Intonation Front E3 Fingering on My Baritone is 40 cents sharp

[Nick Wyver]

On my Yanagisawa B900 F is spot on, E is a tad sharp (<10cents). Not really noticeable.

 

[Pete Thomas]

On my Yanagisawa B900 F is spot on, E is a tad sharp (<10cents). Not really noticeable.

<10 cents is spot on enough for me.

 

[skeller047]

<10 cents is spot on enough for me.

I’ll even accept 20 cents, especially if it’s sharp. I call it the “tuning paradigms”…

(Sorry, couldn’t resist.)

 

[LostCircuits]

I’ll even accept 20 cents, especially if it’s sharp. I call it the “tuning paradigms”…

(Sorry, couldn’t resist.)

I pick up quarters, dimes, nickels and pennies when I see them on the sidewalk, sometimes they are shiny but luckily they are never sharp,

Tu(r)ning Paradigms would be a great name for a dance band

(sorry, couldn't resist either.)

 

[turf3]

I’ll even accept 20 cents, especially if it’s sharp. I call it the “tuning paradigms”…

(Sorry, couldn’t resist.)

It's better to be sharp than out of tune.

 

[rhysonsax]

Final test on a baritone from my collection. This one is a refurbished Conn Crossbar from 1930-31. Before I got it, the instrument was rebuilt and beautifully silver plated. After I bought it I got Steve Crow to do some keywork modifications to help the ergonomics, including making and adding a front F key. I have always struggled with the tuning on this baritone, but some mouthpieces tune better than others, with a Woodwind Co. Meliphone Special having the best intonation overall.

• Conn Crossbar Transitional 12M low Bb (1930-31): Front F3 is in tune, palm E3 is about 20 cents flat, front E3 is 25 cents sharp, improving to only about 15 cents sharp when adding the right hand 2nd finger.

Rhys

 

[Colin the Bear]

That'll lip in. 💋

 

[turf3]

Well, first of all it sounded like you're implying that your horns are all set up for full pad opening with the front F key, and I don't see any reference to trying the simplest thing - lowering it.

The next question would be - has another experienced baritone player tried this thing out with his own mouthpiece and reed and gotten the same results? The fact that you're finding the same tendency on something like four different baritones from different time periods and manufacturers leads me to suspect the common variable in all this is that you're the one playing them with your setup. It could be something as simple as your tech sets them all up for full pad opening and they need to be set up for just a couple mm. Or it could be something about your preferred mouthpiece, or way of blowing.

I'd do some further investigation down these lines before just concluding "oh, they all do that" and dropping what is a very useful fingering.