Barnes & Mullins Yanagisawa AWO2U Alto Saxophone – Unlacquered Bronze

A modern-day classic made from a stunning solid bronze 

The upgraded replacement for the legendary A902U series, this AWO2U bronze model is suited just as well to aspiring beginners as to experienced professionals

Description

Yanagisawa saxes are made by a small family company in Japan that only makes professional quality saxes, and they do it very well. This degree of focus means they are of a quality that even their main competitors recognise as the best. Here at SAX, our technicians love them as they play straight out of the box and they are by far the most reliable instruments we sell. 

The Yanagisawa A901 achieved “classic” status over the past 30 years as a remarkable sax for the price and a leader in its class. The A902 bronze model offered a richer, broader, more harmonically complex tone. This new AW02U has all this and more!

Most saxes are covered in a thin lacquer to prevent them from tarnishing but this does slightly dampen the resonance of the metal. Unlacquered saxes such as this AW020U are very popular as they allow the metal to resonate to its full potential. They require cleaning to keep them shiny or you can leave them to tarnish and fairly soon they take on a nice vintage patina.

It has an even stronger tonal core thanks to a re-engineered bore and tone holes, plus many upgraded features.

Features

• Material: Bronze

• Finish: Unlacquered

• Key Touches: White mother-of-pearl

• Neck: Yanagisawa

• Engraving: Hand engraved

• Case: Yanagisawa, rectangular back-pack style

• Mouthpiece: Yanagisawa Ebonite 5CR

• Made in: Japan

• Free Professional Set Up & Free Check over within a Year

• Recommended for: Advancing students, and professionals on a budget

Reviews

Yanagisawa has managed to raise the quality of their instruments another notch, with the introduction of the WO series.

The sound delivery of any Yani horn has always been one of richness and smoothness while remaining free-blowing throughout. This quality remains in place on the WO horns but there is an extra degree of warmth and just a little extra focus over and above the old brass models. I’m sure this must be largely due to the change of brass on the AW01 and AW010 models. 

As for the bronze models, there is less of a discernable difference tonally but ergonomically all of the range has benefited from tweaks within the mechanism and key-work. These are lovely new horns. Jim – SAX