Mendini By Cecilio Alto Saxophone for Beginners, E Flat Alto Saxophone for Musicians with Tuner, Mouthpiece, Case, 10 Reeds, Grease, Cleaning Cloth & Rod, Gloves, Strap, Lesson Book (Green)

I ordered this saxophone for my 5th grade daughter to use in her school band class. I'm not expert enough to speak to other situations, but if you're considering purchasing this saxophone for a young, beginning player, I highly recommend it. Two reasons: #1 I'm familiar with other instruments but know/knew next to nothing about the sax, so I asked my daughter to have her teacher give me an honest opinion. The music teacher said that for a beginning musician, this sax is more than adequate; he felt that it was probably good enough to last a musician into high school band. Again, while a serious, experienced saxophonist would probably want a better horn, the "Mendini by Cicilio" is fine for a beginner. #2. The cost as compared to renting from my local music store. Obviously this will vary from place to place but I live in Utah, where things tend to be comparatively inexpensive. That said, to rent my daughter a sax would have been $55 a month. We could return it any time, or after paying $1100 we would have owned it. But at a minimum we would have needed the rental for nine months--one school year--for a total cost of $495. That's about $300 more than it cost to purchase a sax outright. Yes, the rental was a better quality Yamaha, but see "reason #1" above for why that doesn't matter. The only benefit to renting was free repairs, but unless someone is seriously careless with the instrument that's not going to cost anywhere near $300. In other words, as counter-intuitive as it seems, it was much cheaper to buy this saxophone than it would have been to rent one for a single scholastic year. This doesn't even consider the 10 free reeds (they run about $2.50 each, retail), or the tuner/metronome (like the sax--not top quality but certainly good enough to get you started; probably a $15-20 value). The only hardware I'd suggest upgrading immediately is the neck strap: the one included is uncomfortable and has actually come unhooked a couple times just by the weight of the instrument. To sum up: this is a very decent saxophone for a very low price, much lower than anything else I could find. I am extremely satisfied with this purchase, as is my daughter, the nascent saxophonist. It still sounds like an angry goose when she plays, but her teacher assures me she's doing fine, and that she has a good instrument to learn on.

I have the Nickel Plated instrument, silver keys and body. Out of the box it is the most beautiful sax I've ever held. It came ready to play with 11 reeds, ... one ready in the mouthpiece. As for sound, so far so good. I am an older jazz saxophonist and I find variation of the reed and mouthpiece necessary to test different sound qualities. I took it through the paces, all the scales, some improvisational play w/ two different mouth pieces, 7 different reeds. One pad was sticking, so I put a little oil on it. The reeds aren't the greatest (the Glory reeds are much better). Other than that, it plays fine. This is the third low-cost mainland China sax I've tried. A lot of the great sax players were dirt poor when they started, and these low cost instruments may be all the future musicians have initially. My first test was an Antigua student model rented for my son, then a Glory and the Mendini off Amazon. They all are manufactured from a similar/identical CAD design based on a high end Selmer Paris (built with lower quality materials). The Mendini is the best of the three I've tried so far. The key springs were more stiff and the sound less bright than my higher end Antigua pro, but that may be due to the newness of sax. With a good mouthpiece and seasoned reed, the Mendini has been really nice to play ... and it looks and feels great. I had a Bundy and Vito when I was a kid ... this is nicer. FYI, I ignore sax reviews that aren't from verified purchasers. The most popular negative review seems to be from someone who never bought this sax. Also, be cautious of reviews from new sax players playing with a new reed. Reeds need moisture and get better with use. They also need a well trained lip to really good sound.

I've been enjoying this saxophone very much. For the price, it is a great starter kit. I ended up buying an upgraded mouth piece, reeds, and neck strap. It's been maybe two months since I bought this saxophone and play for about an hour a day. I will detract one star because the pin on the octave key came out and got lost, one of the stitching on the backpack strap completely came undone after some moderate use, one of the springs didn't have enough tension, and finally there was at least one screw that was loose that needed to be tightened down. I ended up going to the hardware store and getting a cotter pin to hold the octave key on. I added tension to the loose spring to make sure the key that was having problems worked correctly. These problems may be something that some people may not know or be confident to fix and effect the playability of the instrument if not fixed. All of this said, I have really enjoyed playing this saxophone and it was a good purchase overall for me and was a good way for me to explore a new instrument.

I bought the beautiful all silver alto sax. I used to play when I was younger. This sounds and plays great! I bought a better mouthpiece and reeds. It sounds great. The price and sound are totally worth it!

100/10 worth it if you are willing to be just a little patient!! I have prime and received the sax within only a few days. Upon receiving, the mechanism in the G# was broken and the sax was completely unplayable. I requested a replacement because I’ve seen reviews of this brand and it’s legit. I received the replacement (before even actually returning the original mind you, they did want backup payment in case i didnt return it in time which is understandable.) just only a few days after the first saxophone. The second one is perfect and I am so happy! I have wanted to play this instrument for so long but always saw it out of my reach. I highly recommend this to anyone who wants to play saxophone but cannot afford over $1000 sax. Pic of how happy i was to play it and a video of my bf who normally plays tenor

Shipment of the product met and exceeded my expectations. I was truly elated when the instrument showed up at my door step approximately a week or so before the scheduled shipment date. My appreciation goes out to the shipper!

Fue un regalo que hice y él esta FELIZ!!!, todo en tiempo y recomiendo ampliamente al vendedor porque cuando quería apoyo de rastreo siempre estaba al pendiente!!, gracias!!! (

MY Granddaughter wanted to play the saxophone , i signed her up for it at school. the music store was there to offer rentals for the year.. wow in the tune of $530.00 for 10 month rental. so when i got back home i looked on amazon and found this one. i emailed it to her teacher and she approved it and could not believe the crazy price 200.00 cheaper then renting not to mention its hers to keep.... HANDS DOWN I WOULD BUY ANOTHER ONE, came very well wrapped gorgeous instrument and my 7 year old granddaughter is the talk of the school owning her own. the teacher passed this around to a few of the parents, but wanted the music store to profit as well.. this instrument you will not be sorry .. amazing thank you so much .. sorry took so long to write review i wanted my granddaughter to have some time on it. and the price maybe inexpensive but the unit itself is defiantly not a cheap unit.. TOP DRAWER. AND WILL LAST HER FOR YEARS HER INSTRUCTOR informed me... kudos amazon seller... your awesome..I was looking for the picture to upload of my granddaughter with the instrument .. she loves it.. Nana wins

Bien

Good product