Alto Recorder

I currently have two alto recorders:

Yamaha 302 plastic - a great practice instrument that can be used for performance also
Kung Superio Plumwood - very nice instrument with sweet tone, great intontation, and decent lower and upper registers. See here for details how I selected it.

392, anyone?

I'm not as excited about this prospect as I once was, but another interesting thought is that an alto at A=392 (or "alto in E-flat") could be used to play tenor/soprano saxophone lines (playing with F fingerings) OR alto saxophone lines (playing with C fingerings.) The only caveat is that the bottom two saxophones notes (notated Bb and B) would not be available. Unfortunately, the only makers I've found are rather pricey:

Dolmetsch Stanesby, Alto in E flat (440Hz) - £520.31 (pear/maple), £550(satinwood/rosewood), £605(grenadilla/tulipwood), £792.15 (kingwood/european boxwood) - just guessing, but probably would like satinwood or tulipwood. BTW, xe.com says £550=$1,033.50 and £605=$1,136.85 (on 5/24/2006.)
Philippe Bolton, Alto after Charles Bizey - 1144.00 €, xe.com says 1144€=$1,477.65
Boudreau Bizey Alto A:392 - $1600 (european boxwood)
Tom Prescott, Bressan - $1825
Ralf Ehlert, Late Baroque, Bressan, Alto in 392 - 1420€ = $1,834.15
Peter Van Der Poel - 1440€
Adrian Brown - 1520€ = $1,934.47
von Huene Scherer - $2200

A well-respected authority on these instruments (e-mail me if you want to know more) had this to say:

I tried a few Dolmetsch Stanesby altos at A415 while I was in Stockstadt at the recorder exhibition and I was not too impressed overall with their somewhat anemic sound. I haven't tried any of their instruments at A392 so I can't comment directly on them. So far I have been most impressed by Ehlert Bressans at A392 and Adrian Brown Bizey's at A392, closely followed by Peter Van Der Poel's Bizey at A392. The used Bressan at A392 by David Ohanessian is a lovely instrument, but the sound is probably a bit too delicate for playing jazz. The von Huene Scherer alto at A392 is not bad at all, but perhaps a bit pricey and not as lovely sounding as the first three I mentioned. At all costs, avoid the Philip Bolton Bizey at A392 because 1) the tone quality is a bit harsh, and 2) they are slightly sharp overall in pitch.

If you want to play along with Bb or Eb jazz charts/recordings (e.g. Aebersold, Hal Leonard, etc.,) a much cheaper option than stepping down your recorder is to use a program like Transcribe ($50) or Audacity (free!) to change the pitch of the recording up a step and use your standard 440 alto.