Classic Cantabile Pear Wood Pocket Saxophone, Light Brown

Best option I could find for a mini sax. Takes some practise but it is straightforward to learn

I was able to play a number of tunes by ear very quickly and it was easy to play in open key in the first octave. I had more difficulty with the accidentals. I also found it was quickly saturated and needed to be cleared frequently but this may just be down to me. Unfortunately having a clarinet mouthpiece it does not provide the facility to practice saxophone embouchure which was the first reason i was attracted to the instrument. I like the wood body which is well finished but would have to try a plastic one to see if this makes any difference to the sound. It would be challenging and hopefully rewarding for a descant recorder player to try as a reed instrument. I will persevere and use it a a travelling companion as it is very portable -the birds will have competition on my walks in future. A useful addition to the range of instruments I play.I like it.

I was delighted with this at first, especially the lowest notes, which have a delightful strong tone while being very much easier to play than on a recorder. However, there are two serious problems with it. Try as I will, I can't play the higher E (although I can get higher notes from this fingering). And now, after playing for 10 minutes or so, the screws seem somehow to loosen and the reed always falls out. So it's a nice novelty (rather highly priced if it is just a toy), but either one of the problems would make it pretty useless in practice. It's difficult to find music which doesn't require that E, or anything serious which is short enough to play before the reed falls out,.If anyone can tell me how to get over these two problems, I would revise my review. I would like it to be good and work properly, but at the moment it doesn't. I have played the violin and various recorders most of my life, and can get a tune out of an orchestral oboe and various reeded folk instruments from around the world. But this one defeats me, I'm afraid.SEVERAL DAYS LATER: I have increased stars from 2 to 3, because I have overcome the problem of the reed sliding up towards the mouth and falling out (which didn't happen when I first had it). The screws should be across the reed, not across the front of the clarinet. This is clear in Mr Sturgess's picture comparing various mouthpieces. It you look at any photograph of somebody seen from the front playing the clarinet, you can see that most or all of the screws are hidden behind the clarinet, along with the reed itself.Unfortunately, and you have to study this carefully and think about it, most of the photographs provided by Musikhaus Kirstein are wrong. They show or imply that the whole screw will show at the front. My attached photo is, of course, a correct one of a clarinettist.I am still not able to play the higher E, not even with a moistened reed held firmly in place.

Find hard to play, although I play mouthorgan and recorder this totally different.Beautiful instrument, well made, a little over priced and maybe to point out that it’s hard to play.

I have read positive reviews and I believe they are genuine as I believe also the negative ones to be true.You need to be lucky and I was not.The Reeds are of obscene quality hence - since eventually you will need some get them straight away (Bb Clarinet Reed 2.0 Strenght).Get a tidy ligature as the one on the mouthpiece will work for a random time between a day and a week, then it will fall off.Be careful with the cork, and check that there are no gaps between mouthpiece and barrel.Morale you will spend a lot of time wondering and replacing. Or if you lucky you will get a sound out of it (some sort of).

Nice tone for the price - however it only gives just over an octave of notes comfortably. It comes with a fingering chart - more or less the same as a recorder to play. The second octave is nigh on impossible to play.

This is a lovely instrument. It sounds lovely and is a pleasure to play. The reeds don't last long so I have invested in some synthetic reeds but haven't received them yet.

Be aware! This a plastic instrument, not pear wood as described by the sellers. Otherwise, it does what it says on the tin. Good fun.