The Bamboo Saxophone

The bamboo saxophone. Not a new idea. Infact it's been around for a while now. What is it? Well put simply it's a piece of bamboo with holes in it, a built in mouthpiece with tenor sax reed and a ligature. The remarkable thing about it is the fact that is does actually mimic the sound of a saxophone, or maybe a clarinet depending upon your point of view.

Commonly referred to as the pocket sax because of it's size, the bamboo saxophone is small, light, cheap and playable. What more could anyone ask for?

The picture on the right is of a pocket sax. More specifically it is the Xaphoon or Maui Xaphoon.

Looking remarkably like an expensive recorder the Xaphoon is where it all started. When I started looking into this I thought there was just the Xaphoon bamboo saxophone. Well I was wrong.

The bamboo sax also has a second family member. The pocket saxophone. More about that in a minute.

Then I found out that there are also other bamboo saxophones, looking more like a saxophone, being made by Marc Meyer in Switzerland.

They also make wooden saxophones in varying ranges and from different types of woods.

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Marc Meyer of Switzerland seem to have taken on the whole bamboo saxophone thing with some amount of enthusiasm.

The range they offer is quite extensive. Offering bamboo and wooden 'saxes' with a choice of woods and a choice of ranges. Eg. Soprano, sopranino.

They are handmade, this is reflected in the price, and they even offer a bamboo saxophone (Bambus Sax) that mimics the shape of an Alto.

The Xaphoon Pocket Sax or Bamboo Saxophone. Can you take it seriously?

Well let's be honest. If it is marketed as a replacement for the saxophone then it will most likely not do well.

However, if marketed as an alternative instrument then the likelyhood is it may do very well

Lets not forget these sax mimics are cheap, tough, lightweight and playable.

There's no reason to think that in the future they will have their own following of fans and will become a valued instrument in their own right.

They are marketed as a fun instrument that's easy to play and can echo the sounds of the sax. So why not.

I say good luck to them. From what I've heard of them they have a pleasant enough sound that is reminiscent of the sax. Who knows, they could easily encourage others to actually pick up a real sax once they've tried one of the Xaphoon bamboo pocket saxophones and thatr can't be a bad thing.

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