I have a saxophone branded as "ORLEANS" with "HERMES U.S.A." mouthpiece. this was just a gift for me by my late dad which he bought 10 years ago for USD 300, second hand in chicago.
sounds good, nice french style gold plated, but what "orleans" really is? after long research from the net, the mouthpiece gave a clue that such mouthpiece are paired with "prestini sax", and upon viewing some models of prestini on the net, it was identical except for the brand name "orleans". as per internet, "Prestini is one of Italy’s most prestigious musical instruments manufacturer, but The problem of Prestini saxophones, as expressed by some dealers and users alike, is the lack of publicity of the brand, at least in comparison to other competitors on the saxophone market". also prestini is using other trade names in different locations because of problem on patent". no further information found on the net...
questions:
1. is orleans really prestini?
2. assuming that it is really prestini, what decent/known model is prestini comparable?
3. given 10 is the highest, how do you rate this sax?
thanks, just want to know more about my sax... although I know that vintage models such as conn are far better, but i just want to know more and believe in my sax.