Yamaha YAS62 alto saxophone
Origin: Japan
Guide price : £1200
Age of review model : 8 years
Date reviewed : April.03

Description : Yamaha's basic professional level horn, at a price that won't break the bank.

Ah, the ubiquitous Yamaha 62 alto.
These first appeared in the early 1980s from out of nowhere as the YAS61. At that time there were very few choices for the budding professional sax player, you either settled for a Selmer ( MKVII - which was never a popular horn ), a Buffet ( even less popular ) or one of the American horns ( which were rare in the UK, and were not nearly as well regarded as their earlier namesakes ).

And then suddenly there was this 'new kid on the block'.
To say that it took the market by storm is something of an understatement - and to my mind it heralded the dawn of a new age in saxophone manufacturing.

The 61 version held sway for a number of years before Yamaha tweaked it and reissued it as the 62 - though for the most part the changes were cosmetic.

Aimed squarely at the professional player the 62 comes with all the frills and features you'd expect, including a top F#, adjustable thumb rest, detachable bell and main stack key adjusters. All this is bunged into a very respectable case and topped of with a basic Yamaha mouthpiece - which although perhaps too basic for a pro player is nonetheless adequate for a beginner, and makes a handy emergency spare in case you ever need such a thing.

The finish is worthy of note - Yamaha lacquer is incredibly resilient, so much so that it's quite possible to perform minor soldering jobs on the body and stand a very good chance of not losing any lacquer in the process. And when it does get damaged or scratched it tends not to start flaking off.
This particular instrument has a few blemishes forming under the lacquer - but after almost a decade's worth of hard use ( and perhaps a bit of neglect ) that's not bad at all.

Another innovation now widely seen is the use of adjusters on the main key stacks.
Seen here is the Auxiliary B key.
Note the bar running along the back of the key stack, and the two threaded adjusters. These are a boon for repairers, enabling the action to be precisely adjusted 'on the fly' - without any of that monkeying about with strips of sandpaper.
Note too the fork and pin arrangement for the side trill key, which gives a very nice feel in use.

The bell key spatula arrangement is a nice design ( showing more than a nod to Selmer, who pioneered this arrangement with the boxed link to the low C# ). The lip at the back of the low Bb spatula helps to keep the fingers from slipping off the spatulas when the going gets brisk.
Note that earlier models didn't have the tilting table, just a slighty modified version of the spatulas that were fitted to the YAS61. My own 62 has this plainer layout, and I find it very comfortable and repsonsive.
The G# is nicely placed in relation to the rest of the cluster, though careful attention must be paid to the setup to avoid too large a leap up from the G# to the C# spatula.

The keywork as a whole is beautifully laid out - even players who aren't particular fans of the Yamaha sound will often comment on the layout. From a repairer's point of view, assembling the horn is a doddle - with no quirky mechanisms to figure out.
I do have one reservation about the keywork though - and that is that it's inclined to be a tad on the soft side. Having said that, there appear to be a few anomalies. I've noticed that the main stack keys are easy enough to manipulate, but the bell and ancillary keys appear to be as tough as old boots.
It seems to me that earlier models have sturdier keywork - so perhaps there has been a change in the alloy used in recent years?

In use, the action is remarkably slick. Yamaha have used stainless springs throughout; normally these can make an action feel heavy, but as the keys have been designed and balanced to suit the springs ( more by luck than judgment? ) the result is an action that can be vastly modified to suit the individual player's requirements.
Everything is where you'd expect it to be - and even the palm keys seem to suit the majority of players. I see far fewer palm key risers ( little rubber cushions that players stick on to raise the height on the palm key touchpieces ) on Yamahas than on any other pro horn.
Round the neck the horn feels nicely balanced, and remarkably light.

Proper point screws have been used throughout - and each point screw has a nylon insert that helps to lock the screw in place. This is another boon for the repairer ( and the player ) as it means that the action will stay in regulation for longer, and when the time comes for adjustment the point screws can simply be tightened up a tad. The key barrels are very hard - I find it's extremely rare to have to take up wear here during the course of a service. This is a major plus point!

The body too is well built, with the left hand stack pillars set on straps.
Nice clean lines and good solderwork inspire confidence.

I like the design of the bell brace, seen here on the left. It provides ample support for the bell, and in the event of a knock the little crossbar on the body mount will act as a pivot, taking most of the load.

The tone holes are nice and level - which is just as well as there's very little 'meat' left to play with from the G tone hole downwards. A bash to the bottom bow and a consequently warped low C tone hole will require the attention of a meticulous repairer. Hack away at these tone holes with a file and you'll very soon end up with little or no tone hole at all!

The pads fitted are of reasonable quality, though the size of some of the cups in relation to the tone holes means that some pads are really quite hard to seat. It's always worth examining the low D and C pads for leaks...even on new horns.

Playability-wise, well, I have to put my cards firmly on the table and say that the 62 is my alto of choice.
In the decades that I've been repairing and playing I must have played thousands of horns. Yes, I've come across some wonderful Selmers, some remarkable vintage horns, not a few interesting horns from other eastern manufacturers - and even a few surprisingly good student horns....but not one of them has given me what the 62 gives to me.
Many manufacturers seem to have an 'in house' sound. When you pick up one of their horns you also pick up the tone that's manufactured in. That's no bad thing, if you like the tone - and even if you don't it's possible to work around it and change it with your own choice of mouthpiece.
But you don't get that with the 62 - it has a tone that carries with it a remarkable purity and clarity, it places you firmly in the driving seat, it lets you makes the running, hands you the choices. Tonewise, the sound you get from it isn't you playing a Selmer, or a King, or a Conn - it's just you, playing.

And I've never come across a horn so accommodating when it comes to mouthpieces. You can bung anything on a 62 and it won't so much as miss a beat - though it would probably protest ( and quite rightly so ) if you tried to turn it into a 1920's 'woofler'.
Given this characteristic you should very much think of the 62 as a two-part instrument....the horn itself, and the mouthpiece you fit to it.

To my mind it stands up there as one of the legendary horns, and I sincerely hope that Yamaha never make the mistake of assuming it's time to move on. This one's a keeper.
If you're in the market for a pro horn you cannot ignore the 62 ( though see my review of the YAS61 ).