That is really cool man! Came out awesome. As a guitarist (up until recently, just bought sax few months ago) I immediately noticed how conservative the saxophone market is when it comes to design and colour. With guitars the degree to which you can 'evoke' your personality with guitar customisation alone is crazy. It's interesting too because the sax, genre-wise, is really quite diverse, so you'd expect a demand for more cool colours etc. Incidentally I love the classic look so I'm really happy with my YAS-275 in gold/no engravings, but I'm sure there are sax guys out there looking for something truly individual like this.
Agreed. It’d be pretty cool to see some great quality saxophones with some rad designs. I already know that mouthpieces are becoming more visually artistic, as SYOS probably has the lead in “flashiest mouthpieces” haha. But yeah, I think a zebra striped saxophone would be amazing!
Thanks for your video. At the beginning of pandemics I bought an used Conn Selmer Tenor sax T100. I sent it to an automotive painting service and the keys where treated by an specialized chrome service. The result is amazing. TS about $400, Painting $20, Chrome $120. Now my sax is about $900 I guess. the color was more conservative. BMW gray...
You are crazy. Crazy in a good way, not in a Norman Bates way. I’m terrified to take apart my sax. But to take it apart and spray paint it! That really takes some balls.
Very fun design, I like it and it will certainly stand out. As soon as I saw it, it reminded me of Leo P's zebra stripe shoes, the ones he wore in his BBC Proms performance in 2017. While I don't think I'd go as far as painting the body of my saxophone, I did have some customisations done to my Yamaha YAS-280 last year when it needed repair. First I had the nylon resonators replaced with domed nickel ones and to me that has added a bit of brightness to the sound. I also bought a Corry Bros tone table and put it in the lyre holder. It also made the sound louder with more presence and seemed to stabilise some notes. I had the key pearls replaced to, just because I could and its a student instrument and I knew I would eventually get a professional saxophone, and thought, why not? They new key pearls are green marble effect acrylic and are a bit thicker than the standard concave ones and are flat. Lastly I got a silver plated neck screw just as it looked different rather than changed anything sound or feel wise. I am planning to replace the low key guards with parts for a Yamaha YAS-280S the silver plated version, so I could have a gold lacquered saxophone with silver plated neck screw and bell key guards, but I haven't found any of those parts for sale yet. Eventually if I could find one, I might even get a YAS-280S silver plated neck to make it more interesting, and maybe add more brightness to the sound. I am keeping this as my custom sax and as a backup and want to use it to learn saxophone repair when I upgrade to a new one and it isn't my main alto sax anymore. I wouldn't do it on a more expensive saxophone though.
Some cool mods there - actually I was thinking of changing the key pearls too. Also I’m testing the Corry Bros tone tablets right now - interesting idea.
currently customising my sax combining led and Chrystals for live performance xxx great video but would have loved to see a bit more of the assembly and disassembly of the Sax but still great watch enjoy your channel 👍👍👍
David Cardoso Matt stoyer has a good video on assembly/disassembly. So you’re making built-in leak lights? Great idea! I may steal that one. Different colours for different notes or all one colour. I was thinking to put sensors to make it into a HDMI EWI. If you figure that out let me know!
@@craigiefconcert6493 cheers for that I will drop a post once its finished but looks like its gonna be a mission with thousands of crystals lol gonna look the bollocks though
I am not sure if Henri Selmer would continue to RIP if I did this to my MK 6. if anyone else were to try this I would attempt to cover The edges of the tone holes to preserve their uniformity and not have to worry about leaks caused by a paint chip down the road. I wish we could hear more of your playing like this! Incredible!
Great question Brian. No taste or smell - i made sure the paint had cured properly before assembling and playing. Also I did some sanding with superfine wet and dry paper between coats. It covered really well.
Thanks for innovative ideas on 🎷 hand painting, looks too classic, specially it will look fantastic during night live shows. Love the Idea. God Bless you Nigel.
I absolutely love saxophones! It is my happy place. I don't get to spend a whole lot of time with mine since I own a business and I have three children. Anytime I get to play at church I feel like I am in my place.
Hi! I have a few questions for you as I have 1 tenor & 1 sax that can benefit from spray painting, they are both originally gold lacquered. Do I need to do anything to do the surface before I start trying to spray paint? I meant like sandpapering or sanding 1st. Or is there a chemical that I may need to apply 1st? I know you are silent about the exact brand of spray you may have used due to not wanting to indirectly advertise that particular brand but I would love to know. Better still, what must the sprays contain? As things stand, from your video, the only part I would feel absolutely comfortable spraying is the neck. I fear that spraying the body might make tone holes uneven and also will the spray that has gotten inside the inside of the saxophone have an even thickness? (How can I even it out?) if not, perhaps it might affect the saxophone's sound afterwards. Is there a way I Can protect the tone holes while spraying like you covered the springs? Finally, is there another thing I can do to prevent the paintwork from getting scratched up easily after painting? Thanks
Taking the horn apart is a bit tricky as you say. I took my tenor apart for cleaning and although I got it back together OK I managed to bend some keys that needed adjusting by a pro. When you painted the body I was wondering if the paint on the tone holes would affect the pad seal. Also did you notice much of a tone difference after the painting. I've seen a few interesting colored saxes before but never a zebra striped one. Very out of the box!
Cheers, I removed the paint from the top of the tone holes before assembly so the pads would seal better. Definitely tricky putting things back together if you haven’t done it before, but also there is invariably some adjusting to do too!
I think it is fantastic, I bought an old sax off ebay and sent it to America to be painted by 'Juleez' It is the most beautiful piece of art, I only wish I had it overhauled first so it could be played, although I would be worried it would get chipped.
@@McGillMusicSaxSchool I do this all the time. In fact I on one right now. The best way to get the pad sealing is to remove the paint where the tone hole hits the pad.
Well I'd never do it to mine, but what a great bit of light relief and fun! If the saxophone is only half the instrument and your body is the other half perhaps the sound will only really change if you paint yourself too!😁
That's a great funky tune Nigel. Nice custom work on your Zebra Sax 🎷 Hey Nigel, Check out the Sax lines in an old school tune by Wilton Felder (Crusaders) called " My Name Is Love and " Inherit The Wind" 🎶 also the Sax lines from an old school group called The Memphis Horns 🎷 a tune called " Just For Your Love! Have a great Day! and greetings from Palm Beach, Florida.☺
Great question Rob, actually I sanded off all the paint on the top of the tone holes so the pads would seat better. Not perfect, but then I’m no repair expert. I’m sure Steve Crow would have had a more elegant solution!
I sprayed down my saxophone with blue and purple anodizing paint a while back. I figure if I’m going to walk around outside playing the saxophone I may as well look like a fruity unicorn ;) You should put a coat of clear coat to keep the paint from wearing off.
McGill Music Sax School if UA-cam allowed pictures in comments I would send one. I will email one in case you do a follow-up ;) P.s my alto is a YAS-21 (not the one I painted) and I love it! 💕
Haha, I did something similar with a Buescher Aristocrat, stripping it down and then painting it with Home Depot clear spray-on shellac. I have another one I am working on doing swirls for a diamond-like appearance :-)
Actually that’s not a bad idea for this sax. I’m playing on a Theo Wanne Gaia size 8 hard rubber piece. I’ve also been playing the Zebra sax this week with a metal Yanagisawa size 8 - that sounds really nice.
You must remove all dust first. Then, degrease the surface. When you do this procedure, wear rubber gloves. Use mild detergent and wash the saxophone inside out using the sponge. Then remove all soap and foam by spraying it with clean water. Then use the blow dryer to dry out all water drops. But use cold air on your blow dryer, (not hot air) on high speed fan, to dry the saxophone inside out.
Cheers Lawrie, actually (I'm guessing you mean Richard Elliot back in the 90's) that was what gave me the idea - although I think my "zebra stripes" look better!
Did you seal the paintwork with a lacquer? To enjoy a smoother and tougher finish a lacquer would provide a more viable finish and help level out the paintwork. It’s also possible the look could have been obtained by vinyl wrapping it. However I don’t know if this would affect the tone. It would be interesting if someone tried as it is at least removable.
@@McGillMusicSaxSchool It looks SPECTACULAR!! For years I've been trying to find those TCSO hand painted saxes for sale anywhere. Juleez has some interesting designs also
Satria Hadjo Baru if he plays a $1000 horn or a $6000 horn it will always sound good because he’s a good player. You sound like you, the horn barely changes how you sound.
That is really cool man! Came out awesome. As a guitarist (up until recently, just bought sax few months ago) I immediately noticed how conservative the saxophone market is when it comes to design and colour. With guitars the degree to which you can 'evoke' your personality with guitar customisation alone is crazy. It's interesting too because the sax, genre-wise, is really quite diverse, so you'd expect a demand for more cool colours etc.
Incidentally I love the classic look so I'm really happy with my YAS-275 in gold/no engravings, but I'm sure there are sax guys out there looking for something truly individual like this.
Thanks Mac. Yes guitars are so much more personal, I figured us sax players should have some fun too!
Agreed. It’d be pretty cool to see some great quality saxophones with some rad designs. I already know that mouthpieces are becoming more visually artistic, as SYOS probably has the lead in “flashiest mouthpieces” haha. But yeah, I think a zebra striped saxophone would be amazing!
Thanks for your video. At the beginning of pandemics I bought an used Conn Selmer Tenor sax T100. I sent it to an automotive painting service and the keys where treated by an specialized chrome service. The result is amazing. TS about $400, Painting $20, Chrome $120. Now my sax is about $900 I guess. the color was more conservative. BMW gray...
Wow, that sounds great. Can you email me a photo? Saxschool@mcgillmusic.com
Just saw this video. Can't wait to see the paint jobs on your VIs and Yanigasawas!
Ha! Maybe not just yet… thanks for watching!
👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾 weldone Nigel. What ever you did there looks supper. Love that there is life in you to do such crazy stuff. Keep it going
That was a lot of fun, I really enjoyed it.
Snazzy, jazzy, "cool"zy-ooozy! I liked the Zebra horn section accompaniment!
Cheers Barney!
You are crazy. Crazy in a good way, not in a Norman Bates way. I’m terrified to take apart my sax. But to take it apart and spray paint it! That really takes some balls.
Ha! Balls or stupidity, not sure. I was relieved that it all went back together though...and worked!
That's Super Cool Nigel, Love it!
Cheers Mary!
oh my! what did you do to that nice Yamaha? It came from a good family! Also it might be the youtube video, but it sounds a bit less rich to my ears.
Absolutely great Nigel!!!!
Very fun design, I like it and it will certainly stand out. As soon as I saw it, it reminded me of Leo P's zebra stripe shoes, the ones he wore in his BBC Proms performance in 2017.
While I don't think I'd go as far as painting the body of my saxophone, I did have some customisations done to my Yamaha YAS-280 last year when it needed repair. First I had the nylon resonators replaced with domed nickel ones and to me that has added a bit of brightness to the sound. I also bought a Corry Bros tone table and put it in the lyre holder. It also made the sound louder with more presence and seemed to stabilise some notes. I had the key pearls replaced to, just because I could and its a student instrument and I knew I would eventually get a professional saxophone, and thought, why not? They new key pearls are green marble effect acrylic and are a bit thicker than the standard concave ones and are flat.
Lastly I got a silver plated neck screw just as it looked different rather than changed anything sound or feel wise. I am planning to replace the low key guards with parts for a Yamaha YAS-280S the silver plated version, so I could have a gold lacquered saxophone with silver plated neck screw and bell key guards, but I haven't found any of those parts for sale yet. Eventually if I could find one, I might even get a YAS-280S silver plated neck to make it more interesting, and maybe add more brightness to the sound. I am keeping this as my custom sax and as a backup and want to use it to learn saxophone repair when I upgrade to a new one and it isn't my main alto sax anymore. I wouldn't do it on a more expensive saxophone though.
Some cool mods there - actually I was thinking of changing the key pearls too. Also I’m testing the Corry Bros tone tablets right now - interesting idea.
That was cool! Thank you for share it!
One of my two saxophones is a Yamaha 23 and I love it. Nice work with the Zebra paint job! If you come on stage with it, I am sure it would impress.
Great to hear you have a YAS-23 too - they are a classic!
Looks great - you could start a side-line! Certainly sounds as good as before!
currently customising my sax combining led and Chrystals for live performance xxx great video but would have loved to see a bit more of the assembly and disassembly of the Sax but still great watch enjoy your channel 👍👍👍
David Cardoso Matt stoyer has a good video on assembly/disassembly.
So you’re making built-in leak lights? Great idea! I may steal that one. Different colours for different notes or all one colour. I was thinking to put sensors to make it into a HDMI EWI. If you figure that out let me know!
@@craigiefconcert6493 cheers for that I will drop a post once its finished but looks like its gonna be a mission with thousands of crystals lol gonna look the bollocks though
David Cardoso never mind the bollocks, here’s the sax pistol 😂
@@craigiefconcert6493 🙈 LMAO. that was very Punny ;)
I am not sure if Henri Selmer would continue to RIP if I did this to my MK 6. if anyone else were to try this I would attempt to cover The edges of the tone holes to preserve their uniformity and not have to worry about leaks caused by a paint chip down the road. I wish we could hear more of your playing like this! Incredible!
Cheers John, I’m not sure I would be brave enough to do this to a Mark VI either!
Dexter Gordon had a pink MK VI.
I love it man! Good job! That’s a lot of guys that looked like you! Lol
Great project! When you were playing did you get any paint fumes or taste? Also I'm surprised it didn't require a lite sanding. Looking good
Great question Brian. No taste or smell - i made sure the paint had cured properly before assembling and playing. Also I did some sanding with superfine wet and dry paper between coats. It covered really well.
Thanks for innovative ideas on 🎷 hand painting, looks too classic, specially it will look fantastic during night live shows. Love the Idea. God Bless you Nigel.
Cheers Godwin, glad you enjoyed it!
Sounds good. Looks cool.
I absolutely love saxophones! It is my happy place. I don't get to spend a whole lot of time with mine since I own a business and I have three children. Anytime I get to play at church I feel like I am in my place.
Sounds like you’re busy Amanda, great to hear you are enjoying your saxophone though.
I really enjoy getting notifications about your new stuff. You have helped me tremendously!
I love it! Probably shouldn't be watching this though because I'll definitely trying this at some time.
What? You didn’t have a spare Mark VI or SBA you could customize instead? Looks like a fun project.
Ha!
Brilliant job!
WOW
I wish you recorded a before and after with sound so we could hear the difference. Or wasn't there any? hehe Ur still an amazing artist!
Well Done Nigel, great artist work
!! Really cool stuff
Ha! I don't know about the "artist" part - I think my painting skills could do with some practice, but cheers!
Hi! I have a few questions for you as I have 1 tenor & 1 sax that can benefit from spray painting, they are both originally gold lacquered. Do I need to do anything to do the surface before I start trying to spray paint? I meant like sandpapering or sanding 1st. Or is there a chemical that I may need to apply 1st? I know you are silent about the exact brand of spray you may have used due to not wanting to indirectly advertise that particular brand but I would love to know. Better still, what must the sprays contain? As things stand, from your video, the only part I would feel absolutely comfortable spraying is the neck. I fear that spraying the body might make tone holes uneven and also will the spray that has gotten inside the inside of the saxophone have an even thickness? (How can I even it out?) if not, perhaps it might affect the saxophone's sound afterwards. Is there a way I Can protect the tone holes while spraying like you covered the springs? Finally, is there another thing I can do to prevent the paintwork from getting scratched up easily after painting? Thanks
Great job! And it really conveys your sense of fun.
Hey Nigel, did you use enamel or lacquer white paint?
Hi Dan. I just used basic car spray paint - Nissan pearlescent white from Halfords. (With white primer). Very low tech.
Taking the horn apart is a bit tricky as you say. I took my tenor apart for cleaning and although I got it back together OK I managed to bend some keys that needed adjusting by a pro. When you painted the body I was wondering if the paint on the tone holes would affect the pad seal. Also did you notice much of a tone difference after the painting. I've seen a few interesting colored saxes before but never a zebra striped one. Very out of the box!
Cheers, I removed the paint from the top of the tone holes before assembly so the pads would seal better. Definitely tricky putting things back together if you haven’t done it before, but also there is invariably some adjusting to do too!
Very cool !! You are quite the artist.
Cheers Wayne!
Can I order one of this zebra funk sax
Love the way it came out. I have a yamaha yts 23 that i been wanting to do these to. Great idea and thanks for sharing.
Cheers Juancarlos! It was a fun project. If you do paint yours send me over some photos!
@@McGillMusicSaxSchool i sure will.
Nice Job. Fun project and it sounded really good. BTW which T Wanne mpc are you using on it?
I think it is fantastic, I bought an old sax off ebay and sent it to America to be painted by 'Juleez' It is the most beautiful piece of art, I only wish I had it overhauled first so it could be played, although I would be worried it would get chipped.
That's cool Sue. I'd like to see some pictures of how it turned out.
@@McGillMusicSaxSchool I dont know how to upload here, but I can put them on the FB page
@@McGillMusicSaxSchool I do this all the time. In fact I on one right now. The best way to get the pad sealing is to remove the paint where the tone hole hits the pad.
Cool. Actually I ended up doing the same and sanded the tip of the tone holes for better pad seating.
Well I'd never do it to mine, but what a great bit of light relief and fun! If the saxophone is only half the instrument and your body is the other half perhaps the sound will only really change if you paint yourself too!😁
Did you use sand paper before painting?
Yes, some super fine wet and dry paper before the painting.
Such fun! Great job too,
Cheers Ken!
Looks good.
thats cool love it well done. 👍👍👍 great job.
That's a great funky tune Nigel. Nice custom work on your Zebra Sax 🎷 Hey Nigel, Check out the Sax lines in an old school tune by Wilton Felder (Crusaders) called " My Name Is Love and " Inherit The Wind" 🎶 also the Sax lines from an old school group called The Memphis Horns 🎷 a tune called " Just For Your Love! Have a great Day! and greetings from Palm Beach, Florida.☺
Great tunes there Merrill!
Cool! 😎
Quite adventurous! Did you have any problem with the paint on the tone holes?
Great question Rob, actually I sanded off all the paint on the top of the tone holes so the pads would seat better. Not perfect, but then I’m no repair expert. I’m sure Steve Crow would have had a more elegant solution!
Sounds cool! You should do that as a side business. I also have a YAS-23. How much would you charge for that?
Ha! Not sure I have the time to do that, but great idea.
I sprayed down my saxophone with blue and purple anodizing paint a while back. I figure if I’m going to walk around outside playing the saxophone I may as well look like a fruity unicorn ;)
You should put a coat of clear coat to keep the paint from wearing off.
Good idea. I like the sound of your blue and purple sax - very cool!
McGill Music Sax School if UA-cam allowed pictures in comments I would send one. I will email one in case you do a follow-up ;)
P.s my alto is a YAS-21 (not the one I painted) and I love it! 💕
Haha, I did something similar with a Buescher Aristocrat, stripping it down and then painting it with Home Depot clear spray-on shellac. I have another one I am working on doing swirls for a diamond-like appearance :-)
Awesome! You’ll have to share some pics when you’re done.
Very cool!! That looks great!
Cheers!
What type of mouthpiece did you use? The sound was a little muffled for my liking so I'm wondering how it would sound with a high baffle mouthpiece.
Actually that’s not a bad idea for this sax. I’m playing on a Theo Wanne Gaia size 8 hard rubber piece. I’ve also been playing the Zebra sax this week with a metal Yanagisawa size 8 - that sounds really nice.
sir, before painting, what kind of cleaner to clean the surface ?
You must remove all dust first. Then, degrease the surface. When you do this procedure, wear rubber gloves. Use mild detergent and wash the saxophone inside out using the sponge. Then remove all soap and foam by spraying it with clean water. Then use the blow dryer to dry out all water drops. But use cold air on your blow dryer, (not hot air) on high speed fan, to dry the saxophone inside out.
@@zvonimirtosic6171 thx!
Hi what a cool saxophone I wanted to know what company you went with to do your zebra saxophone
Hi, I actually did this all myself.
Where do you go or how do you custom paint a saxophone?
This was a DIY job but there may be people who do this as a service. Let me know if you find any.
What a cool SAX!
I gona paint my sax to
Pretty Wild Nigel
Wow! I got a old Yamaha 23. I’m thinking...wild animal print.
You just need matching pants and t-shirt and you’ll be Nigel M . 😉😉
Oh ye, and paint your hair pink. 😂😂😂
Watch out Leo P he’s coming to get ya. 🙂
What a great idea Ian...
How about a tiger stripped tenor?
Could you make a customized tenor saxophone made of pink? Like the pink panthere theme I have always wanted a pink sax.
That’s a challenge!
Dexter Gordon had a MK VI finished in Pink with gold keywork, it was on sale in Europe at IK Gotfried in Denmark. It was subsequently sold.
Sounds good to me
Looks like the tenor player in 'Tower of Power'!!
Cheers Lawrie, actually (I'm guessing you mean Richard Elliot back in the 90's) that was what gave me the idea - although I think my "zebra stripes" look better!
Will I ever be so confident, and bored, to zebratise a sax? Probably not, but glad you are.
Did you seal the paintwork with a lacquer? To enjoy a smoother and tougher finish a lacquer would provide a more viable finish and help level out the paintwork.
It’s also possible the look could have been obtained by vinyl wrapping it. However I don’t know if this would affect the tone. It would be interesting if someone tried as it is at least removable.
Good idea about vinyl wrapping - I did look into this but it's tricky with the key posts. Might be a challenge for another custom job!
I hope that nontoxic paint was used
Good question. Looks cool though huh? Love your channel by the way Adriene, we should do something together.
@@McGillMusicSaxSchool It looks SPECTACULAR!! For years I've been trying to find those TCSO hand painted saxes for sale anywhere. Juleez has some interesting designs also
Yes I agree - though I’ve never seen one in person. I remember years ago seeing Richard Elliot playing a zebra LA Sax (Tower of Power etc).
Good work, now do the same with a Mark 6 Tenor...$$$$$$$
Ouch, I don’t think I’m brave enough for that!
still sounds expensive for me, tho you said it cheap lol
Satria Hadjo Baru if he plays a $1000 horn or a $6000 horn it will always sound good because he’s a good player. You sound like you, the horn barely changes how you sound.
@@athebeast1769 i mean the price, he said the cheap yamaha but for me its hardly affordable 😅
Yes indeed,he's a very good player, and aslo teacher
the only problem it will be that I can not put it back together ...
Yep, that’s a challenge if you haven’t done it before!
Camo would be a bad idea. You might set the sax down and be unable to find it. How about pink and black zebra? Real 70s punk.
Love it Paul!
First comment! This is cool, but the sound is ok
Sacrilege!!!