Yamaha YAS-52 Alto Sax

If you are ready to step up from a basic student model alto sax this horn may be perfect for you.
These early Yamaha intermediate altos with the purple logo on the bell play extremely well. The action if comfortable and fast and the sound is great!

This horn has a high F#. The bellkey bumper felts are adjustable and the stack keys have lots of adjustment screws that will allow for easier regulation of the horn.

This horn is remarkably free of dents and dings. It has some superficial scratches around the neckstrap ring, bow and bell. Also some lacquer wear around the touch points.
The lacquer on the top of the neck has some alligatoring. You can see this in one of the pictures. I've never seen this before. It is superficial.
The bell rim is slightly bent down (on player's left side).
So yes, this horn has been loved and used. The owner is giving it up only because he bought a brand new Yamaha YAS-82Z custom alto and needs to hand this horn off to someone else to help pay for his new acquisition.

I replaced a few pads...not so much because they weren't sealing, but more because they were a little cruddy looking.

Sold!

The owner of this consignment really needs the cash so he has decided to cut the price to move it.
His loss is your gain.

A new student YAS-23 lists for over $1600 on www.wwbw.com. A more comparable intermediate YAS-62 lists for over $2600.
Here's one listed on eBay starting at $895.

One sax player told me that these "...early 52’s are absolutely great. The purple logo horns just kick butt. I wish they still made them this good. I owned and played a purple logo... [horn] for 20 years and it was the best horn I have ever owned as far as build quality and ergos."

If you do buy this horn, the owner will throw in the Yamaha 4CM Custom mouthpiece that came with his YAS-82Z. He already had a mouthpiece that he was accustomed to and will include this brand new custom mouthpiece, ligature and cap free of charge!

New audio analysis software! I will eventually get to comparing horns. This is a sample of this YAS-52.

 

On this YAS-52, I played High C, Mid C, and Low C.
Since it is an Eb instrument, that equates to:
Concert High Eb = 622 Hz (Red)
Mid Eb = 311 Hz (Purple)
Low Eb = 155 Hz (Lime)