As a professional musician,teacher, and repair tech I decided to take the time and write a guide for choosing the best saxophone for you ,at whatever level you play at.There are tremendous buys on saxes and tremendously awful buys on ebay.I am only going to address the used market as there are already plenty of guides out there for new horns

First ,I'd like to address purchasing a sax in need of repair or one that has been through a shop and is in good playing condition.It's probably not a good idea to purchase a horn from a seller that is a pawn shop or by the cheapest price .Sax overhauls run from 350.00 to as much as a thousand dollars at a reputable shop ( vintage silver and gold  plated  horns run a thousand to restore to new condition). If you buy a vintage sax where the  parts are no longer made it  becomes very expensive to repair if parts are missing or broken..A lot of what's out there that seems like a great buy becomes a nightmare once the repaired product exceeds the cost of buying one that is truly overhauled.Unless you have access to the twenty or so thousand dollars worth of equipment needed to fix the sax properly and know how to use that equipment you're better off paying up front .It's usually the cheaper way out.

How do I know that I am getting an overhauled sax?  On every horn that I overhaul I take at least 50 pictures of the sax and always offer to send them to a prospective bidder if they email me an address I can send the pics as ebays system does not allow for attatchments.Surprisingly few people exercise this option.There unfortunately are a lot of people that advertise inexpensive repads or overhauls.It's pretty easy to heat a key cup up and pull the old pads out and then slap  new ones in without even taking the horn apart.This is not only not an overhaul but will lead to problems down the road.To begin with ,the key cups can't be cleaned properly and your putting new adhesive on top of old.Pads will start falling off the sax in short order.A proper overhaul includes the following: dissassembly of the entire instrument,cleaning the horn to get the smell out of it and keep the new pads from getting filfthy or sticking,cleaning oxidation off male and female threads ,rods,turning to true rods,replacing rods that are too badly rusted or burred to function properly,straightening hinge tubes that aren't true,swedging the play out of hinge tube ends,replacing all the corks,oiling,reassembly ,and play testing of the instrument.I usually only replace felts if they look bad or are simply not sized correctly or missing.A felt even the hardest rockwool will compress over time .Old ones are broken in and generally don't compress.Things like broken springs,dent work,broken keys,missing posts,rods that are rusted into the hinge tube etc are addittional charges to a standard overhaul.I also provide a link so you can hear the horn played through its full range.I even photograph the packing process.I've found this to be beneficial to me as well as helpfull to the buyer.If you've followed packing guidelines and have documentation to prove what was done then the odd freight claim that arises can be handled efficiently.As a seller it protects me from the unscrupulous tech that doesn't like that you puchased a sax elsewhere and starts tearing the work apart.I've unfortunately had 2 such experiences that magically my work was brilliant after having been sent registered letters with all the documentation for them to see.Experience is the best teacher.

Freight,I don't charge enough and the customer thinks it's too much.If you buy the pawn shop horn generally it's shipped with no peanuts, no bubblewrap around the neck etc.On an alto sax the shipping container and peanuts cost me 22.00 .The freight is also higher due to the package being bigger.If you buy a pawnshop one if their is no end plug for the horn they just ship it without it.Octave mechanisms get broken as well as bow and bell damadge.It's not that they don't care they just don't know any better ,

Now onto models of horns.I'll break this down into student , intermediate,and pro horns.An intermediate horn many times (not always) is as good as the pro version  but lacks the sex appeal of fancy engraving.  The other thing to consider is if you're buying for your child they think like children and don't know any better.If it's shiny and new looking it's good to them.If it looks old they'll think it's crap.I'll try to point out some good saxes from your childs perspective that actually are good horns.Are they the best buy for the bucks,no ,but if you don't think like your child that smart purchase may just be a bad one as you wind up turning off someone that you're trying to do better for.That analogy can also be used for a lot of adults unfortunately,but you know your mindset and can be more objective.

If you're buying for a child in the under to around  500.00 range bundy 2s are not bad horns.They're not good enough for me to use as a backup but the scale and response are good,the keys look like a modern day horn,and they look newer.Jupiter alto saxes are also a good choice.I don't care for there tenors or baris though.Also the yamaha yts 23 (not the 21 its made of pot metal) and the vito sax is also a good choice as it's a yts 23 with the vito name"stenciled" on the sax.Tenor saxes your child would be older to play due to it's size and vintage used plays much nicer and would be a better choice.Given that a new quality student alto sax is 900 -1400 dollars don't expect to get anything for 200.00 unless you're very lucky.Email me and I'll send you a pic of many bargains in my closet that are parts horns now.I've done this for a living for the past 12 years.You might be smarter or luckier than me ,it's just a thought.

Now onto vintage bargain horns..There are lots of good vintage saxes for relatively small money and there is also a great deal of crap.I can't list everything of vale but these are what I think are the best values.Buescher saxes are some of the best values in saxes.The early ones before 200,000 (does not apply to the elkhart built by buescher saxes diff serial numbers) and the ones above 385,000 after selmer bought the company I would stay away from.Sigurd Rascher played on vintage Bueschers his entire life prefferring them to the newer stuff and there is some merit to his feelings.They are as easy to play on with the exception of playing the lowest notes fast as anything made provided you use proper hand position.The elkhart built by buescher saxes are among the best values(only the ones with brass keys.The nickle plated keys are softer brass and don't hold up as well).The body tubes are the same as the aristocrats ,the key brass is rock hard ,and when you repad them with a dome style reso they sound just as good as the aristocrat line .This elkhart built by buescher line was introduced in the 50"S I believe and it was marketed as an intermediate horn.They put a rivet resonator in the horn so it didn 't sound as full as an aristocrat,used steel springs instead of the gold ones so the action not quite as slick but still very good, and changed the g sharp key a little so it's not quite as comfortable.I rebuild these with a dome reso and offer to replace the g sharp key with bar stock so that it works like an aristocrat.Depending on what I pay for them I sell these in the 600-850.00 range for a tenor and they're tough to beat.I keep one as a backup tenor and on quartet gigs I'll often use it over higher end horns because they sound great and I don't have to worry about playing in the low b bflat area much.Altos go for the 350.00 to 600.00 range.You can buy unoverhauled cheaper but there is no reason to repeat myself.The aristocrat horns sell for double to triple what these sell for and they look great but you're not really getting a lot more for the differrence .There are a lot of other stencils some good some bad that Buescher made but it's too time consuming to go through them here.The elkharts in my opinion are better than the very first aristocrats due to the placemant of the g sharp key annd the table not being articulated on the early aristocrats.The earlier true tone buescher 200k - around 255 k are better buys if you like that vintage.The silver plated with gold wash bells are sexy as all get out and the plating affects the sound in a very nice way.The true tone ones in this range run 1000-1600 in this price range.I have one and I love it.

Conn made great horns also but I don't care for the intonation in general.Also once you get past the fifties they really became junky.You can visit the saxgourmet website and get a better history than I can present here .They're great rock and roll horns because thy're very loud,but I still prefer the buescher line.There are many other good vintage saxes in this price range but space and time is limiting me to best values.

If you want to go the next step up and get a sax with modern keywork that you could play anywhere and you want value I have a few suggestions.In tenor saxes Keilwerth horns are hard to beat.Ernie Watts and James Houlik are among the many pros that play on this horn.There are good keilwerth stencils and bad ones out there.Rolled tone holes are nice but you can get real value with some of the non rolled tone hole models.There are great keilwerth stencils and there are ones that suck.I don't have the time to go through all the good ones,but in general the ones where the table of the horn resembles a mark 6 are the best players.The keilwerths that resemble a constellation conn or 10 m table don't feel as good or play as well in tune.You can buy a tenor for 900-1700 that plays well enough and are the best values in tenors.The bottom of the horn is fat as well as the upper end. I don't care for their altos or sopranos but this is a matter of opinion.Grover Washington Jr played all keilwerth saxes soprano,alto,and tenor.I like Yanagisawa for alto and soprano .The altos ring  and have tons of edge,very similar to a mark 6.The newer sopranos I prefer to the mark 6 due to the left palm keys.It always amuses me to see how much the vito stencil yanis sell for and the left palm keys are so uncomfotable.That being said you can buy great alto and soprano stenciled models for 700-1400.00 depending

If you want a decent valuation guide go to the saxgourmet website  and scroll through Steve Goodsons site for that and a ton of other usefull information.They won't let me post a link here but google it to get there.There are charts on mouthpiece sizes for all horns,articles on playing tecniques,saxophone patents,history and a whole lot more.He goes much further into detail about thevintage market than I have here.I basically have tried to present the best choices for the money that could be played in all settings.Most of the vintage market is limited in the settings that you can play the horns in for intonation,sound, or ergonomic reasons.In most things when you here"they don't make them like that any more" it's sadly usually an old person with a bad recollection of quality.That having been said their is some merit to this statement regarding saxophones provided that you know which ones are worth buying.I don't now of a single manufacturer that makes hand made necks anymore.They are all "hydraullically formed".It sounds great but in reality blowing air pressure against a mold whiele pushing semi liquid brass in it is a lousy way to make a neck which is the hydraulic process.Each time you heat and cool brass the atomic structure aligns straighter and straighter.This allows for more ring to the brass, abetter sound.This is why Phil Barone Peter Ponzol and others are so successfull in their aftermarket necks.Also the quality of the brass is much better in the right vintage horns.

Back to buying from someone.I take the time to photograph not only the entire overhaul process but provide a link to hear the instrument played for  the perspective buyer.I also photograph the packing process.I keep a copy on dvd of everything so that if a problem arises it can be addressed.On the selling side I've had buyers create repair tickets on their computers to try and bilk money from me and have had more than one tech when confronted with my documentation sing an entirely different tune from what they were telling my customer about my work and the value of their deal.I tell you up front I know what an instrument is I play them professionally as well as repair them.You may think that junk dealer is a great guy and he has lots of great feedback ,however 6 months after it's left I wonder how many would still be raving.The real steal is buying from someone educated.EBAY is so competitive you're still buying that sax for 4-600 hundred dollars less than at a retail location and you've got something of useable value.

There is a ton more I could say but I hope this helps and wish for your ebay purchases to all be successfull,regards Ted