Mendini By Cecilio Tenor Saxophone - B Flat Golden Lacquer Saxophone for Beginner Musicians with Hard Case, Tuner, Mouthpiece, 10 Reeds, Polishing Cloth, Cleaning Rod, Gloves, Strap (Gold)

I am a professional musician. For the last 25 years I've played an EWI (Yamaha's WX5 with a VL-70m synthesizer). Recently, I was asked to play sax in a local theater production of "Lobby Hero": I've got four weeks. I have not played a single reed instrument in 50 years, and never a tenor sax. My choices were--say no; borrow an alto of unknown quality; buy a sax, but money is tight. I saw several videos on Youtube demonstrating inexpensive Chinese saxophones with good mouthpieces and reeds. I was impressed!I bought the Mendini Tenor. Out of the box, it did not play. The reeds it ships with might work as kindling (I'll try in the fall when it's cooler outside) or cat toys (I won't try this, I don't want them to think reeds are fair game). I had the foresight to order a box of good reeds, when I ordered the sax. With a good reed, I got a couple of notes. The octave key would not seat properly, so I bent it a tad, it was off by about 1/32" (it could have gotten bent in shipping). I had six notes. Suspicious of the no-name mouthpiece, I went out, and bought the only named mouthpiece available in town (Prescott, AZ), a cheap Rico. I got two octaves . . . so I ordered a good mouthpiece.On day four, I got in an Otto Link Metal #7, and a Legere 2 3/4 plastic reed, just to try one. On day five. I had a solid, in tune, responsive and expressive, 2 1/2 octaves. Altissimo notes will, of course, take time, although I've got F#, easy-peasy.Several YouTube videos talked about the cheap feel of these Chinese saxophones, "the rods bend . . . feels tinny . . . hit something with it and it could break . . ." It feels solid to me. I pick it up by the bell, and I try to avoid walls, doorways, tables, and chairs when I move around with it. I treat it as if it cost $6,000, as one should.Will it last years? Will it give me altissimo notes? Will I sound like Ernie Krivda (look him up) in a month? I don't know . . . okay, I know I won't sound or play like Ernie. But for $500 (horn and mouthpiece), I have an instrument that I am confident in . . . and I have few weeks until the show goes up. Last night (day 9) was the first rehearsal where I played. Good enough, the director wants more.September 20: six weeks in and I enjoy the horn more each day. I had to tighten the roller screws for the Eb and low C keys. The lacquer on the thumb rest and the octave key is flaking off a little, but practicing 4-6 hours a day might well do that! We've had eight performances and people love the sax.

I don't understand why people don't like this line of saxophones. This is my third one from Mendini / Cecilio and I am once again more than happy with it. I also own the alto and soprano from this company and those two perform without fail!However, let's clear the air about this line of saxophones. These are NOT top of the line, high-end instruments. If you are looking for that, you need to look further. With that being said, this saxophone performs quite well. The sound is bright when it needs to be and dark when it needs to be! It can easily hold its own when playing with a band or in a church worship team. All of the keys were in perfect working order and the only adjustment that was needed was with the thumb rest.The accessories that come with it are good as well. The only thing that you will need to replace is the strap that comes with it. The strap is nothing special and cuts into your neck after a few minutes of playing. Do yourself a favor and get a padded strap!! The reeds that are included are not top of the line, but they still sound okay for what they are. If you know how to prep a reed, you can make it work for you.Overall, this saxophone (as well as the other Mendini / Cecilio horns I own) is a great horn that is perfect for beginners or someone looking to try the sax before spending major money on a high-end brand! Happy playing!!

My order came in and had a strong odor to it, you know the kind that starts to show up after playing a Brass instrument and has accumulated a little moisture? There were two boxes it was shipped in, one was already cut open. The sleeve the sax was in was torn, indicating this had already been removed once before. The keys had no cork stoppers, again another sign of previous use. Fingerprints were present throughout the horn and more. I bought this new, not used. I have to assume that someone bought this and realized it was unplayable in its current condition and returned it. The store then sold as new.........The Sax was also unplayable below middle G. This would not suit a beginner player whatsoever as most of the notes a beginner would play are on the lower side. It would be impossible for a beginner to know if it was something the player was doing or if its the horn (based on their knowledge). Extremely bad leaks, I counted 4.I don't understand how you can supply an instrument with the understanding that it more than likely wont work and will require some adjusting, and not adjust it. As a service to your customers and to protect your companies profits I feel it would be in your best interest to ensure the item works, to help eliminate returns and negative reviews. If this is truly a music store as it leads you to believe, adjusting a brand new horn shouldn't take more than 15-30 minutes of your time. Then again I guess you could always create a new account or change your name, that's probably about the same time frame. I would also suggest not reselling used equipment as new.To put things into perspective I own a Kessler and Sons Dark Handmade One Soprano sax. These guys grabbed the horn I purchased and tested it prior to shipping it to me. Even left a thank you note and assurance of testing and playability. I didn't need to return the horn because it worked and does so flawlessly.