This week, starting January 26, we have a booth at Missouri’s MEA convention in Tan-Tar-A. For all our local peeps in our home state of MO, stop by the booth and say “hi” or play a horn. We took a good selection of intermediate and pro level saxes (including some choice vintage Selmers and a Super 20), a half dozen of professional clarinets (including a couple A’s), and a handful of flutes and oboes. If you aren’t making the trek there, we still have a good group of horns at our store in St Louis, so make an appointment to play-test something, or bring your horn on in for a repair evaluation to make sure you are good to go. Looking ahead, February tends to be a quiet month at the shop, so it might be the perfect opportunity to spend a couple hours (or several hours) playing horns.

We’ve got some great horns in stock still, if you are looking for a fantastic gift this holiday season. Just 2 weeks left until Christmas, so call the shop to set up an appointment to play-test. We’ve got new horns from Yamaha, Yanagisawa, P Mauriat, Eastman, and Selmer (including a Supreme alto!) IN STOCK, as well as mouthpieces galore and all the reeds and small accessories you may need for stocking stuffers. If you want a new-to-you sax, we’ve got many great used and vintage saxes as well, including FIFTEEN Selmer Mark VI altos on hand. Where else can you find such a selection to really hand select the one that works for you?

If you are looking for a clarinet, this is the week to buy. This Friday & Saturday (December 16-17) is our annual Clarinet Days holiday sale. We still have some appointments available to test drive new Buffet R13 or professional Yamaha clarinets, as well as many Vandoren Paris mouthpieces and ligatures too.

Hours this week are 10am – 6pm (closed Wednesday 12pm – 2pm for a staff meeting), and Saturday 10am – 2pm. Next week, we’ll be here 10am – 6pm every day, but we will be closed on Saturday the 24th, so plan accordingly. Hope everyone has a fun holiday season and safe gigs out there the next few weekends.

I hope everyone had a great summer. In St Louis this week, I was reminded of the joys of midwest living, where you can have a high of 97 one day (yesterday and today), followed by highs of 71 and 64 (tomorrow and Friday). Just like that, put away the shorts and break out the jackets!

We have had a fun summer at Saxquest. We had a great time visiting with worldclass artists visiting the shop for repairs, or just stopping in to play some horns, as well as meeting many up-and-coming high school and college players in the area and from across the country. The repair shop is grinding away, and actually starting to get “caught up” after a couple years in a row of very long wait times. If you’ve been holding out on getting your sax or clarinet adjusted, trying to eek out every lost drop of pad life before getting a few replaced, now may be the time to finally get it in to the shop. Let us get it back into perfect playing shape for you!

Today I wanted to point out a page on our website that is often overlooked, our “What’s New” page. We get calls every day asking if we can be on the look-out for a “5 digit VI” or a “pearl side key Super 20” or a “used pro Yamaha at a good price.” Unfortunately there’s a whole lot of people looking for those kinds of horns, so while we do our best to fulfill requests when possible, it would be a herculean effort to find a 5 digit VI for every person who’s called over the last 20 years. The best thing you can do is to bookmark our “What’s New” page, and go there once or twice a week to see what has come in to the shop. Everything we post is listed there immediately, and it’ll save you time from having to click through the various links on our website to see if we have a particular item in stock.

As always, drop us a line if you’d like to visit or if you have any questions.

Another school year in the books, and, here in St Louis, the summer heat has arrived quick and heavy. If it’s the same where you are, hopefully you are taking it easy in those outdoor gigs! If, however, you have some time off and you can be without your horn, it may be the perfect time to get it in for some work. The repair shop is as busy as ever, so don’t wait until the last minute to bring it in.

If you’ve been thinking about upgrading or getting something different, we have a great selection of saxophones and clarinets in stock, including a huge batch of brand new Buffet R13’s, new Yamaha Customs and 62’s, a handful of new Selmers (more Supremes are on the way!) and a whole lot of vintage Selmers. Some really pretty Mark VI’s and SBA’s. Browse through the various sections of our website, and as always, feel free to contact us with any questions.

Even if you don’t need any repair, and don’t need a new horn, stop on in and say “hi.” We’d love to see you and continue your musical journey.

Our top clarinet tech, Audrey, recently made the trip to Buffet Crampon’s sole USA distributor and was able to hand select a BUNCH of new clarinets for stock. We are loaded on new R13’s in both silver and nickel keys, and to celebrate, we are holding an event the Friday and Saturday before Easter. We also have a handful of pro level Yamaha clarinets (CSVR, SEVR, and YCL-650), as well as a good number of used models on hand. Each clarinet will have Audrey’s pro set up on it, so you can rest assured that they’ll be in great playing shape. By appointment, you’ll be able to come in and try horns out and see if any are “the one” for you. We are currently taking appointments for both Friday and Saturday from 10am – 5pm. Call the shop at 314-664-1234 or email us at sales@clarinetquest.com to make your appointment!

Look what’s around the corner. We are well stocked on horns and looking forward to another fun Expo. If you are in the market for a new (or used) saxophone, clarinet, flute, oboe, or bassoon, be on the lookout here for more information in the next couple weeks. Like last year, this will be a spread out, safe, appointment-only event covering about a month. Stay tuned!

We’ve been busy. FIFTY (50!!) vintage saxophones have been added to the Saxquest website in the last 3 days. Lots of cool vintage horns, including Conn Chu’s and 10M’s, King Zephyrs and several great Super 20’s, and Selmers ranging from the old Modele 22 and Radio Improved up to Balanced Action and Mark VI’s. Our “What’s New” page doesn’t even show them all (it only displays 30 horns!) so you’ll need to browse around the Vintage Horns section to see everything. And we aren’t finished yet. We’ve gotten in a couple cool vintage bass saxes and some other gems that will be posted in the next couple days. If you are looking to find something cool, come shop around, or make an appointment to play-test in our store in St Louis.

https://www.saxquest.com/store/new-products

We are beyond excited about the brand new Selmer Paris Supreme alto sax. Just announced February 25, 2021, it is the newest, top-end professional alto available from Selmer Paris. We’ve got 3 on the way which will be here, ready to ship in just the next couple days, so place your order to be one of the first to own one of these gems!

https://www.saxquest.com/product/view/new-selmer-paris-supreme-alto-saxophone-in-dark-gold-lacquer-P14414

We’ve been busy the last couple days. Head over to the “What’s New” page and check out the 18 “gently used” and vintage instruments we’ve posted to our website in the last 2 days. We’ve got something for every budget and playing style.

https://www.saxquest.com/store/new-products

We’re very appreciative of our customers, who’ve been keeping us busy throughout this pandemic. Please hit us up with questions, phone 314-664-1234, or email 24 hours a day at info@saxquest.com. We often answer emails outside of store hours, so send us a message anytime!