Over time I have owned a wide range of saxophones from Yamahas, Buffet S1s, MkVIs to Conn 6Ms and Keilwerths. The following list is my saxophone set-ups at the moment.


Baritone: Keilwerth SX90 low A– Black Laquer Mouthpieces: Ebonite Link 7* or Freddie Gregory 8
This was the second Keilwerth instrument I bought. I had been playing a Mk6 for a while which had a sweet sound and borrowed a SA80 seriesII which I didn't get on with; couldn't make it sing and it was also really heavy, although the tuning was spot on. Yanigisawas were OK but didn't stand out. The Keilwerth does sing, it has a really clear tone in the second register that I had only found on Conn Crossbars (12M). Like the other Keilwerth's it is free-blowing and an even sound.



Tenor: Keilwerth Peter Ponzol Model (basically an SX90R). Black Laquer.
Mouthpieces: Morgan Excalibur 7, recently experimenting with Selmer S80 E for some classical playing.
My understanding is that at the time, about 1991, Peter was living in Germany and he worked with Keilwerth to develop a new saxophone. Eventually he moved back to the states and the instrument was marketed as the SX90R. I feel this model is slightly brighter than later SX90Rs. It is a cracking horn, big even tone, very free blowing.



Alto: Keilwerth SX90R Shadow
Mouthpieces: Selmer Soloist E and a Morgan Jazz M 7
My latest acquisition. I had a 1940 Conn 6M with the rotary tuning crook for years and came to love it. But when starting to seriously practice for the debut CD I tried out Karen's Selmer SA80 and found that I could get round the technical bits far easier than the Conn. The modern mechanism just made life so much easier. I also discovered that after a short space of time my sound was pretty much the same as it was on the old Conn so it seemed logical to start looking for a new Alto. A pupil at Wells Cathedral School had got a Selmer Reference 54 and I kept trying it out between lessons and thought that this was the saxophone for me. I had heard about the new Keilwerth Shadow but couldn't find one to try out until I called Andy Gafke at Keilwerth who told me there was one at saxophones.co.uk. I went for a blow and was pretty amazed, it really blew away the rest of the saxophones I tried. For more information on the Shadow read the review.


Soprano: Yamaha YAS62R – the one with the curved neck.
Mouthpiece: Bari 62
This is Karen's saxophone, it is a nice instrument, good sound, in tune. Easy to play which is just what you want from a soprano. Perhaps one day I'll have the whole set of Keilwerth instruments.

Clarinet: Buffet Crampon BC20
Mouthpiece: Selmer C85-120

Wish list: a bass clarinet; a Tubax to use in Saxtet; a C Melody saxophone; buy back my Conn 6M for old times sake; a drum kit.