Yanagisawa A880B Alto Black Lacquer My Favorite! 118255

As I’ve said many times, the Yanagisawa 880 saxophones are a real sweet spot among modern altos, because they have a warmer, more complex tone than more recent altos, but they have the modern keywork and excellent build quality and intonation of a modern Yanagisawa. For you parents out there, it’s pronounced YAH-nuh-gih-SAH-wah. Yanagisawa is a specialized company that has been making nothing but professional saxophones for at least 75 years now, and really top quality ones for at least the last 40 years. You won’t find a better built alto than this. It holds up well, holds its value well, plays great, and looks great. Plus it’s really not that expensive.

This particular one has two special things going on, that, to me, make it worth a little more than an average one. I have a couple of less expensive Yanagisawa altos at any given time (as of Dec 2022, a nice used A901 and A902 are both cheaper than this), but the 880 is the top level of their altos (compare to A991 or AWO10), and this one has the rare black lacquer finish with engraving cut through to the brass, and it also has the cool brass emblem patch on the bell, which I often covet in my own Yanagisawa saxophones. The tone is warm, pleasant, fairly complex, and lyrical, and this horn also has no signficant damage, and the current pads are sealing well. It plays great, and should make anybody happy who wants a beautiful modern alto that has a little something extra about it.

Only one available! (I also have some special Yanagisawa necks available by request, if you want to complete the package with a gold plated or solid silver, fully engraved Yanagisawa neck that really turns some heads, though it plays extremely well on the original neck. That would just be an indulgence, but one that I would probably spring for myself if I kept this to play as my main alto.)