Santee Saxophones came to be after a long search for the right instrument for me. I needed a horn with a full sound but also great resonance and a little bite. This led to the decision to go with individually soldered posts wherever possible, so the body tube would vibrate more uniformly than with ribs. We experimented with various alloys and finishes, and felt we came-up with something really special in our 2C4 model. I took our design a bit further in our forthcoming Armageddon model (available early 2026) – same overall design but with traditional style key cups, a bit more copper, and a few different finishes than we’ve offered before. I hope you’ll check out our horns sometime!

I would like to add that it’s only by the grace of God that I’m even here today – and I give Him all of my gratitude for the opportunity to be here and to pursue this exciting venture. In 2004 I was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer – that  made me take a serious look at the reality that I wasn’t 100% sure where I’d end-up when I die. I grew-up in a VERY “religious” home, and heard that Jesus died on the cross, but nobody every explained to me WHY He did. I couldn’t do much for a while after the surgeries except lay on my back and watch tv – and wouldn’t you know it, I happened to stumble upon a program where this old preacher was explaining how we all have a sin debt that we accumulate throughout our lives, and that we are incapable of paying for any of it! That the only one qualified to pay for our sins is God Himself! God came to earth – fully human yet fully God – and lived a perfect, sinless life, then let Himself be sacrificed on the cross. That payment didn’t cover just my sin debt, it covered ALL of humanity’s sins! The only thing a person has to do to accept Jesus’ free gift of pardon for their sin debt (their past, present and future sins) is “believe” that Jesus is God in the flesh (God the Father’s only begotten Son, the Messiah), and that He died to pay for all of their sins. Jesus paid our fine, we just need to accept the gift! It all FINALLY made perfect sense to me. I broke-free from “religion” at that moment, accepted Jesus’ gift of pardon of my life’s sins, and to top it off – once we are saved, we are sealed with the Holy Spirit, so we cannot lose our salvation or have to work to maintain it! If you haven’t done so yet, please take a serious look at eternity right now. Realize that like all of us, you’re a sinner and need God’s forgiveness – believe Jesus died for you so you could be fully pardoned – then He rose from the dead, proving He has full authority over death. He is the giver of everlasting life! Accept that free gift today! Tomorrow is NOT guaranteed! Thank you for taking the time to read this.

– Aaron Santee