Ishimori is Wood Stone

Recently, many of you have visited us in our Sax & Clarinet On store, specialized in saxophones and clarinets in Barcelona, and you have been surprised by the quantity and variety of Wood Stone products that we have in stock. The surprise is even greater when you tell us that you had never heard of this brand before. In part, we consider this good news for two reasons:

• Social media is not always a complete source of information.
• We are delighted to be able to personally explain to you the history of master Ishimori and his creations for saxophone and clarinet.

Let's go to the beginning, what is Ishimori?

Wood Stone is the original brand of Ishimori, a legendary Japanese repair shop founded in 1951, where musicians from all over the world have entrusted their instruments for decades to be repaired.

The name comes from the Ishimori word itself: "ISHI" means "Stone" and "MORI" means "Wood". "Wood Stone" is a good start to name this very original brand of Ishimori Wind Instruments Co., Ltd. in Tokyo, established to meet the needs of saxophonists.

Wood Stone was born 28 years ago, from the manufacture of a clamp by Shinji Ishimori, one of the two brothers developers and craftsmen.

The philosophy of this brand is based on two very simple reflections before producing anything:

• "This product would be good."
• "This product would be useful."

Ishimori always produces items with these two mantras in mind; he wants his brand to satisfy as many needs as possible.

Wood Stone Ligatures

Their ligatures are spectacular and come in a myriad of materials and finishes: brass, copper, bronze, solid silver, gold plated, rose gold... At this point, we recommend you read our recent post on materials: "Size matters... but so does material". It is important to mention that Ishimori has clamps designed exclusively for Otto Link and Guardala metal mouthpieces, mythical mouthpieces that did not have a clamp that fit them perfectly until now.

Wood Stone Saxophones

About his saxophones, Ishimori was caught in the same quest as the great Michael Brecker with his Mark VI serial number 86351 and Dave Sanborn with his Selmer Mark VI 144xxx alto. Be sure to read the article with super interesting photos of the saxophone Michael Brecker played with in the William Paterson University article. Watch out for the thumb rest we'll talk about later!

Ishimori started out assembling saxophones that Yamaha supplied him with parts, specifically Custom 82Z models. As far as we know, in all the years of Yamaha's history, they have only trusted Mr. Ishimori to do this kind of work on their saxophones outside their factory.

A small aside: the collector's "sickness" that also Japanese culture possesses. Many Selmer Mark VI saxophones were bought in mint condition by Japanese collectors, and Ishimori was one of them. There came a time when there were no more such vintage saxophones available on the market, and if there were, the price was unconscionable even for a Japanese collector. So Ishimori began making saxophones in his workshop in the image and likeness of Michael Brecker's and Dave Sanborn's instruments, specifically those very specific serial numbers. And we say well, EXCLUSIVELY those very specific instruments/serial numbers, because saying Mark VI is a very broad denomination, since there were 20 years of production with different modifications and sonorities in many Mark VI saxophones (almost 200,000 pieces). When a saxophone brand or a manufacturer says that its new model is inspired by Mark VI is basically saying nothing, just a sales slogan, we guess…

The great saxophonist Eric Alexander was also involved in the process, contributing details that Ishimori gladly included in his "Eric Alexander Signature"model.

Wood Stone saxophones are offered primarily in unlacquered or lacquered raw brass. As a curiosity, Yamaha has lacquered their latest limited edition 82ZA AMBER models with the beautiful honey-toned lacquer that Ishimori's factory uses for their instruments.

Other Ishimori Creations

Among Ishimori's other creations we can offer their reeds, inspected one by one before packing them, silver neck adjustment screws for a better sonorous connection of the body with the neck or thumb rests that not only improve the ergonomics in the position but also contribute timbrally in the interpretation. Let's go back to one of the pictures of the saxophone used by Michael Brecker, doesn't it remind you of similarities? Was Mr. Ishimori already working on the requirements that Michael Brecker used to ask him in his workshop when he toured Japan with Steps Ahead? 

We will ask him on our next trip to Japan so we can share it with all of you very soon!