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Saxlicker
Senior Member
- Messages
- 1,747
- Location
- Breakfast room since '06 UK
My favourite look of a saxophone is
Generally a tenor though from here on in all points apply to altos as well and I’m leaving soprano and baritone out of my sights.
Does that mean I think everything should be left alone as bought?
No it doesn’t. I find my self wrestling with why I am so rigid on some things and not others.
An old Raleigh Chopper should be as sympathetically restored as is possible and a modern bike such as a road bike with drop handle bars???
Well fill your boots, change the bar tape, change the pedals, the chain, the tyres, the saddle thats all perfectly good to me.
So I’m not sure if for me it’s totally about the collector mentality as I’d welcome disc brakes on that old Ford Cortina and I’d happily go with add-ons of the day like furry dice and a sun visor strip with Wayne and Tracey on it…LOL.
So I feel more that quirks that are acceptable for one person will just differ than those acceptable for another and the more passionate you are about something the more it should be preserved. Then I look at what I typed about the ford fiesta wheels and have to question myself on it because I’m certainly not passionate about a ford Fiesta modern or vintage and the same goes for any of the vehicles I’ve used for analogy purposes.
With all that said, its clear enough to me that taste and tolerance will be different for everyone so it seems impossible to defend or argue with anyones preferences and in turn that says to me that if somebody wants to strip perfectly good lacquer off an un-engraved Selmer MKVI and restore it to have a red body finish, an aftermarket bronze neck and multicoloured pads then why not? But at the same time the very thought of this (when I’ve recovered from fainting or a fit of rage) strengthens my resolve to hunt for that engraved, original lacquered beast without silver plated keys.
OK then
Would I consider putting a sterling silver neck on a MKVI? No not me.
Would I consider putting a sterling silver neck on a Yanagisawa alto that didn’t come with it? Ohhh Ouch!!! That hurts my brain. I might do.
Why whats the difference?
I don’t know do I.
But the thought never enters my head with the MKVI…It wasn’t supposed to be.
With my Yani, well some models do come with them and they are available as an alternative from the manufacturer to fit the range so thats one thing that makes it qualify.
Would it make it like a King Super 20 then?
No thats ridiculous but….. it would dress up like a King Super 20 dresses up and don’t forget Yanagisawa do silver bells too. That makes it OK. But only if I like the sound.
Oh no sound….
Will it be different?
Yeah it will to the player but I’m not pinning that on the silver I’m pining it on the fact its not the same neck as the one I have.
To elaborate on that (not as patronising education because you can all read what I can read on the internet etc but as a matter of experience) for sure once you are into the physical parts of your saxophone set up the closer to the embouchure and reed tip you get the more you notice regardless of how much that translates to a listener.
And it’s something that should give consistency.
A reed will matter won’t it (good ones are precious) but you can’t control consistency.
Mouthpiece is the first part that gives you a degree of consistency (I can’t be dealing with that, I need to blame something so I have dozens).
Ligature? OK now I choose not to go there because they are relatively cheap in terms of your whole set up and some slip and some are fragile and some are stupid money for what they are and even the position of it on the mouthpiece and the reed in the right spot can drive you insane.
Your listeners likely don’t hear it and care.
So I only have a few and I do think there are good ones and bad ones but I really invest most of my effort into keeping it simple i.e. metal band and 2 screws in most cases and forget about it. Though I confess sometimes easier said than done. You can have an Otto Link Super Tone Master with a good original lig and a bad original lig, so now I need a wall to bang my head on.
Moving back to that neck I’ve just been thinking about and ahhhhh......
At last another piece of consistency because for most of us its cost and size prohibits too much fiddling around trying out stuff. Sure your mileage will vary on that but it seems to be the cut off point for most hobbyists.
Beyond that is the body of the sax, the pads, the resonators the size of the bell less influential assuming they all seal and intonation is equal?
A neck then seems to matter to players not because of the material but because of its geometry, internal dimensions given how close it is to the air entry beyond the reed and possibly it's style?
I have never experimented with necks but I think I know enough and have read enough to get why they are not equal and that there are player detectable differences between 2 supposedly identical necks.
But......
Now my favourite mouthpiece (mouthpiece number 38) isn’t as good on the new neck as my 3rd favourite (mouthpiece no 17) but mouthpiece number 47 that I don’t normally play as its not one of my favourites and was thinking about selling sounds great…today at least.
This is a light hearted post and some of it fictional but I’m sure some of you will relate to it.
How I’d love to just pick up one voice (OK then maybe two voices in one size each Alto and Tenor….here we go again already).
One Sax, one mouthpiece and be content.
Now I’d hazard a guess that the standard offer of help from you all would be for you to kindly take all the options away from me and look after them.
But my first and only serious point of the whole post is that perhaps it’s time I started to thin the herd.
Or perhaps instead just a few more bits and bobs and that will solve it and pull all the loose ends together?
Generally a tenor though from here on in all points apply to altos as well and I’m leaving soprano and baritone out of my sights.
- Its original lacquer will have worn to some degree in a natural way, by the care and conditions it has been subjected to and I wouldn’t discount a noticeable repair which has affected the surrounding lacquer. The amount of wear/repair will not decide whether the patina is beautiful or ugly and the subjectivity of that remains within my eye. To much damage repair, or stripped for effect areas of lacquer would fail my beauty contest.
- Engraving is also important to my favourite looks. Not the quantity but its character. I'm a huge fan of the boat on a lake Selmer B.A. and not much of a fan for the Conn Naked Lady.
- Silver plate, bronze, copper, black, white, blue, red and artificially distressed and re-lacquered finishes rank bottom for me and sitting above them would be a brass saxophone finished without lacquer.
- That last point brings me to a material I failed to mention, sterling silver. I can appreciate this a little more in some cases and a lot more in others. It’s strange to me that given the choice (and I have been twice) I would prefer A King Super 20 with brass bell and sterling neck over their Silver sonic brothers. Thats not to say I don’t lust after silver sonic versions when I see them.
- Given the above would I prefer the likes of a King Super 20 with a brass neck? No absolutely not. I’m not saying it would be wrong, poorer sounding or or inferior to play but perhaps the heritage and identity of a King Super 20 needs a sterling neck somewhere in my psyche. So my point here is that I seem to always lean back towards ‘How it’s meant to be’.
Does that mean I think everything should be left alone as bought?
No it doesn’t. I find my self wrestling with why I am so rigid on some things and not others.
An old Raleigh Chopper should be as sympathetically restored as is possible and a modern bike such as a road bike with drop handle bars???
Well fill your boots, change the bar tape, change the pedals, the chain, the tyres, the saddle thats all perfectly good to me.
So I’m not sure if for me it’s totally about the collector mentality as I’d welcome disc brakes on that old Ford Cortina and I’d happily go with add-ons of the day like furry dice and a sun visor strip with Wayne and Tracey on it…LOL.
So I feel more that quirks that are acceptable for one person will just differ than those acceptable for another and the more passionate you are about something the more it should be preserved. Then I look at what I typed about the ford fiesta wheels and have to question myself on it because I’m certainly not passionate about a ford Fiesta modern or vintage and the same goes for any of the vehicles I’ve used for analogy purposes.
With all that said, its clear enough to me that taste and tolerance will be different for everyone so it seems impossible to defend or argue with anyones preferences and in turn that says to me that if somebody wants to strip perfectly good lacquer off an un-engraved Selmer MKVI and restore it to have a red body finish, an aftermarket bronze neck and multicoloured pads then why not? But at the same time the very thought of this (when I’ve recovered from fainting or a fit of rage) strengthens my resolve to hunt for that engraved, original lacquered beast without silver plated keys.
OK then
Would I consider putting a sterling silver neck on a MKVI? No not me.
Would I consider putting a sterling silver neck on a Yanagisawa alto that didn’t come with it? Ohhh Ouch!!! That hurts my brain. I might do.
Why whats the difference?
I don’t know do I.
But the thought never enters my head with the MKVI…It wasn’t supposed to be.
With my Yani, well some models do come with them and they are available as an alternative from the manufacturer to fit the range so thats one thing that makes it qualify.
Would it make it like a King Super 20 then?
No thats ridiculous but….. it would dress up like a King Super 20 dresses up and don’t forget Yanagisawa do silver bells too. That makes it OK. But only if I like the sound.
Oh no sound….
Will it be different?
Yeah it will to the player but I’m not pinning that on the silver I’m pining it on the fact its not the same neck as the one I have.
To elaborate on that (not as patronising education because you can all read what I can read on the internet etc but as a matter of experience) for sure once you are into the physical parts of your saxophone set up the closer to the embouchure and reed tip you get the more you notice regardless of how much that translates to a listener.
And it’s something that should give consistency.
A reed will matter won’t it (good ones are precious) but you can’t control consistency.
Mouthpiece is the first part that gives you a degree of consistency (I can’t be dealing with that, I need to blame something so I have dozens).
Ligature? OK now I choose not to go there because they are relatively cheap in terms of your whole set up and some slip and some are fragile and some are stupid money for what they are and even the position of it on the mouthpiece and the reed in the right spot can drive you insane.
Your listeners likely don’t hear it and care.
So I only have a few and I do think there are good ones and bad ones but I really invest most of my effort into keeping it simple i.e. metal band and 2 screws in most cases and forget about it. Though I confess sometimes easier said than done. You can have an Otto Link Super Tone Master with a good original lig and a bad original lig, so now I need a wall to bang my head on.
Moving back to that neck I’ve just been thinking about and ahhhhh......
At last another piece of consistency because for most of us its cost and size prohibits too much fiddling around trying out stuff. Sure your mileage will vary on that but it seems to be the cut off point for most hobbyists.
Beyond that is the body of the sax, the pads, the resonators the size of the bell less influential assuming they all seal and intonation is equal?
A neck then seems to matter to players not because of the material but because of its geometry, internal dimensions given how close it is to the air entry beyond the reed and possibly it's style?
I have never experimented with necks but I think I know enough and have read enough to get why they are not equal and that there are player detectable differences between 2 supposedly identical necks.
But......
Now my favourite mouthpiece (mouthpiece number 38) isn’t as good on the new neck as my 3rd favourite (mouthpiece no 17) but mouthpiece number 47 that I don’t normally play as its not one of my favourites and was thinking about selling sounds great…today at least.
This is a light hearted post and some of it fictional but I’m sure some of you will relate to it.
How I’d love to just pick up one voice (OK then maybe two voices in one size each Alto and Tenor….here we go again already).
One Sax, one mouthpiece and be content.
Now I’d hazard a guess that the standard offer of help from you all would be for you to kindly take all the options away from me and look after them.
But my first and only serious point of the whole post is that perhaps it’s time I started to thin the herd.
Or perhaps instead just a few more bits and bobs and that will solve it and pull all the loose ends together?
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