Accessories Ergonomic Heavy Mass Saxophone Neck Screws

[kevgermany]

some of these jokes are getting a little too crude. 😡


On a serious note -

There is no single node - each note has it's own set, and the positions vary depending on which harmonic of the note we're discussing.
At a pressure node there is zero vibration of the air column.
Vibrations in the air column are along the length of the sax, not from side to side between the walls.

So

We put a couple of brass balls on the tenon socket - the point where the walls of the sax are at the thickest, because of the receiver and tenon and tension from the neck screw, so least able to deform.

Any nodes they match are by coincidence, not design. And at that point there's no air vibration anyway. Makes sense?

And as has been pointed out many times before - vibrations of the sax walls do not affect the sound - the contribution to the sax sound is too small to be heard.

 

[aldevis]

Any nodes they match are by coincidence, not design. And at that point there's no air vibration anyway. Makes sense?

Nicely put.

And as has been pointed out many times before - vibrations of the sax walls do not affect the sound - the contribution to the sax sound is too small to be heard.

Not sure. They might affect the upper partials... But surely not at the tenon.

On a more serious side, we have done some experiments adding and removing stuff on some necks, and I am very skeptical two balls would make a difference.

Recommended tunes:
At The Woodchoppers Ball
At The Jazz Band Ball

 

[jbtsax]

Not sure. They might affect the upper partials... But surely not at the tenon.

It is important to remember that the "partials" above each instrument's "cutoff frequency" (around F#3 on the saxophone) do not become part of the "regime of oscillation" as Benade calls it in which the fundamental and lower harmonics "collaborate" in "mode locking" resulting in whole number multiples of the fundamental. Because these above cutoff partials do not participate in the "standing wave" or even "see" the open toneholes and pass straight out of the bell, they are the least likely to be affected by the walls of the instrument.

 

[milandro]

the frequency of the cutoff when it comes to “ balls " is generally limited to 1 incident.

 

[Colin the Bear]

I can't see the point although they are quite pretty, and a screw like this would discourage over tightening and if the regular screw is lost or broken...... Let's check the pictures again. Uh oh! A Harley T shirt. Really? Sorry no sale.

 

[milandro]

if the point is an aesthetic one then I am all for it!

Recently I bought a soft shutter release button by a company called Lolumina. I got myself an oversized red one to go with my new black camera.

It looks great and costs relatively little, makes my camera look even nicer and, yes, ALSO helps me with my aching fingers having to securely find the shutter release.

I wrote a review of this beautiful and useful item and people told me that I was doing this only for the looks and I didn’t deny that looks played an important part on my decision to buy and use one.

 

[Colin the Bear]

Perhaps if they called them saxophone earings?

 

[Targa]

the frequency of the cutoff when it comes to “ balls " is generally limited to 1 incident.

That's not funny.

 

[milandro]

That's not funny.

I fully understand, painful memories!

 

[aldevis]

It is important to remember that the "partials" above each instrument's "cutoff frequency" (around F#3 on the saxophone) do not become part of the "regime of oscillation" as Benade calls it in which the fundamental and lower harmonics "collaborate" in "mode locking" resulting in whole number multiples of the fundamental. Because these above cutoff partials do not participate in the "standing wave" or even "see" the open toneholes and pass straight out of the bell, they are the least likely to be affected by the walls of the instrument.

I still have to fully digest last homework you gave me (the one about a standing wave in a container with asymmetric shape).
So, where do high partials come from, where are they supposed to go and how do they propagate?

 

[milandro]

and more importantly how can a neck screw, placed in one of the thickest walls part on a saxophone could even remotely influence any of it.

 

[aldevis]

and more importantly how can a neck screw, placed in one of the thickest walls part on a saxophone could even remotely influence any of it.

Often the thickest part of a saxophone is the player.

Dr. Frankenstein's creation had neck bolts.

 

[Colin the Bear]

and more importantly how can a neck screw, placed in one of the thickest walls part on a saxophone could even remotely influence any of it.

Gravity.

 

[milandro]

Gravity.

as in: Gravity, Gravitatum omnia Gravitas?

 

[milandro]

Often the thickest part of a saxophone is the player.

true

 

[jbtsax]

I still have to fully digest last homework you gave me (the one about a standing wave in a container with asymmetric shape).
So, where do high partials come from, where are they supposed to go and how do they propagate?

Please remember that I am a layman where physics and acoustics are concerned, and most of what I understand comes from Benade's Fundamentals of Musical Acoustics. As a result my comments may well be an oversimplification.

That said, the way I understand it is that the harmonics or partials are produced inside the mouthpiece. Those that are at a frequency above "cutoff" travel straight out the bell. They do not share energy with or take part in the "regime of oscillation" that is the standing wave and so are a "drain" on the system. That seems to explain why some mouthpieces and set-ups are bright and edgy, but lack a strong central core to the sound.

 

[milandro]

the most essential vibrational drain of any vibrations of the walls of mouthpiece and saxophone are the lips and hands of the player.

How do you stop the playing of a triangle?

 

[jbtsax]

That may be true, but the triangle itself is the vibrating medium that produces the sound. In the saxophone the vibrating medium that produces the sound is the air column inside. The greatest "dampening" of all occurs from the lip contacting the reed. Without that the reed would vibrate at it's natural frequency otherwise known as a "squeak".

 

[milandro]

true but you are talking of infinitesimal wall vibrations and in the case of the object of this thread, localized at a level where the metal is incredibly thick

 

[jbtsax]

The wall vibrations are far too weak to be heard and it has been proven that in ordinary instruments they do not "couple" with the sound waves inside the tube. I think we are on the same side Milandro. 🙂