethomas.co.uk/sx-02-soprano.html (soprano, sound sample at bottom of page)
http://www.petethomas.co.uk/saxophone-comparisons.html (tenor, sound comparisons and sound samples)
http://www.saxontheweb.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=106577 (links to sound samples, commentary)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTm0UtPqjGA (Bauhaus Walstein baritone being recorded)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjJp7RtkVGE (Bauhaus Walstein alto being recorded)
 
 

* UK saxophone specialist Stephen Howard's reviews of the Walsteins feature some commentary on the sound and other aspects of Walstein saxes -- to link to his review, as well as links to other discussions on the web, click here

Unlike some earlier generations of ROC-manufactured saxophones -- and I have witnessed this phenomenon myself on those older generation instruments repeatedly, as I mentioned above -- these mainland-made instruments do not suffer from soft keymetal issues.  UK repairman Stephen Howard, well known as a straight shooter as well, has run tests of keymetal on the Bauhaus Walstein, comparing it against the performance of Yanagisawa and other saxophones.  Not only do these saxophones feature double keyarm reinforcements, but the metal itself is more solid than saxophones costing many times more (see Howard's webpages, via the links, here, to view his experiments).

Some reviewers have found the keywork to be influenced (or copied, depending on wording) by Yanagisawa.  This makes some pretty obvious sense, given the phosphor-bronze choice of brass alloy -- just the look and choices aesthetically -- and other trademark Yanagisawa-esque touches that are not found on other Asian makes (especially the Yana-esque thumb hook design), but it is probably fairest to say that the keywork is fairly typical for Asian "copy" makes.  I do find the keyboard less spread out than the Taiwan makes, whose most immediate influence, just going by feel, seems obviously to be Selmer's SA-80 series.  That, too -- the closer spacing of ergonomics -- tends to encourage comparisons to Yanagisawa.  Certainly, as mentioned above, some of the unique additions to what's considered potentially stock keywork are typically Taiwan-inflected, for example:

Just to the left of center in the photo above, the thin, curving arm with the screw-adjuster is what was once, previous to ROC saxophones incorporating it, generally only a custom touch.  It is a great idea and genuinely does add some stability to what is conventionally, and often, an area where instability develops in any saxophone's adjustment.  The F# cup, which is closed by F, E, and D, also has the job of closing the G# and Bis keys; that's a lot of duty for one key.  The helper bar removes flexion between F and F#, under the pressure of the other keys, and due to the length of the key's conventional rear linkage's length, while adding another point of support and stability to the F# itself.  The attachment as designed is much better than the custom "helper bar" attachments of the past because it attaches to the keytube, rather than the side of the F keycup; it adds or "helps" the F# without compromising the F keycup's balance.  Personally, I think the ideal design would have the foot of the helper bar touch closer to the spine, so that its force is more directly on the center of the cup, but it is a handy inclusion, for sure.  It's possible that one of the modifications I will make, between receiving from the UK and delivering to the customer is to bend the helper bar to be closer to the spine of the F#.

Walsteins are made from very thick brass alloy -- this can be felt when pinching the bell between thumb and index finger, but the proof is in the body's resistance to damage.  When this tenor arrived in New Orleans, it had taken some abuse in its travels from Great Britain, and the Eb guard showed it.  The guard was crushed down from impact, and jostling in shipping, yet the guard feet did not even partially dent the bow (on most horns the impact would have).  This in a way communicates two things about these saxophones:  (1) the brass itself is very thick and sturdy and (2) the keyguards actually do what they are supposed to do, protecting the body and keywork from damage.  When the keyguard takes all the damage, dentwork time and costs (which could have included damage to toneholes) are circumvented with either a repair to the existing keyguard or a replacement.

The basics, the body and mechanism -- from a mechanical standpoint -- are phenomenally good for the price.  Where some may find differences between the Walstein and expensive brands is in the finishing work -- the fine handwork that is labor intensive.  The keywork does feel a little less "round" -- literally the keytouches feel less "round" -- than on brands costing a few thousand dollars, but this is of course one of the reasons a saxophone of this basic, bedrock quality can be brought to market at such a modest price.  These saxophones, to put it bluntly, cost barely more than most of my overhauls, and with a little adjustment they play almost ridiculously well.
 
 

Please do go and research these instruments for yourself, if you haven't already.  For a brand that has done so little advertising and promoting, there is a good amount of buzz about them already on the web.  These are only a few of the reviews, commentaries, and discussions you will find via a quick Yahoo or Google search:

http://forum.saxontheweb.net/showthread.php?t=74778
http://forum.saxontheweb.net/showthread.php?t=63509
http://www.shwoodwind.co.uk/Reviews/Saxes/Alto/bauhaus_alto.htm
http://www.shwoodwind.co.uk/Reviews/Saxes/Tenor/Walstein_tenor.htm
http://www.shwoodwind.co.uk/Reviews/Saxes/Tenor/Walstein_versus_Yanagisawa.htm
http://www.cafesaxophone.com/forum/showthread.php?t=857&highlight=walstein
http://jesangel.wordpress.com/2008/05/09/saxophone-shopping/
http://bauhausdistribution.com/acatalog/alto_saxophone_specifications.html
 

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Unlike a good number of outlets for ROC and Asia-manufactured instruments, I am not carrying these saxophones because I can make a huge net profit on an instrument that costs very little -- thanks to its nation of origin -- to make.  Indeed, if I simply imported and resold these from the UK, my wholesale price, and the low price of the UK manufacturer through their own site, carrying them would not be cost effective.  The Woodwind & Brass (UK), in my experience to this point, is a stand up company doing good business without trying to wring every possible penny from its customers, offering a quality product at the lowest prices and costs to the customer that it can support.  The manufacturer's price from the UK is extremely reasonable.  If all one is shopping for is a quality, inexpensive instrument to bring to their local tech, and maintain through a local tech, then buying direct from the UK is a very good deal.

My own interest in carrying these, and offering them in the US through Just Saxes, is just to be able to offer these instruments to my own existing client base, and to serve customers in the US who would rather buy the saxphones from a US outlet, with a service warranty that bolsters the manufacturer's warranty, so that if any manufacturing problems should arise unduly, service and warranty coverage can be carried out domestically without the customer having to shoulder the costs of shipping the instrument from the US to Great Britain.  Additionally, while I do think that most saxophones shipped from the UK to the US will "play right out of the box," as my own experience underlines (playtests above), there are surely advantages to having these horns adjusted personally by me -- not by my assistants, or any one else, but by me -- and reboxed for shipment domestically.

Just Saxes pricing reflects my addition of a 14-day domestic return policy, 90-day domestic warranty against manufacturing defects (this warranty duplicates the manufacturer's warranty, domestically, for 90 days), full adjustment and playtest, including deleaking, tweaks and keyheight touch-up, repackaging in a larger box with additional packaging protections (and domestic, rather than international handling from my hands to yours) and my company's seal of approval on the state of the instrument when it ships from Just Saxes.  Playtesting, repair to, and management of damage in shipping from the UK, adjustment, and repackaging to protect the adjustment is actually quite a bit of labor, and to be accountable for the manufacturing of the instruments, and managing customer service and warranty claims is a significant amount of responsibility and obligation.  While the domestic warranty only applies for 90 days (again, the manufacturer's warranty continues to apply for the full year), accountability and obligation and post-sales service last a lifetime for the Just Saxes name.  For those that do have access to excellent repair, in your own areas, I definitely encourage you to save a few dollars and buy direct from The Woodwind & Brass (UK).
 
 

(*Please note: PayPal purchases will automatically add shipping and a 3.5% surcharge to cover PayPal's commission -- to omit the PayPal fee, please email to purchase by check or money order)

Shipping (within continental US):  $37 for soprano/sopranino, $48.50 for alto, $54 for tenor