Roberto’s Winds

Super friendly crew at Roberto’s and an amazing «Mark VI» room, which also has a bunch of great Super Balanced Action horns too. Jeff was super kind letting me try out several of them. Thanks Jeff!

I visited RW on New Years Eve and at first I wasn’t sure what to expect because the receptionist seemed a little wary or something at first but Roberto and Jeff were very welcoming and helpful. They allowed me to take my time testing out any horn I wanted to and even offered me a bottle of water and a fresh reed for my mouthpiece so I could really get the best assessment of the instruments. I didn’t plan to buy that day but was so impressed by the quality and sound of the tenor saxes that I bought one on the spot. But what put me over the top to actually buy was the friendly customer service. If they had to tried to «sell» me on a horn or were in the least bit less than friendly I would have gone about my business and kept my money in my pocket for another store. I’ll probably be back to get one of their alto saxes too.

While visiting NYC I stopped by Robertos Wind to pick up some items for my sax and to check out the shop. It is located on the 3^rd floor and don’t let the outside street appearance fool you, it is clean, professional and somewhat sprawling. When I went in the shop I was greeted by Roberto himself who right away dropped what he was doing and came to assist. Even after informing him I was a novice tenor player he took nearly a half hour of his time to talk saxophones with me and to give me recommendations on what I should do with regards to servicing my vintage Buescher tenor — never pressing or hard selling. Regarding the selection of horns it appeared to me to be the largest collection of vintage and rare horns under one roof. If you are a saxophone enthusiast like me just seeing the collection is worth stopping by. All and all it was a great experience and I am strongly considering having them go over my tenor. I’m confident it will come back playing like new. I gave it a moderate price range because the couple small things I got there were in line with what I would have paid at local shops in my area. If you get into repairs and maintenance of vintage horns some would say it is pricey but I suspect it would be in line with what you would pay anywhere for that type of service.

The owner of this shop, Roberto, is an extremely rude and disagreable person. He tried to rip me off for repairs on my clarinet. I recommend people should not bring their instrument there.

I feel compelled to write a review today after what I consider to be exemplary customer service and support. I’ve been going to Roberto’s for various reeds, mouthpieces, and small saxophone related items since it was a small woodwind shop on 48^th st. Since the move to 46^th st., Roberto’s has increased in size, built up a high-​quality inventory of horns and reeds/​mouthpieces/​ligatures and become THE one-​stop shop for saxophone players. However, I never made a big purchase there until today. I’ve had a horn on consignment there for some time and decided to do a trade-​in — I ended up trying Roberto’s RW soprano (gold lacquer) and was pleasantly surprised by the intonation, warm sound and evenness throughout the horn. Roberto met with me directly, we discussed the trade-​in, and I felt he gave me a very fair deal. A+ for both the RW soprano saxophone and the customer service. For players who can afford it, the Mark VI room is pretty amazing. I doubt there is a better saxophone-​centric store in the world.