| Archive for Forum of the Saxes A saxophone forum discussing everything sax-related |
| Cliff |
KingWhat is this brand? Can't find much info on it in the internet, heard its not bad.King Vs Yamaha, which is better? |
| reisio |
Old Kings are good. From the 50s and thereabouts. Supersonic/Silversonic. Zephyr's probably a good buy, too, particularly if you like the pre-bop oldskool sound, but the Supers are the usual prizes.
"Today, King produces only student line saxophones." http://www.saxgourmet.com/king__saxophones.htm If you like vintage horns obviously King would beat Yamaha. If you can find one, one of the silver Supers with engraving all over is going to look much sweeter than any Yamaha, too. :p Kings are basically the original popular under-neck octave key sax (like Yanagisawa nowadays), and they (some of the Supers, at least) also had a neat double-layered octave piece joint that made sure it was super-straight. The only really popular saxophonist I can think of offhand that played a King steadily was Cannonball Adderley. |
| JPSaxMan |
I am using an Empire by King student horn while I'm teaching 6th grade players b/c my horn really sucks down low (leaks in the F, E, and D keys). It's an ok horn, but I'd still take a YAS-23 over it any day of the week. Not a bad horn though. For the first couple of years...not sure how it'll hold up long term. 
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| JazZz |
I marched on a king last year and it's a very solid reliable horn. It was a good 50 years old and was great, except that the lacquer was in less than stellar condition. I really want an old silversonic though, those things are sweet! |