Yanagisawa AWO1U Alto Saxophone - Unlacquered

A suberbly refined and versatile saxophone. A modern-day classic

The upgraded replacement for the legendary A901U series, this AWO1U unlacquered brass model is suited just as well to aspiring beginners as to experienced professionals. 

Description

Yanagisawa saxes are made by a small family company in Japan that only makes professional quality saxes, and they do it very well. This degree of focus means they are of a quality that even their main competitors recognise as the best. Here at SAX our technicians love them as they play straight out of the box and they are by far the most reliable instruments we sell.

The Yanagisawa A901U achieved "classic" status over the past 30 years as a remarkable sax for the price and a leader in its class. With superlative Japanese design and build quality, it only ever had one serious competitor, also from Japan. The best just got better with this new upgraded AW01U model. 

Lacquer is simply put, a paint that is applied onto a material, to keep the material underneath from tarnishing or making the material an appealing colour. An unlacquered instrument simply has no lacquer applied to the base metal. 

Many unlacquered saxophones begin life with a polished finish that is visually similar to a standard lacquered instrument. However, as soon as the saxophone leaves the factory, the tarnishing process will begin.  This will give the saxophone a real vintage appeal, the envy of all jazzers out there. This will also explain why it may have signs of aging when you receive it.

Aurally, this means the material has complete freedom of movement for resonance. This will give the tone a fullness on the fringes of the note playing, really filling the space and giving the bottom end especially a real presence.

The AW01U has an even stronger tonal core thanks to a re-engineered bore and tone holes.

 Features 

• Material: Brass

• Finish: Unlacquered

• Key Touches: White mother-of-pearl

• Neck: Yanagisawa

• Engraving: Hand engraved

• Case: Yanagisawa, rectangular back-pack style

• Mouthpiece: Yanagisawa Ebonite 6CR

• Made in: Japan

• Free Professional Set Up & Free Check over within a Year

• Recommended for: Advancing students, and professionals on a budget 

Review

Yanagisawa have managed to raise the quality of their instruments another notch, with the introduction of the WO series.

The sound delivery of any Yani horn has always been one of richness and smoothness while remaining free-blowing throughout. This quality remains in place on the WO horns but there is an extra degree of warmth and just a little extra focus over and above the old brass models. I’m sure this must be largely due to the change of brass on the AW01 and AW010 models.

As for the bronze models, there is less of a discernable difference tonally but ergonomically all of the range has benefited from tweaks within the mechanism and key-work. These are lovely new horns.... Jim - SAX