At Tenor Madness, we have been continuously designing and working to make one of the best modern tenor saxophones possible We strive to capture the character of sound of vintage saxophones, yet maintain the playability and flexibility of modern instruments. Intonation, evenness of timbre, an effortless low end, clean articulation, fast response, and a clean, full, in-tune altissimo are all attributes we consistently aim to put into the TM Custom 500SL Tenor Saxophone.
This is the latest generation of the TM Custom 500SL and features your choice of high F or F#, finish (cognac lacquer, un-lacquered, matte, silver plate, gold plate), rolled tone holes or straight and is assembled by hand in Waterloo, Iowa, with careful attention to every detail.
The custom build process has been carefully refined over the years and was influenced and inspired by the Selmer Elkhart Mark VI build process and includes:
- leveling the tone holes by hand
- carefully fitting the keys
- soldering the bow
- relieving tension from critical points of the tube to allow for resonance
- adjustment material and corks are put on
- each neck is individually voiced to each horn
- the horn is then played by professional players and broken in for a period of 2 - 3 days. It is the tweaked to improve the setup
The build process takes 2 to 3 days before we start the break-in period. Each horn takes a minimum of 1 full week to be completed. We aim to get horns out as fast as possible, but will not sacrifice quality to expedite the process. Because of this, we ask your patience during the build process, but will be glad to update you at any time while work is being done on your saxophone!
While our passion is fine tuning every nuance of the saxophone to make it play and sound as best as possible, we have also spent 100's of hours fine tuning the different styles of necks. After years of cutting, annealing, and experimenting with different bores and tapers, we have settled on the TM Custom medium bore as the stock neck for our saxophone. It's the perfect neck for any style of music, tunes incredibly well, has a great core and fast response, and is extremely versatile!
There are other neck options we'd be glad to talk with you about that can help personalize the saxophone's sound, response and feel to fit your needs.
Contact Randy to check current availability or to schedule an appointment to check one out!
