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<blockquote data-quote="turf3" data-source="post: 629244" data-attributes="member: 8105">I have seen quite a few instances where the palm keys are way too high.&nbsp; I think people make the openings visually the same as those of the stack keys;&nbsp; but it ought to be the PROPORTION that&#039;s the same.&nbsp; If you take your palm keys and adjust them to the proportional opening is the same as the stack keys, you will often see a big difference.&nbsp; Really, on my sopranos, the palm keys end up with hardly any travel at all when set this way.Another thing that leads people to this kind of adjustment is using a small chamber MP on a horn that it&#039;s not well matched to.&nbsp; They pull way out, and all the short tube notes are flat and all the long tube notes are sharp when the horn is &quot;average in tune&quot;.&nbsp; Then the tech raises palm keys to the moon;&nbsp; but you can&#039;t raise all-open C# any more than the rest of the stack keys.&nbsp; Basically, the all-open C#s have a &quot;wide octave&quot; on I think pretty much every saxophone.&nbsp; Makers and technicians adjusting them have to choose where to put the error - do you make the lower one flat, or the upper one sharp?&nbsp; Back in the 20s and 30s the choice was to make the upper C# sharp, since you can either lip down or put some RH keys down like flutists often do for their all-open C# and clarinetists do for throat tones.&nbsp; Selmer with the Mark 6 appear to have decided to move some of the error to the lower C#, making it flat (which is VERY difficult to correct for), and if you&#039;re pulled way out, it&#039;ll make it even worse.&nbsp; I far prefer the C# correction lever as seen on most old sopranos and a few old altos, where engaging the octave key partially closes the topmost pad on the stack.I still maintain that setting the horn up the way it was designed, not opening pads way up for some purported tonal change, and playing it with a mouthpiece that doesn&#039;t deviate too far from the kind it was designed for, will almost always get you excellent intonation on pretty much any saxophone built after say 1920 or so.&nbsp; Tone holes are located with fixtures in the factory, they don&#039;t just get randomly placed wherever Joe or Steve (or Francois or Helmut) wants to put them.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="turf3, post: 629244, member: 8105"] I have seen quite a few instances where the palm keys are way too high. I think people make the openings visually the same as those of the stack keys; but it ought to be the PROPORTION that's the same. If you take your palm keys and adjust them to the proportional opening is the same as the stack keys, you will often see a big difference. Really, on my sopranos, the palm keys end up with hardly any travel at all when set this way. Another thing that leads people to this kind of adjustment is using a small chamber MP on a horn that it's not well matched to. They pull way out, and all the short tube notes are flat and all the long tube notes are sharp when the horn is "average in tune". Then the tech raises palm keys to the moon; but you can't raise all-open C# any more than the rest of the stack keys. Basically, the all-open C#s have a "wide octave" on I think pretty much every saxophone. Makers and technicians adjusting them have to choose where to put the error - do you make the lower one flat, or the upper one sharp? Back in the 20s and 30s the choice was to make the upper C# sharp, since you can either lip down or put some RH keys down like flutists often do for their all-open C# and clarinetists do for throat tones. Selmer with the Mark 6 appear to have decided to move some of the error to the lower C#, making it flat (which is VERY difficult to correct for), and if you're pulled way out, it'll make it even worse. I far prefer the C# correction lever as seen on most old sopranos and a few old altos, where engaging the octave key partially closes the topmost pad on the stack. I still maintain that setting the horn up the way it was designed, not opening pads way up for some purported tonal change, and playing it with a mouthpiece that doesn't deviate too far from the kind it was designed for, will almost always get you excellent intonation on pretty much any saxophone built after say 1920 or so. Tone holes are located with fixtures in the factory, they don't just get randomly placed wherever Joe or Steve (or Francois or Helmut) wants to put them. [/QUOTE]

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