Ishimori New Vintage and Eastman 850 Rue Saxophones 

Received the Ishimori a few weeks ago. I have been playing the Yamaha 62III for a few years and it worked well but wow, at least for me, this is a large step up. Thanks for the video for without your help i would not have known about this company.

I bought a New Vintage Alto from Ishimori, without f# key and without laquer, to replace my Mark 7 alto, 3 years ago. To buy it, I just wrote them via email in English, they replied in 2 days if I recall correctly and then I made the payment. I expected the horn to get to me (Italy) in 5 days. It arrived from Tokyo the second day after payment, in perfect conditions, in a super well-padded cardboard box, which was inside another padded cardboard box, with all the rubber pads inserted in the right keys to keep them closed and safe as you would expect any professional horn to be shipped. Included was their MAGICAL Woodstone "smooth pad" oil which works perfectly to clean pads from greases and cure stickiness without any mechanical work required (still some left in the bottle). My pads are basically brand new after 3 years. I have played mark 6s and 7s, I can tell you this sax plays better than all of them except one, a 50xxx mark6 which felt like the lighter alto sax ever. That M6 outplayed every other sax and still does and is owned by a very rich guy who lives on Lake Como. Ergonomically, my Ishimori IS a mark 6. Sound wise, it is a mark 6 that doesn't break up in the altissimo, and offers a tiny (tiny) bit more resistance than that perfect mark6 I mentioned. Nothing about the construction of the Ishimori feels cheap, quite the opposite. I now live in Barcelona and the main place for repair here is SaxOn. I brought the sax in for a check, just to see if any pad didn't seal properly.. nope. The tech there, as soon as I opened the case (a late 80 superpadded Selmer case) just said: "ahh, now THIS is a nice instrument!". He checked the sax in 5 minutes, played it, smiled and handed it back without doing anything to it, then offered me to try the new Selmer Supreme. The Supreme has a slightly bigger sound and a nicer high front F key, and that's it. I payed 3860 euros for my Ishimori shipping included. Recommended. My two cents

That vibrational transfer is what so many of us love that like a vintage horn or even the first edition of the Yamaha 62. I feel more connected to the instrument that way.

I had the chance to try the Ishimori New Vintage tenor at their Tokyo, Shinjuku flagship store when it came out a decade ago. I clearly recall that they claimed the design was based on an 80k serial Mark VI. The Ishimori store by the way holds one of the greatest collection of vintage American horns -mostly Selmers and Kings, I have ever experienced anywhere else, dozens of them. Every single one overhauled and in top mechanical playing conditions, ready to play. In my opinion one of the greatest saxophone store on the planet and well worth a visit if one finds himself in Tokyo.

Ishimori sound so great thank you for the video

Vous êtes un merveilleux musicien,digne des grands noms du jazz. Bravo ❤

Woah that Eastman really sounds different I like but the sound is dramatic.

Thank you for allowing me to take the Eastman 850 off my shortlist for my next tenor.

About four years ago I ended up buying a TM Custom tenor (supposedly very closely related to the Ishimori, same factory?) that got picked blindly with sound/play confirmation from a friend, over Yanagisawa, Selmer and Yamaha horns much to my surprise. I got it used for under $2k, which now seems like a steal. The only horn I liked better in that testing session was the Ishimori, which wasn't used and was over my budget.

The Ishimori Woodstone sax is based on the design of an old MK VI as is their New Vintage alto sax, but it plays better in tune than a Mark VI. A number of Mark VI saxophones were sold and went to Japan back in the day, so Ishimori may have based the design from some of those still in Japan. If I had the opportunity, I'd like to play the New Vintage alto and Eastman 850 alto. I am not sure I'd like the vibrations you mentioned though. I used to have a mouthpiece that when I played it, I could feel the vibrations in my head, even with a thick mouthpiece patch on it and I didn't like the vibrations I got with it.

Action seems to be ignored for many years. I played the eastman. Definitely a great design.

I’m buying one!!! Great review !

Great video. Helps me just a little with decision making when looking for a new horn :D There are too many out there

I would’ve loved to have tried a Woodstone. I did play an Eastman 52nd St, which wasn’t for me- it was kinda’ just ‘there.’ As I’ve mentioned, I settled on a TJ Signature Custom, which I like very much.

I own a Signature custom raw by Trevor James, I was choosing between YTS62III and the Sig Custom and ended up choosing the signature custom since it gives me the ballsy kind of sound that I'm looking for and is still very good for soft playing also. I am very interested to see you review one and listen to your opinion about it.

What's up with your canonball? I've been thinking of getting rid of my bundy alto and upgrading...

I am curious how the Eastern Music tenor sax models stacks up to the brands you are testing. I have heard some good comments about them, and a few pros have started to play them (Nicole Glover for example plays one that emulates Ref 54 if my source is correct).

Hey Julian!!! You did it! You tried the Ishimori. That vibration thing is something you’ll grow to love. Beyond that, the horn is super responsive to the subtleties of mouthpiece changes. I have the high F# on mine

Little heads up, I was really lucky and got to try both with and w/out high F# key. They definitely play differntly enough, atleast sound wise(also F# key one was heavier). Walked out with no F# key

Interesting seeing two different saxes inspired by the Mark VI. I liked the tone on the Ishimori more than the Eastman, but I liked how unique the Eastman sounded. Definitely changed your sound more than the Ishimori (from your sound with the Cannonball). Everything I've seen about the design of the Eastman has been really cool, and seems like a real improvement. Know some of that is missing on the older 52nd Street, Conn inspired horn. There's an 852 as one of like only 2-3 tenors at the Music and Arts by me. Sadly it used to be a local shop with cases full of horns.

Hi, I've seen you trying out and comparing horns, was just wondering if you have found a new horn yet. Very curious.

Check JL Woodwinds, they usually stock the Ishimori

SirValorSax : Ishimori saxophones are sold by JL Woodwind and GetASax ( and probably others I’m not aware of)

Really good review!!

core tone was great on both - coz your have a great core tone! Ishimori however had a slightly annoying (to my ears), buzzy upper harmonic that wasn't present on the Eastman. That said, the Eastman didn't quite have the kind of low warm of the Ishimori. Horses for courses eh? :)

Really honest reviews for both tenors. Nice job! I play the Rue which out-bottoms my 207K Mark VI and pegs the tuner needle at "0" with ease, but the honest fact is that I haven't been able to put down an Antigua Peter Ponzol ProOne tenor that Don Braden turned me on to this past summer. It's hard to put down.

Have you tried the Signature Custom RAW

Have you tried the 52 later on?

I did read, on a sax forum, that the Ishimori is actually made in Taiwan. Can anyone verify that?

Problem when you buy it from japan you have to pay custom and tax. In germany its around 750€ on top. That makes it around 4100€

Ok 3941 USD today.

I have listened to plenty of your demos of saxophones, and you sounded the best on the MK6 alto, and on this Ishimori tenor. Those instruments vibrate more, and despite your disdain for it, by calling it "vibration transfer", those two instruments allow you to produce nuances and feelings that simply aren't there on other (heavier) instruments. You (I presume) are a session player (playing gigs for others), rather than a soloist and recording artist (with your albums, own arrangements, own original pieces, etc.)? I can hear, those two instruments - Mk6 alto and Ishmori tenor - allow you greater personal expression, which other instruments you tested do not allow. On other instruments, you sound too generic / jazz academy-like. But I think you are way past that. Why you insist on sounding like all other session players, by choosing more confined instruments, is beyond me. You can do more.

Imagine not liking resonance.

Wellllllllll IMNSHO the Ishimori sounds way better tonally to me, it seems to have a thicker core, just sayin...........

Both of these saxophones sounded stuffy. The Ishimori especially so. Lack of projection. This was proven when you you brought the chords in and you almost disappeared. If you're getting interested in the vintage Selmer Mark VI, but made modern, have you tried Retro Revival's Tru-Six? I'm not in the USA, so I can't.

For me Ishimori sound much better.