Are Lazarro Saxophones a Good Pick For Beginner Players?
What Should I Consider If I Want To Purchase a Lazarro Sax?
In My Review of This Brand, You Will Find Plenty of Information on The Company, Their History, and Instruments on Offer, as well as a detailed inspection of their most popular saxophone Models.
What Should I Know About The Lazarro Company?
Lazzaro is a fairly new instrument manufacturer, being founded in New York in 2007. Their goal is to provide novice and intermediate players with the highest quality saxophones, flutes, clarinets and other blowing instruments available for the best price possible. The relatively new brand combined with supposed Asian manufacturing might scare away some customers, so let me break down the pros and cons and help you decide whether Lazarro is a good sax pick for you.
Who Are Lazarro instruments for?
They claim that their instruments are perfect for student musicians and make it easy for newer players to make great sounds, but is this the case? If you’re looking for a new alto, soprano or curved soprano saxophone, continue below to my breakdown of the Lazarro brand and the models they offer.
How Are Lazarro Saxophones Made?
As is popular with instrument manufacturers for the last few decades, Lazarro instruments are hand built in Asia. If you’re still unsure of the quality you will receive, all of their instruments inspected in New York before being sold to novices and adept players alike. All Lazarro models are also made with real brass and come with a 3-month warranty for manufacturer defects. The warranty only applies when ordering from the Official Lazarro Website.
What Is The Build Quality Of Lazarro Saxophones?
The saxophones on offer come built with quality, long-lasting materials and are manufactured surprisingly well for their price range, which can be half of what you can expect to pay for a refurbished or vintage western-made sax. Asian made instrument skeptics would be surprised at the sight of the precision filed bevels and the concentric tone holes, with all parts made to snap together nicely and alongside regular weekly use should not need refurbishing. The sax itself sounds deep and on par with more expensive premium quality brands, while the reeds seem to be hit or miss and might need replacing, depending on the player’s preference.
What Do Their Available Instrument kits Include?
Lazarro ships their instruments in one of 24 available colors combined with silver or gold keys. The sax comes alongside a carry case, care kit, music pocketbook, and 10-11 reeds, depending on the model. A mouthpiece, cap, ligature and neck strap are in the kit, as one would expect. The case is lightweight and made from hard plush-lined fabric, and has backpack/side straps plus a pocket. The care kit contains gloves, a screwdriver, polish cloth with grease and a cleaning swab. The cleaning kit is well rounded, even if the part themselves are of average quality and add to the total. For the price, it’s what you would expect.
Lazarro’s Models Include The Following 3 Saxophones
The Lazarro Eb Alto Saxophone
Lazarro at first glance offers a well-rounded, quality made and inspected Alto sax for a bargain suited for novices. With the low price and diverse kit, does their model lzr360as stand up to the test?
Wide Range Of Colors
The 360 model, or just Lazarro Alto Sax will surprise you with its build quality and range of colors. The materials and finish used seem to be worth the asking price, with high-quality finishes and touch all around. It’s made from real brass, has leather pads with metal resonators, adjustable key height screws for the contoured keys as well as a thumb rest that’s also metal. The bell is decorated with hand-made engravings.
What About The Quality?
Once you pick from one of 24 available colors in silver or gold finish, you will find that only the reeds might need replacing. One of the more usual buyer comments is about lower quality reeds, which sometimes seem to be dependent on individual preference, and would cost you around $30 to replace would you deem necessary.
What Will You Get?
The case and strap are basic, and would probably not stand up to more frequent use, but are practical. What is most important is the sound—this alto sax will provide you with a deep and enduring sound, and is great for the classic growling/crying style saxophone players.
- low price and good as a beginner saxophone
- has the potential for quality deep notes with minimal part switching
- materials, design, and body quality
- reeds might be a bit narrow for experienced players
- mouth piece might need replacing for experienced players
- shoulder strap isn’t that comfortable for long use
Lazarro Soprano Saxophone
Next, let’s look at and review the Lazzaro Curved Soprano Saxophone. This sax costs slightly more, albeit still cheap. Like the previous Eb Alto Model, the Lzr300ss model, or Lazzaro Soprano Sax claims to be perfect for any occasion, from beginner lessons and bands to concerts and orchestras. So what can you expect from this soprano saxophone? I took a look and found out:
Choose One From 13 Different Colors
The Soprano is also available in 13 colors and 2 separate gold or silver finishes. The build again seems to be of good quality, with the colors coming in nice combinations and in a good finish. The build is durable and should not need much maintenance, although it might need to be broken in to sound more full, depending on the instrument you get. The mouthpiece is fairly narrow as is usual for beginner saxophones, so you might need to switch that out, together with the reeds (a pattern among Lazarro saxes) if you’re a more experienced player. The keys are a bit stiff for some but can likely be loosened up with repeated use. The leather pads aren’t perfect but should prove sturdy enough for the first year of use.
What Is Included In The Pack?
For your purchase, you also receive a curved and straight neck, mouthpiece with 11 reeds (with a holder), a cap and ligature as well as a cleaning kit and carry case with strap. The cleaning kit for the Lazarro Soprano incudes a white gloves, a cleaning rod and cloth with cork grease as well as a screwdriver and tweezers. The kit is again basic as expected for the price, with the essentials included. Again this sax offers a good quality, high and rich sounding body that on its own should be plenty for beginners, and with minimal changes to the pieces should sound on par with high-end saxophones and fit any players kit well.
- great build and sound quality for the price
- available in a variety of vivid color schemes with a great finish
- comes with a cleaning kit and carry bag
- mouthpiece doesn’t bring out the best of the sax
- keys are a bit stiff and might need loosening
- shoulder strap isn’t that comfortable for long use
Lazarro Curved Soprano Saxophone
Finally, let’s look at the Curved Soprano Saxophone on offer from Lazarro; the model lzr320cs. Like with the previous models, the Curved Soprano Sax is made out of real brass and has a well-balanced sound. It’s available in 13 colors with silver or gold keys and costs a bit more than the other models, at around $250, depending on which color scheme you choose.
What Will You Get With The Sax?
This sax comes packaged with a cap and ligature, 10 Lazarro reeds alongside a reed box, a fabric case with neck strap, a music pocketbook and a cleaning kit. The cleaning kit again holds white gloves, a cleaning rod and cloth with cork grease, as well as a screwdriver and tweezers.
Tone Is Smooth And Sweet
The horn itself seems to be a copy of the Yanagisawa curved soprano, which isn’t a bad choice of design to copy. It’s nickel brass finish proves sturdy and resistant to use, although again the mouthpiece might leave some players wanting, and can easily be replaced for under $20. The tone is very smooth and sweet, and just a little bit nasal, like a soprano sax should sound. It can also bend notes quite well if you have the right embouchure. Beware: this sax won’t fit a standard straight or alto saxophone stand.
- well designed and sturdy built with quality materials and a great finish
- has a powerful tone and can sound great with minimal upgrades
- available in a variety of vivid color schemes with a great finish
- mouthpiece holds the instruments full depth of tone back
- won’t fit regular saxophone stands
- shoulder strap isn’t that comfortable for long use
Conclusion: Which Lazarro Saxophone Should I Consider For My Collection?
I would recommend the Lazarro Eb Alto Saxophone the most, as it’s the type perfect for student beginner, because of the low price and diverse kit. The instrument body made with real brass and leather and asking price are the best features of the sax, alongside the premium selection of color combinations. The reeds and mouth pieces don’t stack up to premium quality brands and might need switching for experienced players, who should check out my list of the best saxophones on the market. If you want to compare these models with other brands, take a look at my list of quality saxophone brands, which include other great beginner saxophone models.