Cannonball tenor saxophone - cheapest model ( now superseded by the Excalibur range? )
Origin: Salt Lake City ( built in Taiwan )
Guide price : ?
Age of review model : 4 months, but old stock *See addendum
Date reviewed : March 2002

Description : A budget range instrument, finished in gold lacquer.

A lot has been heard about these instruments, despite having entered the marketplace only a few years ago - and opinion as to their merit has been widely divided. So it was nice to be able to pop an example on the bench and give it a thorough examination.

My first impression wasn't that favourable. The bell is extensively engraved, along with a small patch on the rear of the main body - and if I said it was rough I'd be referring to the physical finish rather than the design of the engraving.
It seems to be common practice these days to cut the engraving after the lacquer has been applied and yet here's some truth in the theory that exposing bare brass to the atmosphere in this manner is just asking for oxidisation to set in. I saw no evidence of this on the horn, so perhaps the engraving was given a light lacquer coat afterwards?
In any event, it hadn't been finished that well leaving a distinctly burred surface.
( Note: The newer models have laser engraving apparently )

There were similar faults with the finish in general - whilst dismantling the instrument I found my sleeve got tagged on a number of keys where the edges had been left unfinished. This gives the instrument a 'cheap' feel, and along with machining marks on keys and slight ripples on the body the overall visual image is cheap also.

A nice feature can be found on the key guards. These are held on with screws, and most manufacturers consider it adequate to simply drill a hole in the thin metal the guards are made from and tap a thread into it.
Cannonball have added a short tube that gives the screw thread more to ( literally ) get its teeth into.

A truly lousy feature can be found on the action - the point screws! Pseudo points screws ( 1st on right ) are used which cannot effectively be adjusted to take up free play. *See addendum

This results in a sloppy feel to the keywork, and a noticeable rattle. A cure for this is to replace the screws with proper points ( above, right ), but there are a considerable number of them on a saxophone and such a job would be fairly costly.

As it was, there were a number of keys that exhibited free play - not the least of which were the bell keys and the Bis Bb...any of which require setting up quite accurately if leaks are to be avoided.

Another notable fault was a clash between the Bis Bb finger touch and the B cup above it. This could have been the result of a knock, but the imprints on the pads showed that this was a 'built-in' feature of the instrument.
This, coupled with a general stiffness to the rod screw action gave a very poor overall feel.
I noted too that the keywork was rather soft. Cannonball must have been aware of this as newer models use a different key alloy.

The bodywork fared a bit better - apart from the ripples mentioned earlier there were few problems to be found. The tone holes were level, if slightly rough across the tops, and the use of pillars set on straps adds a degree of bracing to the body.

The existing setup was poor, with the action set rather too low for my liking - and all the pads on the main stacks were slightly open at the front, typically indicating pad expansion. The pads themselves were adequate, though not of top quality.
Foam buffers have been used on the key guards which lends a bouncy feel to the bell notes...I found this accentuated the rattles from the keywork.

On blowing the horn I had to stop and change the reed.
There was little body to the tone, so much so that I felt sure my reed must have given up the ghost. But no, despite several changes I couldn't persuade the instrument to fill out its tone.
To be fair, it's adequate tonewise - but I found it rather frustrating having to coax any real depth from it.
The keywork felt quite comfortable under the fingers, if a little inclined to rattle despite a tighten up and a good oiling ( it's those point screws I tell you! ). Tuning was fine.

To sum up then: Not a very impressive instrument - the build quality isn't up to much and it doesn't have the saving grace of a resonant tone. Providing the instrument can be bought cheap enough it would make an acceptable student horn - but it's up against a lot of hot competition...and those point screws are going to compromise the action severely once wear sets in.
I'm quite keen to see what improvements have been made with the new range, and the more upmarket models.

*Addendum: 25/10/02 I have been informed by Cannonball that this instrument is probably a good 5 or 6 years old...hence my remark about it being old stock. I am told that the point screw design has been changed, along with a number of other improvements. As soon as one comes into the workshop I'll publish an updated review.

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