Mendini By Cecilio Tenor Saxophone - B Flat Black Golden Lacquer Saxophone for Beginner Musicians with Hard Case, Tuner, Mouthpiece, 10 Reeds, Polishing Cloth, Cleaning Rod, Gloves, Strap

I started playing saxophone in band in 1973. I had an alto sax and was looking for to buy a tenor sax (which I played both in high school and college). After reading the reviews from previous buyers and mostly positive ratings I decided to give this Mendini by Cecilio a try. The instrument came well packaged and protected. As with other comments about the case it is not a hard case but will do the job that I need it for.As far as the instrument itself, I was pleasantly surprised at how heavy the instrument was. It seems to be a well built instrument. Again as with other comments on the mouthpiece, neck strap, and reeds, they are very low quality, but I had the foresight to have ordered a better mouthpiece, reeds, and neck strap. I ordered a Selmer S-80 C* mouth piece, an Adorence padded Saxophone Neck Strap, and Vandoreen reeds (I like #3). The tone of the instrument was amazing and using the enclosed tuner the instrument played amazingly well in tune after adjusting my mouthpiece. Having played saxophone for nearly 50 years in elementary, high school, community, big band era, and college, for the price this is an amazing instrument. So if you are on an limited budget or just wanting to see if this is an instrument you or a child would want to play it is well worth the money.

To give my review some context, I played various saxophones for 7 years in school. After a decade away, I decided I wanted to play music again. For the price, this thing is great. Yea it's not as good as a Yamaha, but it plays just fine. What I paid works out to renting a better instrument for about 10 months, and as this comes with a 1 year warranty this seemed the smart choice. You probably wouldn't use this sax as a career musician, but if you're a student or someone who just likes to play every now and then for fun, this is a great inexpensive option. And it's gorgeous!You will want to buy something to use to swab out the neck and bell, and you might want a better neck strap.Pro tip-there's not a lot of solo music out there for tenor sax, it's generally a support instrument. If you want solo music, get music written for the clarinet-the instruments are in the same key.

Beautiful! Better then I expected. Case was hard, protecting the sax, and with everything included the price is awesome! My son, 12 yo, loves the color and his set!

I am a professional musician. For the last 25 years I've played an EWI (Yamaha's WX5 with a VL-70m synthesizer). Recently, I was asked to play sax in a local theater production of "Lobby Hero": I've got four weeks. I have not played a single reed instrument in 50 years, and never a tenor sax. My choices were--say no; borrow an alto of unknown quality; buy a sax, but money is tight. I saw several videos on Youtube demonstrating inexpensive Chinese saxophones with good mouthpieces and reeds. I was impressed!I bought the Mendini Tenor. Out of the box, it did not play. The reeds it ships with might work as kindling (I'll try in the fall when it's cooler outside) or cat toys (I won't try this, I don't want them to think reeds are fair game). I had the foresight to order a box of good reeds, when I ordered the sax. With a good reed, I got a couple of notes. The octave key would not seat properly, so I bent it a tad, it was off by about 1/32" (it could have gotten bent in shipping). I had six notes. Suspicious of the no-name mouthpiece, I went out, and bought the only named mouthpiece available in town (Prescott, AZ), a cheap Rico. I got two octaves . . . so I ordered a good mouthpiece.On day four, I got in an Otto Link Metal #7, and a Legere 2 3/4 plastic reed, just to try one. On day five. I had a solid, in tune, responsive and expressive, 2 1/2 octaves. Altissimo notes will, of course, take time, although I've got F#, easy-peasy.Several YouTube videos talked about the cheap feel of these Chinese saxophones, "the rods bend . . . feels tinny . . . hit something with it and it could break . . ." It feels solid to me. I pick it up by the bell, and I try to avoid walls, doorways, tables, and chairs when I move around with it. I treat it as if it cost $6,000, as one should.Will it last years? Will it give me altissimo notes? Will I sound like Ernie Krivda (look him up) in a month? I don't know . . . okay, I know I won't sound or play like Ernie. But for $500 (horn and mouthpiece), I have an instrument that I am confident in . . . and I have few weeks until the show goes up. Last night (day 9) was the first rehearsal where I played. Good enough, the director wants more.September 20: six weeks in and I enjoy the horn more each day. I had to tighten the roller screws for the Eb and low C keys. The lacquer on the thumb rest and the octave key is flaking off a little, but practicing 4-6 hours a day might well do that! We've had eight performances and people love the sax.

Upon opening, I found the neck tightening screw had fallen out and was loose in the case. No big deal. However, the instrument was too tight at the top end to receive the neck being inserted. The neck would not go in. It was a simple matter to encourage the the horn opening below the neck to be slightly wider, but it obviously had not been tested with this particular neck before being shipped. Either that, or the vibration during shipping head somehow caused the top end of the horn to be slightly bent together.The thumb octave key has too much free play in the pivot mechanism that alternates between opening the neck pad and the top octive pad on the body of the horn. The thumb octave key has to be pressed too far down to be comfortable. There's no adjustability between the two different octave keys/pads on the neck and the top of the horn to make a correction adjustment intuitive. If I keep the horn, I plan to build up the top of the thumb key with Sugru to make changing octaves maybe more comfortable on my thumb.The high D key below the left palm is far too low. It will have to be built up at least 5/8 of an inch, perhaps more, to comfortably be operated by my palm without having to Kink my wrist.The high f key is also too low for my , and will have to be built up half an inch or more.On the other hand, all pads are level and correctly closing over all the key holes. There's a satisfying thunk thunk thunk sound, with obvious tone changes, as you close the keys one at a time, especially with the right hand, while not blowing.The horn is remarkable for such a low price.The metal does not feel thin or soft. I think with good care, this horn could stand up to years of use. Even better, it plays in tune from the high F sharp to the low B flat. That's a new one on me. I realize they are all supposed to play in tune right out of the box, but I've played many saxophones over the last 50 years and this one makes a very good impression for intonation without needing adjustment.