Eastar Student Alto Saxophone E Flat for Beginner Sax Full Kit with Carrying Case, Mouthpiece, Straps, Reeds, Stand, Golden Lacquer, AS-Ⅱ

I’ve primarily been an alto sax player all my life, but I was good enough to snag the second tenor jazz ensemble chair in college when it became available and later, when I became a tour and studio musician for my first career of 15 years, I played as much tenor as alto. Well into my second career, I still played my alto, but I stopped playing tenor altogether. I decided a few months ago, however, to start up again on tenor.I bought a BetterSax tenor, enrolled in a jazz improv/performance class at my local city college, and it’s been a blast-- my tenor chops are coming back. When I recently took some vacation time to visit my folks in the Midwest, I was a bit bummed at the thought of not practicing for a week. I thought: “Wouldn’t it be nice if I had a tenor at my folks’ house?” [I hate the hassle of carrying a musical instrument on a flight and I would never check in an instrument as baggage!] Enter the Eastar tenor sax.After I did some research on the numerous budget/student tenors on the market, I decided to roll the dice with the MIC Eastar. The BetterSax tenor I recently bought (also MIC) came from Sweetwater for $1500, and at that price they provide a 40-point set-up/inspection. It played great right out of the box. Naturally I wondered if the Eastar from Amazon would need a set-up. I can say I am pleasantly surprised!I ordered the tenor on the Friday that I caught my flight and it showed up at my folks house the next Sunday. [Thanks Amazon Prime!] The rectangular box had big writing: “Fragile,” “Tenor Sax,” “Made in China” and the Eastar script logo. Inside the cardboard box was the sax case wrapped in plastic and a sax stand also in a plastic bag.It’s so much fun to open up a new instrument case, and after watching many Jay Metcalf YouTube videos (the sax guy behind BetterSax who reviews budget and pro saxes alike), I conducted a semi-pro inspection. I noticed right away that the sax body, itself in its own light-fiber bag, was snugly in the case without any movement, which made me hope that the horn was adequately protected during shipping.Taking the sax out of the cloth bag, it feels substantial, medium heavy, not like the student Buescher rental horns I remember as a kid. The light gold lacquer color is shiny beautiful, there is a simple elegant floral etching/scoring on the bell, and in the traditional space you see the Eastar logo imprint on the bell (the same as seen on the box and embroidered on the case).The key touches are apparently faux pearl/white plastic, slightly concave inward and provide a nice feel to the fingers of my average sized hands. Consistent with the idea that the horn didn’t suffer during shipping, there were about eight little pieces of cork that were set along the body column to keep the pads locked down, which I removed with some patience and a mini screwdriver to get into those small spaces.With the keys freed, the action feels crisp. I checked the keys/pads for any movement side to side and only found a slight bit of play with the low C key, which later proved insignificant. Pulling out the plastic tenon plug, I discovered it was actually the top of a fiber cleaning rod. [These devices seem to be a supplemental swabbing device, but I would never leave it in the horn after playing…even after you swab the inside, the pads likely retain some moisture, and I think the cleaning rod would prevent the evaporation process and hold moisture against the pad…not good!]Speaking of the pads, they appear light brown and feel like leather…they have metal resonators. A lot of sax advertising boast Pisoni pads…I don’t know what type of pads the Eastar tenor has, but they are at least Pisoni-like, and they seal well to my naked eye (I don’t have a leak light).For the actual play test, I didn’t use the included mouthpiece because I wanted to narrow down the variables and isolate the horn’s performance. I also didn’t use any of the included five reeds provided. Since college I’ve always used for my tenor a Meyer 8 medium chamber hard rubber mouthpiece, and that’s what I brought with me on my trip, along with a brand name 2-1/2 reed.The neck slipped into the tenon without any problem, and it feels snug after adjusting for playing and tightening the tenon key. The included sax strap works okay, it’s nicely designed to adjust for height, but it essentially supports the sax with thick strings, and it would be better suited to use with an alto sax. I later replaced it with a Neotech strap and now I don’t worry about letting the sax momentarily hang from my neck.I started my play test with my usual long-tone warm up. I start at low G and chromatically work my way down to the low B-flat. The horn blew pretty easy with more effort naturally needed as I went down the register; but there was no issue with sounding all of the notes. The same with the mid and upper registers, there was no problem sounding all the notes up to high F-sharp. It did take me a few minutes to get used to the upper stack, particularly moving from high C to high D, but that was a “feel thing” that worked itself out after about a half-hour of playing.As I re-learned “Body and Soul” on the tenor (I love Dexter Gordon’s version), the horn started to feel fluid and expressive. I have the Real Book play-along USB stick saved on my laptop (real musician backing tracks) and that helped me get comfortable with this horn. One thing I noticed is that the intonation on this horn, jumping from one octave to the higher, was very good, with just a minimal embouchure adjustment needed to keep in tune, which is just a fact of life when playing any saxophone.About the extras: the sax stand seems pretty sturdy; there are white cloth gloves included; there is a swab for both the body and the neck, both do the job; there’s a small plastic bag with four white cylindrical caps, not sure what those are for; there’s a polishing cloth; and there’s a small black cardboard box with the Enstar script that contains just one of a different type of reed guard.About the reeds: the five included reeds are individually enclosed in cellophane plastic with a mini desiccant bag and in its own plastic reed guard—they have no marking as to brand or reed strength. [I did actually use one later with my Meyer mouthpiece and it played fine, so I assume the included reeds are medium strength].About the mouthpiece: the mouthpiece is cellophane wrapped and is in a plastic cap and a ligature, and also has a reed on it [the mouthpiece has no markings as to brand or size/style, it’s just a generic plastic one, apparently to get beginners started; but the mouthpiece, I believe, is key to the playing experience, so every purchaser of this horn, beginner and experienced alike, should research to find a mouthpiece-reed combination to suit that individual’s need/style];All in all, the Eastar tenor attempts to emulate the Selmer design and playability, as does just about every modern sax manufacturer. I think it does a pretty good job of doing so. I can still play an occasional weekend club gig and I would be able to use this tenor, no problem. Likewise, I think I could record sax parts or a sax solo and you wouldn’t ever know the sax was a student horn. Watch a Jay Metcalf comparison video, where he plays a blind test, budget v. pro horn, and you’ll see what I mean.There’s not a lot of information out there about the Eastar company or the Eastar tenor, I suspect more reviews will be coming. There was also no documentation in the case (no info card, no warranty card with an address, etc.) so I searched the web. Eastar does have a website, theeastar.com, that provides some general background on the company, and it essentially places itself in the category of “a brand dedicated to providing reliable, student-friendly instruments across a wide range of musical disciplines.” It also asserts “using durable materials and precise manufacturing processes to ensure that each instrument meets our high standards for playability, tone, and durability.”Elsewhere on the web, us.donnermusic.com, Eastar is described as “a sub-brand of Donner, specializ[ing] in beginner musical instruments, encompassing violins, wind instruments, children's drums, and more.”As a side note, the tenor saxophone I bought to get into the college jazz band, the horn I used for my professional years, was a good condition used Selmer I found at a pawn shop for $500. I didn’t know much about the Selmer manufacturing history back in the late 70s, but since I played a Selmer Mark VII alto, I knew a Selmer tenor would fit the bill. I “retired” the horn in the late 90s (after getting it re-padded/refurbished) and stuck it in a closet with plans to play it again soon, of course. Well, it’s still in the closet and I suppose it’s time to take it out for a play test [I didn’t want to use it for my new school experience because I’ve since found out it is very valuable, even as a used horn.]The $500 I spent in the late 70s for the Selmer tenor would be about $2420 in today’s money. It seems crazy to me that today you can buy a brand new, decent tenor sax, for $500 and have a good playing experience right out of the box, even as a student horn. Twenty years ago, buying a Chinese-made horn was apparently not a good idea, but you can’t deny that the Asian market has upped its manufacturing game and it’s a double-edged sword for the world market. Many of today’s professional level horns are also made in China or Asia generally, and they start at about $4000 and go up to about $10k, e.g., for a top-of-the-line Yanagisawa. I have to leave the trade wars up to the politicians, but for now, as a musician who wants the best bang for my buck, I’m very pleased with the Enstar tenor.This is probably the best $500 I’ve ever spent for a musical instrument. But then I had another dilemma: should I take the Enstar back to California upon my return? I know I really wanted to!

Compared this horn to a Yamaha student model and a Selmer asa 411. The Selmer was much heavier and well constructed, had a high quality case and came with a decent selmer mouthpiece (price $2,500 to $2,900). Tone quality and intonation were excellent. Yamaha was an older instrument, lighter in weight, nice to play, good intonation, a sweet tone quality, good mouthpiece and case. Amazon horn by Eastar as-2, looks and feels as good as the others, is much lighter and not as well braced but played very well, all keys sealed perfectly and required no adjustments. The longer I played all three horns the more it became apparent that the selmer was the superior instrument (though really heavy for a young player)…the Yamaha played well and would be a solid choice for a beginning player. ($1,500 to $2,500) … the Eastar at about $300.00 !!!!, would, I am sure, not take as much abuse as either of the other two horns. The Eastar comes with a substandard mouthpiece…definitely go buy a decent Selmer mouthpiece! With lots of care the Eastar should work well for quit some time. Use the cleaning kit after every use…EVERY USE…dry the body, neck and mouthpiece after every use…don’t bang it around…if you want to see if you will like playing the saxophone try the Eastar it plays well and won’t break the bank. If you have played a while and would like to upgrade I would go with the Selmer with the Yamaha not far behind. Remember the selmer is heavy…the price you pay for that selmer sound.

The Eastar is a nice alto sax . . ..The color is probably what you want in a sax . . . .the fingering buttons are a little flimsy but they work . . .I had a sticking problem with a few buttons so I smeared vegetable oil under them . . .and that solved the problem . . . .I had purchased the Ammoon Lace Antique Alto Sax . . .and, despite the color, it seems to be what I want in a low cost sax . . .mainly because the lower C, and D is not coming through as bright on the Eastar as it is on the Ammoon . . . .that's not to say that the Ammoon has it's problems in that area, also . . .but the tone is more even on the Ammoon than on the Eastar. . . .Regardless, if you neglect the lower C and work with the lower D or Eb . . . .the Eastar will perform, possibly, the way you want it to perform . . .Now, I did change the reeds to synthetic . . .as I did with the Ammoon and I purchased new mouth pieces for both instruments (the Yamaha 4C) . . .this helped the Eastar tremendously. The upper fingerings sound rich and full and the agility of the instrument performed well . . .so . . .buying a Jean Paul or even a Yamaha YAS model might cure the lower C and D problem . . .but if you only have $300 to spend . . .I suggest you buy the Eastar for band instruments . . .If you're in a jazz act . . .free spirit . . then the Antique Ammoon might be something you'd like . . . (the copper color looks strange . . .but is neat to have if you're into a free spirit form of performance). Again, the color of the Eastar is what you want in a band instrument . . . To fix the lower C and D problem . . .I might need a better mouth piece or an expensive synthetic reed . . .it's hard to say . . .I only know what the 4C can do . . . .The 4C is a better mouth piece than the manufacturers mouthpiece . . .but there are 5C's and 6C's out there . . .from Yamaha . . .I haven't experimented with either of those . . .but might look into it for the Eastar . . .and possibly the Ammoon . . . .If you look up the best alto sax mouthpiece in google . . .they will say the 4C is the top mouthpiece . . .but . . .what does the 5C or 6C sound like . . .and are they more in tune with professional sax players who look for something more appetizing? I'm not sure . . but you might want to give it a try . . . .Also . . you might want to experiment with synthetic reeds. I purchased the D'Addario brand size 3 . . .I think 3 is a good size and will suite your needs . . .You'll pay around $18 for five reeds . . There are brands of synthetic reeds that cost $30 for one reed . . .They are supposed to be the best . .Eastar offered a sythetic reed in the case . . It looked pretty good . . .but was completely made of plastic . . .What you'll want is a bamboo reed covered in plastic . . .these seem to sound the best . . . Whether you experiment with the $30 reed or the D'Addarios . . there's got to be a way to soften the tone of the lower C and D . . . .