Yamaha YAS21 alto saxophone
Origin: Japan
Guide price : From around £350 secondhand
Age of review model : Approx. 25 years
Date reviewed : Jan 03

Description : A no-frills student horn, built to a then unparalleled standard.

I'm going to start this review by stating uncategorically that I love these horns. And now I shall say precisely why!
To begin with though, a little historical perspective.
At the time these horns were introduced to the UK ( around the early 1970's ) the student sax market was ruled by just two brands...the Corton ( Czech built, also sold as the Lafluer ) and the East German B&M Champion ( which also popped up under at least three other brand names ). It would be unfair to say that these were dreadful instruments, but even with the most rose-tinted of viewpoints you couldn't ever say they were great horns.

And then the Yamaha appeared.
It rightfully took the marketplace by storm. The philosophy behind its design was unique; the keywork had been kept simple, there were no fancy mechanics, heavy use had been made of computer aided design and manufacture, and most importantly of all the body had been designed to give maximum performance and accuracy for the money.
What this gave you was a quality of tone that had never before been heard on anything other than a professional instrument.
By the time you took into account the carefully designed mouthpiece and the slick case the whole deal was almost too good to be true. Over the years the horn has been changed slightly, and has appeared ( in the UK ) as the YAS23, 25 and now the 275.
For the most part, much of what's written in this review applies to the later models. There have been some additions and improvements down the years but the horn's basic feel and response remain much the same. You can read the review of the latest version, the YAS275, here.

So, 25 years on, how does the YAS21 stand up to the test of time?
Well, in a word - brilliantly.
A major innovation was the finish. The lacquer Yamaha used for this horn was ( and still is ) incredibly tough. So much so that a careful repairer can do small soldering jobs without ruining the finish. Even after two decades of use the finish on this horn is practically perfect, with only a few brown spots showing through here and there.
An unusual aspect is the lack of engraving. I assume that Yamaha felt a saving could be made by dispensing with costly engraving on the bell, and in its place is a simple but elegant transfer.
I always felt the clean lines of the unengraved bell lent the horn a very businesslike quality.
The neatness of the well fitted pillars and fittings made this a very unfussy looking horn mechanically - and the use of individual pillars helped keep the instrument light.

There were a few niggles - though these were perhaps more of an issue to the repairer than the player.
For example. The bell key guard was a single unit, and there was no provision made for adjusting the height of the bumper felts. No big deal - not many players would want to fiddle with them anyway, but for the repairer this means having to shave or pad bumper felts to size rather than turning a convenient screwed holder.

The G#/Bb link pictured here is another example of a mechanism that makes life less easy for the repairer. The bar dead centre of the picture usually has two adjusting screws to set the regulation of the G# and the Bis Bb keys. Here there's just two blocks of cork. Again, no big deal for the player but a bit of a fiddle for the repairer - requiring the lightest touch when sanding these corks to size, with no room for errors.
There's an element of reliability built in here though...at least there are no adjustment screws to work loose, or for curious students to muck about with! That said, there are many 'tweakers' out there who are able to diagnose and correct simple problems, and as the G#/Bis Bb is a common problem area the lack of an adjuster could prove to be a nuisance every now and again.
The G# key itself, and the corresponding bell key spatulas are a very simple arrangement ( and can be seen in the 275 review ), but surprisingly comfortable and swift in operation. Many modern student horns opted for the Selmer style tilting table - which is a great mechanism, but it does require some accuracy in manufacture - and consequently the bell key action was never really that responsive. Yamaha kept it simple, and to great advantage.

As far as the player is concerned there are only a couple of issues that bear comment. The most important of these is the size of the low D key cup in relation to the tone hole. Here's the low D key. Note the indentation in the pad. It's very close to the edge of the pad, and what this means is that there's no room for error as far as seating the pad is concerned. It also means less room to take up any shrinkage of the pad over time. This means that these horns can suffer from leaks from the low D key. It's a problem easily fixed by having a new pad carefully fitted.
Practically every 20 series Yamaha alto I see has a problem with the D key pad - so if you have one of these horns and you feel it's not giving its best then it's a very fair bet that this is where you'll find most of the cause. You'll be in good company too, there are a number of very expensive horns that suffer from this problem - the Selmer 'Cigar Cutter' alto for one.

Another niggle is the use of a barrel and pin link on the side Bb and C keys.
Ever since this key was first fitted to a saxophone there's been much deliberation over quite the best way to make it work. Early saxes used simple, one-piece keys - rather like large palm keys - but then someone hit on the idea of splitting the keys into two parts...a cup and a lever. It's a better way of doing things, but it rather leaves you with the problem of how to connect the pieces of the keys together.

Here's the side Bb key - on the right hand end of it you can see the little black nylon barrel that links it to the actuating key. It's not much of a niggle but these things can wear, and then rattle.
Having said that, these ones are pretty old and still in good order - nothing that a drop of grease or heavy oil won't quieten down. The use of nylon is certainly an improvement over the metal ones that some horns use - though I'm pleased to note that Yamaha did away with the barrel and pin arrangement for its later models and went for the simple but effective fork and pin arrangement ( rather frustratingly though, they reintroduced a similar barrel and pin mechanism and slapped it on their top-of-the-range Custom series - which is a bit silly really ).

Of course, I'm being picky ( would you expect anything less? ) and in comparison to the competition these niggles are practically laughable.
Consider the other plus-points: A removable bell ( fitted with a clamp - this was dropped in favour of a glued joint in later models ), incredibly sturdy keywork with a resistance to wear that's second to none, cylindrical point screws that allow for a constantly adjustable action, a very nicely balanced action powered by stainless springs - even if it is set up far too heavy from the factory, adjusters on the stack keys ( great for us repairers ) and an overall build quality that still shames many a more expensive horn today. Add in the fact that this was, and still is, one of the lightest horns on the market and you have a world beater.
I should also mention the mouthpiece that comes as standard with the horn - the Yamaha 4C.
This in itself was a revolution. Before it came along there were but two choices for the student; a 'no-name' basic mouthpiece that could range in quality from completely rubbish through to reasonably OK...with a few examples hitting the heady peaks of 'really not that bad' - or an expensive professional quality mouthpiece, the price of which must have made many a parent cough in disbelief.
But the Yamaha range changed all that.
Initially the range comprised just three 'lays'; 3C ( bright ), 4C ( medium ) and 5C ( mellow or dark ). The key point about all these mouthpieces was that they were accurately made - and they were really rather good, and quite cheap too.
They still are, and they remain the most widely recommended mouthpieces for beginners worldwide.

But forget about all that - just pick the horn up and blow it!
My oh my - even today, against all the competition, this horn still sings. Tonewise the clarity in the upper octave is truly remarkable, the accuracy of pitch is a breath of fresh air on a student horn ( on any horn, come to that ) and the sheer speed of attack this horn displays belies its humble status. It's a very 'refreshing' horn to play, you never get the sense that you need to 'build yourself up' to get the best out of it - just take it out of the case and blow it, and it's ready and willing.
There are dissenters though - some people feel the Yamaha lacks character, its tone is too neutral.
I consider this a bonus - I much prefer to play on a horn that allows me to decide what sound I get out of it...and by choosing the right mouthpiece you can make this horn do practically anything you want.

It's also worth mentioning that, as a repairer and player, I see quite a few of these horns used in a professional capacity. Indeed, my tenor of choice is the 23 ( a later variant of the 21 ) - and whilst a see a great many superb tenors come through the workshop, I still haven't found one that does for me what my YTS23 does.

I think that says it all.