Thomann CMS-600 L C- Melody Sax

I just received this a couple of days ago but I'm already enjoying it. I've been away from sax for quite a few years. Most of the time, I play bass for seniors' jam sessions. But I thought I might take a sax along to jams if I had a C melody.
It came quickly and arrived well-packed. It looked great when I opened the case. It was set up well and I could find no reason to have it checked over by a technician.
PROS:
- fit, finish & set-up
- feels solid
- playability
CONS:
- left thumb gets sore from awkward toggling
- guard above right thumb hook digs my belly if I stand up
- mouthpiece seems like a very basic alto
I expect to have lots of fun with this horn but I doubt I'll do much performing. If I'm asked to solo, I think the control on my tenor will take me back to it. But a better mouthpiece might change my mind.
UPDATE: I tried my tenor mouthpiece on this and it made 100% improvement. It gave me the same control as I have on my tenor and massively improved the high and low notes. If you buy this horn, toss the mouthpiece in the trash right away!!

Absolutely delighted with this instrument. Well set up, it played straight out of the box with a good sound and accurate intonation right across the range. It also looks good and seems well made. My only criticism is that the placement of the side keys is rather awkward and could make playing with small hands difficult.
Also worth noting that the included mouthpiece is really rather good (a rarity with what is quite a cheap instrument) and works very well with around a 3.5 strength reed. The instrument will also work well with an alto mouthpiece.

I'm an advanced amateur and have had the CMS-600 L for 6 months and played it almost daily. It is attractive and seems well made and I'm pleased with it, though I have three issues. 1) The low Bb key is a bit awkward, but I've adapted. 2) Initially, the low C, B and Bb were unstable; this disappeared after a month or so, maybe because the pads became seated, or maybe I became more familiar with the instrument. 3) With the included melody mouthpiece, or any alto mouthpiece, it plays extremely sharp. The neck isn't long enough to get it in tune and I have to pull the neck about one-half inch out of the body. There are still a few notes (middle D) that are difficult to play in tune.

I like the sound of the included "no name" mouthpiece and find it responsive and bright. I've tried various alto mouthpieces and like the Otto Link Tone Edge 5 star best, but not as well as the included mouthpiece. I also purchased a Caravan C-Tenor mouthpiece made for the C-melody sax that uses a tenor instead of alto reed. The Caravan has much better intonation and a very warm sound, that I personally do not like as well as the brighter sound from the alto mouthpieces.

This is pretty much the only new C-Melody you can get anywhere at the moment. It's undeniably good value for the money, but some quirky design decisions leave me wishing that a higher quality premium model existed.

First, the good: It is in fact a C-mel and so can play, without transposing, from choral, piano, or string scores. And its warmer, more balanced tone blends well with choir and classical. The only other way to get a C-mel in 2026 is to find and restore something from the 1920s. They're special and they stand out. Unlike 1920s saxes, this one has standard modern fingering and ergonomics.

It uses alto mouthpieces. The one included with mine had a rather restrictive chamber and I got a much better response from the instrument with more open designs (a Yamaha 4C worked pretty well). Tenor mouthpieces do not fit.

Its tone is clean and even, with no significant break at the octave. It's a nice sounding instrument that's easy to control. Not a stage horn, but very well suited to more intimate environments and casual jamming.

It does have some downsides. First is that the right forefinger 3-key set is oddly placed, 15 mm higher than any other sax I've seen, so you have to remember to really stretch for C and E (this one's Bb is in the usual C position and they go up from there.) The high F#, while nice, is tricky to use without a squeak. That's manageable.

Less manageable is that its temperament is not quite 12-TET but varies by up to 8-10 cents in ways that I can't quite understand the logic of. Remembering exactly how to compensate that with embouchure pressure is taking some time.

The microtuner seems like a nice touch in principle, but the thread machining on mine is sloppy; it's a less stable joint than I would have hoped and can shift by a couple of millimetres without turning the ring. Best to keep it pushed in to the movable stop as you turn the threads to avoid the 2 mm backlash. Similarly, there's some corner-cutting to save machining cost in parts of the linkage mechanisms, where another $100 of parts & labour to machine more precise pins & bushings would have yielded very noticeable improvements in quality.

Overall, I love the thing and it's probably the favourite horn in my collection. But I do wish I'd been able to buy a similar one with a sturdier microtuner, rolled tone holes positioned more carefully for a more precise temperament, and a little more care given to ergonomics and mechanism quality – things for which I would gladly have paid a 50% higher price. Perhaps some future product line manager will take note.