The Jazz Lounge

My sax has a 'raw' finish to it which means it is not lacquered like most saxes and is therefore not shiny. Over time it develops a patina which looks quite cool (I think).

One morning a chap turns up and says "What's that?" pointing at my sax. I replied that it was a saxophone. "No, it's not" he said "saxophones are not that colour - they are a shiny brass colour". "Are you a sax player yourself?" I asked. "Yes" he replied. "Have you got an alto like this one?" "Yes, just like that one - but it's shiny not like that one". The fact that I was playing a tenor sax and not an alto told me all I needed to know.

"What about silver saxophones?" I enquired. "Are they they not real saxophones either?" He ignored this and gave me some sound advice "If I were you mate I'd take it back to where you got it. I think you have been ripped off. It's probably a cheap Chinese knock-off".

It looked like a real sax to me, it sounded like a real sax to me, and several prominent sax professionals play the exact same model. But maybe he had a point - the sax was manufactured in Taiwan but assembled in the UK. I thanked him for his advice and made a mental note to check with Sax.co.uk just in case he was right.