Xaphoon Maui C

Heads-up: I'm not a sax player, and have only played the Xaphoon for about 7 hours in total. So take my words with a grain of salt.

Overall it's a cool invention and is a lot of fun to play. It's very small, so I always have it in my rucksack and play in the park whenever I can. Learning to play simple melodies in C major was a breeze. Producing the first sounds took some practice but after a couple of 30-minute sessions, I could already play Happy Birthday and the Tetris melody.

The sound is very pleasing and not as squeaky as the recorder which is similar in size. Especially the lower register is surprisingly deep with a nice nasal character.

That said, I don't see myself dedicating a lot of time to this instrument. It's a fun companion with a few gripes.

Gripe #1: the lower C is difficult to get in tune. All the other notes are much more stable and easy to produce.

Gripe #2: anything above the high B requires complicated fingering, and the same for flat and sharp notes. I don't know if this is an issue with the saxophone of clarinet, and maybe I just need to take time to learn the finger positions.

Gripe #3: after about 30 minutes of playing, it becomes soggy and difficult to play.

I wanted this instrument to get in touch with the wood-wind family. What I found was a difficult first contact, although a funny one. The problem with this instrument is that you will not find everything you need to know about it, it is difficult to learn by yourself and even more if you've never played any wood-wind, and still more if your intention is in fact to get to know this family.

Although, the instrument is very well fabricated, is a nice instrument, its weight is a joke because even a baby can handle it.

Moreover, its sound is really deep, really difficult to reach though. It is not really sax alike at all, in between a clarinet and a sax maybe, but its name is really confusing.

Would I recommend it? Of course, but only if you really want to invest time on it by yourself and if you really love this instrument. Would I buy it if I had know how it really was? Maybe not in first instance, but once I got to know with its wood-wind cousins, probably.

Again, it is really beatiful. A handmade bamboo