I've been playing for a while and needed a new horn. I tried a bunch out, comparing any of them that sounded good to my brother's VI. I tried the nickel silver out and found it to be pretty good, tried the black nickel and found about the same. Tried out one of these horns and found it to be comparable to my brother's VI. I tried out 2 more and found one that just blew me away. I'd recommend trying these horns, but make sure you can compare them to each other.

I have owned a nickle plated alto SX90 for about a year. It is not 'The Shadow,' but It is very well made and the sound is broad yet focused. My other horns have been top end Yanis and Selmers, but the Keilwerth is heads above in attention to detail, soundness of the mechanism and tonal quality.One caveat: check the inside of the neckpiece. The one I have came with had a very rough inside that I had to buff to a reasonable smoothness to get the good sound I now enjoy.

I've been playing for 6 years and tried almost every pro horn out there, but this one just amazes me. Of course its design and engraving is outstanding, but if you could listen to it, the tone is sweet, dark. The altissimo is very easy to reach and the low tones are like cake. If anyone is looking to buy a new horn I suggest they try out others with this one, and you will see how this just blows Selmer out of the water. Yes this horn is expensive but if you are truly going to play for a long time the cost is worth it. But make sure you try out more then one because each horn has its own specific tone and playability. I played 5 of these horns before I found the best one in the batch. Good luck shopping.

I prefer a darker tone, as opposed to the brighter end. But, I had never played a Keilwerth before. When I pulled out the Keilwerth, it was amazing. The craftsmanship is amazing, it is the most beautiful horn I've seen, it plays like a dream, with a real clean pure sound. Low notes are easy to play, and while I am not adapt with altissimo yet, what I could do was easier. It has the darker tone to it, but it is clean as stated above. The mouthpiece it came with is actually good, very loud and good tone. I think it is safe to say that these horns are probably more consistent then Selmer. The rolled tone holes are defiantly worth the trouble, the keywork is very fast, and the adjustable palm keys are awesome. The horn just feels good in your hands, and I like the feel of it better than any other horn I've played.

I had a Keilwerth SX90R Alto Saxophone that was black-nickel with silver-lacquered keys, but then it was stolen. After weeks of searching for a new horn, I found myself in Minneapolis at the Annual National Association Music Masters (NAMM) Conference, and staring at a beautiful new Keilwerth SX90R Shadow Alto Sax. It had silver engraving up and down the horn, and played like a dream. When I got back to New York, I searched for a store that had the sax that was supposed to come out August 30, 2004. I finally found it, and it's incredible action, nice dark sound, and unbelievable craftswork made it worth the wait!