I am a proud owner of the intermediate $800 USD "Made in Europe by one of the famous instrument manufacturers" ZAS 650 Alto saxophone. Purchased from the Zeus "manufacturer", Alex, at www.zacharymusic.com.
Or was... until today that I decided I am more of a trumpet player and tried to sell my hardly used, shiny sax in order to buy a Zeus trumpet.
I dropped the sax at a reputable store for evaluation yesterday and was asked to drop in today when the sax guy would have had a chance to inspect the instrument.
And I quote:
Guy: "What brand is it?"
Me: "Zeus".
Guy: "Interesting. What model?"
Me: "ZAS 650 model".
Guy: "Where does it say so on the sax?"
Me: "Well... Actually it only has a serial number I think. I got this as a new intermediate model for $800 USD as a bargain. Would you agree with that?"
Guy: "Do you want the truth? This instrument is MADE IN CHINA. It is not even good for student quality. I cannot believe you paid that much for it. It probably cost the guy just $200. I'm sorry but we are not interested in buying it".
Me: "Oh ok. Thanks for your help".
Please note the same conversation times three for the next two hours while I was travelling downtown at three music shops to evaluate the instrument. NO ONE WOULD BUY IT FROM ME FOR MORE THAN $150 CAD!!!!!! And as they rightly guessed, I could not return the instrument. No refund policy from Alex.
How do you explain this? I do not know about the other Zeus instruments but please give me an explanation. Why this lie? Is Zeus reliable? I am really sorry Alex but please try to imagine how It feels being ripped off and therefore poorer by $800 USD.
I could have gotten an awesome sax or trumpet from a reputable brand for that.
Please, please anyone can you post your HONEST comments? The sax guy in my case is REAL, all of them are.
yeah man, thats why you can't trust these off brands, they are low quality for the most part, rip you off, and you can't get it fixed or re-sold. so yeah, unles you want to rip some1 else off on ebay, you're pretty much screwed. sorry man, that sucks. Same goes for trumpet. don't get another zeus, go for some good trumpet brands; yamaha, bach, and so on.
They said it did not even play like a student instrument. It was even worse apparently.
On Alex's site, under "Who plays a Zeus", there are only trumpet player pics, no saxes. Supposedly Kanstul, California makes trumpet stencils for Zeus , and so may be of some quality according to some. But not the same can be said about their saxes. Just my piece of advice to help.
If such instruments can become antiques in a few years according to rumored ebay standards, such thing could increase their value. Otherwise, they are only pretty to look at if you like shiny things... and whatever shines is not necessarily gold.
Honestly. That is your fault for buying a crap instrument. Don't pawn it off to someone for an inflated price. Take that to the dump and leave it there.
hey man, some people don't look or do the research. I'd personly pu tit on display in your house and write "piece of #*$@" or something, turn it into a really nice lamp or something.
See if you can find a local artist, I sold one to a guy here and he smashed it up, glued stuff on it to make and called it a work of art. Ahh to each their own.
searching...
