I bought this beautiful curved soprano saxophone as a Christmas gift to myself in December 2020. It was shipped to my address in 4 days. Inside the shipping box is another box with the P. Mauriat logo. This contained a well-padded case where the saxophone was stored. After taking out the protective rubber and cork inserts in between the keys, I tested it using my Vandoren V16 #7 mouthpiece and a Fibracell 2.0 reed. The saxophone played right away! I have another Chinese curved soprano saxophone based on the Yanagisawa model, so I switched between the two for testing. I wanted to find out why the P. Mauriat cost 5 times the cost of the Chinese sax, which played well and never gave me any problem. I knew I can always return the P. Mauriat within 30 days if it didn't live up to its description at Pro Winds. The first thing I noticed was how much louder and free blowing the P. Mauriat is. The intonation was spot on! I can play soft to loud and it just lets out a beautiful tone. The PM's tone is on the brighter side, compared to the Chinese sax. The neck bore is narrower, which is why the sound is more focused. The body is beautiful to behold with its brushed vintage dark lacquer finish, abalone keys, and intricate hand engravings. The quality control on this model is absolutely amazing! The one thing I noticed though is the placement of the bell keys _which are located on the left side. The bell keys on most popular curved soprano saxophones these days are located on the right side. In the left side configuration, the left-hand table keys sit directly below my fingertips! Anyway, after testing it for a couple of days, I ended up not returning the P. Mauriat. It's the best saxophone purchase I've ever made!