Customer Reviews

Xaphoon Pocket Sax Black Finish Key of C

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The reviewer who gave up on it after only 20 minutes did not give it enough of a chance. All serious musical instruments take quite a bit of time to learn to play and any serious musician is, even after decades of playing, essentially still learning.

The Pocket Sax and it's older sibling the Maui Xaphoon are serious musical instruments that deserve significant input of time in learning to play and reward you with endless hours of enjoyment and discovery.

I've played guitar and keyboards for over 3o years and have dabbled in various other instruments including several members of the woodwind family such as the alto sax and flute. The Pocket Sax is a great addition to my collection and you can start making music on it within a few hours, but realistically, it'll take a few weeks of regular practice before you can begin to enjoy your own music. It woudl be the same for someone picking up a guitar for the first time.

Does it really sound like a sax? Not always. At some notes, it will if you play it properly. Because of its design, it sounds like a cross between a sax and a clarinet, but is capable of flutey sounds as well if played softly. A sax has a conical bore while the PS has a predominantly cylindrical bore like a clarinet. This results in a "tubular" sound that has more in common with a clarinet. But since it uses a saxophone reed, you can get all kinds of sax-like expressiveness that is not available on a clarinet. If it were to have a conical bore, it'd probably sound more sax-like, bu would also be much longer and definitely less portable.

The PS is an excellent first instrument to give to your child or any person who is considering taking up the sax or clarinet. It's much less expensive and can be a great introduction to the world of woodwinds. It's much quieter too so you'll be able to keep it with you at all times and play it at hours when others are sleeping.

As a clarinet and recorder player for years, I was intrigued by this little horn. It took about 3 minutes to get the feel of the larger mouthpiece and saxophone reed. The instructions are very well written and do not downplay the need to experiment a bit with mouthpiece position and lip pressure. For those who had difficulty producing sound, and for those who have questions about previous negative reviews, the instructions make a clear point to be sure the reed is allowed to vibrate when blowing into the instrument. You really do have to put quite a bit more mouthpiece into your mouth than is needed for a clarinet, pin whistle, or recorder. For me, I had to blow about 30% harder than I do on my tenor recorder, but much less than necessary to power my clarinet. A little patience and practice and anyone can make decent sound.

I may buy another if my son wants one! Once you get the feel of it, its a lot of fun to play and easy to learn. The Xaphoon maker in Hawaii has some great sheet music available, too.

This instrument is fun. However, for the first few days I could only make it honk or wheeze, and get winded in the process. But then the technique of using the reed clicked and it became easier and took less effort.

The low C through A of the first register are a snap to play and several easy songs are in that range. The B is cross fingered, while the B-flat is not, which seems odd to a whistle player. However, this makes it easy to play in the key of F so this might be by design!

The fingerings for high C, D, E and F make sense, although playing a scale in that part of the low register is still hard for me. The second register remains elusive for me, so I can't comment on it yet.

The bottom line is that for $50.00 this thing is amazing and portable. However, you'll need to practice before you can play it well. But this is true of any musical instrument and part of the fun.

This is a cute instrument for anyone with some experience playing a reed instrument, such as a clarinet (even if that experience was decades ago, as it was in my case). It sounds more like a clarinet than a sax, and in fact it is very much like the chalameau, the precursor of the clarinet. Basic fingerings are similar, but not identical, to those of the recorder. The first octave and a half are fairly easy to play (for those with reed experience), the higher few note are more troublesome. Practice, practice, practice.... One can find a lot of music on the web and elsewhere that fit its range, including some duets. It is really quite small, so will travel well in a backpack or carry-on.

All in all, a useful little instrument. But please be warned: This is not an instrument that is really easy to play. It is not like an ocarina. If you are not a reed player, learning to play the Xaphoon will take some time and dedication. I cannot see it as an instrument to give to a child, unless someone is available to help with learning to play.

I'm a music teacher, but have a background in vocal music. I've always wanted to play the sax, and when I saw this one, I just had to have it. It's quite easy to play out of the box, eventhough the reed takes a little getting used to. It's really a lot of fun!!!

I am very ill. Occipital neuralgia (toothache in the brain), MSA (degenerative brain disease), and no cures. I was a guitarist, percussionist, singer, and a flute player. The past 4 years of my life have been located somewhere below hell. I suffer from level 10 headaches daily, as my brain slowly dies. Please don't cry for me. I OWN A XAPHOON!!

Just opened the the box and played this tool for happiness and found hope. It is without any doubt the most wonderful thing to happen for me in the past 4 years! The Xaphoon Pocket Sax Black Finish Key of C moves the pain into the background of my life. What a joy. I am using this instrament as a tool. Thanks Amazon!! ish

The zaphoon has been a great discovery for me as a music educationalist. I love finding new instruments and new and easier ways to make music, and access it both financially and in the technique. For under $100NZ I can have in my hand an instrument that sounds and plays like a soprano saxophone!! I have now bought two; one for me and one to lend to people, currently to a 13-yr-old boy at my church who plays alto sax. It is strong and so easy to carry around. Adolph Sax, would approve, I think :)

I played alto saxophone for most of my younger life. Of course, when I moved out of my parents house the saxophone was one of those things that ended up getting sold for well less than what it was worth in order to pay some random bill at some point in time.

Fast forward to today, and I was longing for something to play some music on. My wife plays the piano, but I have no idea how to play that. I have a ukulele, but I'm not very good at it. I was wanting a woodwind to play to make some music on.

I began searching for another saxophone, and of course I found that for anything of even remote quality I was going to have to spend several hundred dollars. Yes, there are cheap ones out there, but the quality is VERY bad. I was beginning to think that I might have some trouble trying to find something to play.

I stumbled across the Maui Xaphoon one afternoon while searching the net and the price was right. There are some nicer ones out there that are made of actual bamboo, but since I didn't know an awful lot this instrument so I figured I'd go with the plastic one to start. I ordered it and several days later it came in the mail.

Upon getting it out of the box, I was pretty impressed with it right off the bat. The finish on it is nice, the reed was a good quality, the ligature is nice, and the overall feel of the instrument belies the price paid for it.

I put it all together and blew in it, just like I used to with the saxophone. Amazingly, all these years later, I was easily able to produce a good sounding note with very little effort.

Of course, the fingerings for the notes are completely different than the saxophone, so I'm trying to actually learn the different notes on the xaphoon. It's a bit of a task that I wasn't ready for, as I still remember very well all of the fingerings for the saxophone, so trying to play a "G" on the xaphoon, my fingers automatically try to play the "G" from my old saxophone days. But I'm getting better at it, and it's coming to me slowly. But like any instrument, it takes time to learn the things about it like the fingerings and the way to hold your lips and such.

The ONLY negative thing that I have to say for the xaphoon is that a few of the holes near the bottom of the instrument are so close together that my fingers tend to touch each other. This wouldn't be an issue, except that they are touching to the point that they are leaving part of the holes uncovered, and as such the notes come out sounding horribly sometimes. I have quite large fingers, however, so I'm not letting this have any affect on my review because I think for someone with normal sized fingers, it would be a non-issue.

This is a fun little instrument. However, I'm not sure anyone's going to want one professionally. Also, I'm not sure that it captures the novelty of the original bamboo instrument (though I give it credit for trying). Part of me wants to think that the conversion to plastic might have been a good time to maybe switch over to a more standard fingering of a recorder. As it is, it's got nothing at all in common with a saxophone other than the tenor reed.

That said, I've had some fun with it. I also own a ukulele and consider that to be a good sort of backpacking instrument like the Xaphoon and I have the same general impression of instruments in that class. I'm not disappointed with my purchase. I just think it might have been ported to plast a little differently.

the xaphoon sounds very cool in capable hands. ive toyed w different instruments most of my adult life, and always loved to play reeds
most reed instruments like saxes and clarinets, they are very expensive, and even if you buy a new one, the day will come when you have to make sum repairs and replace the pads. my alto sax has been out of commission for about two years, and i was a sceptic about the xaphoon,not anymore, it has a wonderful sound for under 100$$ i wished id known about it 10 years ago. it has its own personality, it goes from sax sounds to flute tones, clarinet highs, i highly reccomend for novice
but i cant see anyone who can play a reed instrement giving 3 stars on this review, if you can play, you will like the xaphoon, if your just starting, it is a much easier beginning instrument than other reeds.
buy a pack of tenor reed and your good for months, simple and cool.