Tech/maintenance C#2 Very Flat

[Veggie Dave]

This has been bugging me for a while now. C#2 on my EX90 II alto is very flat. It can be just about lipped up, but it's on the very limit of my lipping ability. Every other note on the horn is basically fine. Not as precise as my Keilwerth tenor but well within acceptable playability. To be honest, I don't use it that often but, of course, of the few times it comes out, that C# is a key note in most of the solos thanks to the popularity of certain keys with guitarists and pop song writers.

Is there anything I can have done to the alto to mitigate this issue in some way?

 

[Pete Thomas]

Is there anything I can have done to the alto to mitigate this issue in some way?

I guess you've tried it but the stock answer to this is push the mouthpiece on a bit and lip down where necessary

 

[Colin the Bear]

Overblow C#1. Try with and without octave key.

 

[MarkSax]

8ve key with G will give a finer tuned C2#.

 

[turf3]

About all you can realistically do is to push in (affects short tube notes more) to raise the C#, then lower palm key heights if needed. I assume you're talking about the lower all-open C#, the one in the staff. Selmer with the Mark 6 attempted to cure the problem of the C# above the staff being sharp by tweaking the tonehole, but they ended up making the lower one too flat. Of course it's always better to be sharp on an all-open note because you can put some RH keys down and lip it down, but Selmer screwed the pooch on that one. Sounds like Keilwerth applied the same technique and ended up with the same result.

 

[Veggie Dave]

I guess you've tried it but the stock answer to this is push the mouthpiece on a bit and lip down where necessary

1st thing I tried, thinking it might actually be that simple. But to bring the note up to around pitch, every other note needs to be lipped much more than practical and often more than I'm able to do. It's really flat.

I do already have the piece on a bit more than I'd prefer. I would think it was me if my tenor also had the issue, but that's close to perfect.