Today I stumbled on the following blog entry by Sir James Galway in response to a question about a vintage flute a friend of his had been given. Galway says:
I have always bought modern flutes and enjoyed playing them. ... I am afraid I cannot tell when one is playing on a Lot [a vintage flute] or and Muramatsu [a modern brand]. When everyone is talking about the colors, strength and so on of a particular flute I still fail to hear the difference... When Trevor Wye changed to a modern flute I still could not hear the difference. Flutes sound mostly the same to me. ...
I guess there is something to the old saying “Seeing is believing”.
I thought this was interesting because I have a vintage Conn tenor saxophone, which I have spent a lot of money on, to recondition it. Even after having it overhauled twice (!), it still played very sharp, so, in desperation, I bought a Lien Chang Taiwanese tenor over the Internet from the factory. It cost me less than I invested in reconditioning the old Conn that was given to me, and it plays better. The intonation is not problematic, the keywork is smooth, and the sound is fine. But it definitely doesn't look as cool.
In a similar vein, years ago I heard an intimate performance by the fine Israeli tenor player, Jess Koren. He brought two instruments to the gig, a vintage Selmer tenor and a new Selmer horn. He asked the audience which sounded better to us, and most of the people agreed that the vintage horn sounded deeper and fuller. I disagreed, and Jess agreed with my disagreement, saying he has recorded himself on both horns, mixed up the recordings purposely, and he can't tell which one he's playing. So much for the prestige of vintage horns.
I will never sell the Conn, because it was a gift from someone close and important to me, but I doubt that I'll play it very much. Anyway, I've been playing flute more than saxophone in the past few months.
I have always bought modern flutes and enjoyed playing them. ... I am afraid I cannot tell when one is playing on a Lot [a vintage flute] or and Muramatsu [a modern brand]. When everyone is talking about the colors, strength and so on of a particular flute I still fail to hear the difference... When Trevor Wye changed to a modern flute I still could not hear the difference. Flutes sound mostly the same to me. ...
I guess there is something to the old saying “Seeing is believing”.
I thought this was interesting because I have a vintage Conn tenor saxophone, which I have spent a lot of money on, to recondition it. Even after having it overhauled twice (!), it still played very sharp, so, in desperation, I bought a Lien Chang Taiwanese tenor over the Internet from the factory. It cost me less than I invested in reconditioning the old Conn that was given to me, and it plays better. The intonation is not problematic, the keywork is smooth, and the sound is fine. But it definitely doesn't look as cool.
In a similar vein, years ago I heard an intimate performance by the fine Israeli tenor player, Jess Koren. He brought two instruments to the gig, a vintage Selmer tenor and a new Selmer horn. He asked the audience which sounded better to us, and most of the people agreed that the vintage horn sounded deeper and fuller. I disagreed, and Jess agreed with my disagreement, saying he has recorded himself on both horns, mixed up the recordings purposely, and he can't tell which one he's playing. So much for the prestige of vintage horns.
I will never sell the Conn, because it was a gift from someone close and important to me, but I doubt that I'll play it very much. Anyway, I've been playing flute more than saxophone in the past few months.
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