support Tutorials CDs PPT mouthpieces

East Yorks Lurker in baritone transition

noelweston

noelweston

Senior Member
Messages
68
Location
Hessle, East Yorks
Hi All -

I've been browsing and reading here for a little while, and thought I'd better say Hello.

I've been playing the sax for more years than I care to think about - I'm mainly and alto and baritone player, but also own and play sop, tenor, clarinet, flute & bass clarinet. I work with a local function band - not sure yet whether advertising is allowed, so I won't mention the name - doing all sorts of jobs - 1940s weekends, weddings, charity balls etc.

I've been playing a MkVI baritone for a good few years, but have just got a The Martin bari to go with the alto and tenor - hopefully to have its first rehearsal and gig this week. I love the sound of it, but currently seem to be struggling for overall tuning. (Whole instrument is sharp, rather than intonation problems.)

I've been reading through as much information as I can find about these horns and mouthpieces to suit, and once I've played it in anger tomorrow I'll have a better idea what I need to look for.

Anyway, hello again, and I may be asking questions soon!

Noel
 
From what I gather so far, it's either a change of mouthpiece to something that better matches the instrument or has a longer shank, or else extend the crook by 1/2" or so.

As I say, first blow with anyone else is tomorrow, so I should know more then.

Thanks for the welcome!
 
Welcome to the Caff.

I used to have a "The Martin" bari that was great but it was picky about mouthpieces. Surprisingly to me the best match was a Brilhart Level Air (old style) that made it bark with a beautiful tone. It still had intonation problems on the E2 and F2 which are a known problem area on this sax. I cured that myself with crescents in the tone holes.

I have moved on to a Selmer SA80 bari, but do miss the Martin. If I had one again I would get a Vandoren piece modified to the large chamber (or double chamber) design by Eric Greiffenhagen (sp ?). This piece works really well on my old Conn bari.

Now you've moved onto the Martin your MkVI must be cluttering up the place. Do you want me to store it for you ?

Rhys
 
Gandalfe said:
"The whole instrument is sharp" How do you fix that? I'm guessing that if I decided to keep the instrument, I'd be working with a master mouthpiece guy. (I need to do that with my modern R&E sop keyed in C.)
Click to expand...

Hi Gandalfe,

I have got an E&R C soprano that I bought direct from Benedikt Eppelsheim. It's really nice but a bit mouthpiece picky and even with the best-matching Bb soprano mouthpiece I have, it is very hard for me to play from palm D upwards. That link was quite interesting, so maybe I will try a shorter facing or a sopranino piece, although that would seem pretty small.

What are you doing on your C soprano ? I've just remembered that Ed Pillinger makes a mouthpiece especially for C soprano, so maybe I will speak to him.

Rhys
 
I wanna see what our local mouthpiece wizard Bob Carpenter has to say. So it's still on my todo list to work this.
rhysonsax said:
Hi Gandalfe,

I have got an E&R C soprano that I bought direct from Benedikt Eppelsheim. It's really nice but a bit mouthpiece picky and even with the best-matching Bb soprano mouthpiece I have, it is very hard for me to play from palm D upwards. That link was quite interesting, so maybe I will try a shorter facing or a sopranino piece, although that would seem pretty small.

What are you doing on your C soprano ? I've just remembered that Ed Pillinger makes a mouthpiece especially for C soprano, so maybe I will speak to him.

Rhys
Click to expand...
 
No, no umlauts thank you!

Sadly, I can only play one at once - although some would argue that it's not that many!
I tend to describe myself as the owner of many instruments...:)


old git said:
Welcome to the caff©, Noel. BTW:-Shouldn't there be one of these (ö or ë) in there.

Multi instrumentalist eh but how many can you play at the same time? :)

ENJOY!™
Click to expand...
 
Rhys -

You're welcome to "store" the VI, but my rental rates are pretty high!

If I can sort the tuning and intonation and settle with the Martin, then the VI will be up for sale. I've already bought and sold a Mauriat baritone because it didn't fit me right (I have neck & shoulder problems that limit my choice of horns, which is why I play the Martin alto & tenor now), and if this doesn't work out then I'll be looking for something else.


rhysonsax said:
Welcome to the Caff.

I used to have a "The Martin" bari that was great but it was picky about mouthpieces. Surprisingly to me the best match was a Brilhart Level Air (old style) that made it bark with a beautiful tone. It still had intonation problems on the E2 and F2 which are a known problem area on this sax. I cured that myself with crescents in the tone holes.

I have moved on to a Selmer SA80 bari, but do miss the Martin. If I had one again I would get a Vandoren piece modified to the large chamber (or double chamber) design by Eric Greiffenhagen (sp ?). This piece works really well on my old Conn bari.

Now you've moved onto the Martin your MkVI must be cluttering up the place. Do you want me to store it for you ?

Rhys
Click to expand...
 

New Posts

Latest: Members' Recordings

Share this page

Support Cafesaxophone

Tutorials CDs PPT mouthpieces
Back
Top Bottom