About Us

Who are these Hanson people?

Hanson Music is a family firm based in Marsden, West Yorkshire, England. Owned by the Hanson family: husband and wife Alastair and Jenny Hanson who have two daughters; Lucy and Eleanor, baby brother Robin, a beloved spaniel Sasha, five rabbits and six chickens. The company has been running since 1989 and over those 30+ years we have gained a reputation for sustainable, ethical working practices and our experience and expertise.

Hanson Saxophones

The first Hanson Saxophone was produced in …. and much like our new LX Custom Saxophones, they were hand built in Marsden, West Yorkshire. Our Saxophones have changed a lot since then thanks to ever evolving machinery and engineering practices that have enabled accuracy and precision like never seen before.

Hanson Saxophones were born out of a desire and passion to build musical instrument that were as good as technically possible mechanically speaking.

The Brains Behind the Saxophones

Alastair Hanson founded his musical instrument making business in 1989 after graduating from Leeds College of Music and with support from The Prince’s Trust. More than thirty years on and joined by his wife Jenny, Hanson Musical Instruments are recognised amongst the world’s finest.

Alastair’s expertise and experience in instrument design and manufacturing has led to international demand for his services as a consultant. Alastair has worked with factories manufacturing for Buffet, Selmer, Backun, Keilwerth, Stomvi, Vincent Bach International, Rath, Ripamonté, Howarth, Blessing, Jupiter, and many more. This incredible knowledge of the industry as a whole has allowed the Hanson Saxophones to rise to the top.

Alastair’s expertise is not only sought after by top manufacturers, but by governments too. Back in the early 2000’s, Alastair played a key role in rejuvenating the musical instrument production industry in China as requested by the Chinese Government. Working as part of a small team, he made some much needed changes to their manufacturing processes and designs, which quickly enabled China to become world leaders in instrument manufacturing.

It’s not only Saxophones we aim to master. The first instrument produced by Hanson Music were Clarinets, which have gained an enviable reputation for their reliability and superior tonal qualities. Then in 2011, the Hanson Clarinet became the first ever FSC certified Woodwind instrument thanks to our sustainably and ethically sourced materials. We now produce a whole range of woodwind, brass and string instruments for all levels of players.

Cutting out the Middle Man

More often than not you will be buying a product through a distributor or re-seller or a retail store. A lot of the time the price you’re paying for a product is greatly inflated due to somebody taking a cut at every stage of the process; from manufacturer to delivery to distributor to retail, everyone needs their slice of the pie.

However we like to do things a little differently at Hansons. By producing the Saxophones ourselves and taking control of the whole manufacturing process, we are able to drive down any external costs, and pass these savings directly to you. So if you think the price of our Saxophones seem too good to be true, don’t be put off, because this is how we can offer them at such great prices!