"pull down" on the neck

What is "pull down"?

Pull down is where the neck has been bent, ie beyond the normal bend in an alto, tenor or baritone neck.

It can happen gradually over the years or more suddenly if a neck is inserted into the tenon receiver with too much force.

It's important that the tenon is not over tight in the receiver, or this can happen surprisingly easy.

In most cases it can be fixed by careful bending back, but often leaves scars if the lacquer cracks or the brass shows any sign of the stress because inevitably at best the diameter of the neck becomes oval or at worst a crease and /or split in the metal is caused.

If it has happened more than once, then generally the neck is very much weakened as you can imagine and probably best to find a replacement.

Any bending back or repairing of splits and creases is best left to a tech.
 
Thanks Pete, in essence you would therefore look to repair or replace a crook/neck that has experienced a lot of pull down? In addition I am right in assuming that the diameter of each sax manufacturers "neck opening" is different? So a Martin neck will not fit into a Jericho sax?
 
assume necks are not interchangable between saxes - it's not just the tenon, but bore, taper and length. As well as octave pip position and design. This si the most sensitive area of the sax for intonation and timbre. It's not unknown for manufacturers to have to issue a new neck because of problems with the old ones. Yamaha went through this a while ago.
 
Thanks Pete, in essence you would therefore look to repair or replace a crook/neck that has experienced a lot of pull down? In addition I am right in assuming that the diameter of each sax manufacturers "neck opening" is different? So a Martin neck will not fit into a Jericho sax?

If the neck is down a bit, but not obviously bent and out of whack, it is still likely to have what was a round cross section go slightly oval, and acoustically this may well have an effect on the sound. Or maybe not (who knows?) but my inclination would be to get it repaired anyway.

Some necks do fit other horns. If they do and do not disrupt intonation it would be more by luck than anything. However some necks certainly are, e.g. I think most Conn necks from the 20s to the 50s were the same. Any horn that is based on a MKVI may well also be fine to interchange necks but there could still be differences of sound/response even if they apear identical and fit the tenon.

I think Jerichos are copies of a Yamaha 62, so a yamaha neck might work, not sure about a Martin - it might - but you'd just have to try it and see.

But Kev is right, asume necks are not interchangeable for the most part, always try to get the correct replacement if you need one.
 
If you're looking at secondhand saxes that have suffered from pull down on the neck, either don't bother buying it, or if it's astoudingly cheap, factor in the extra cost of repair. Given the amount of secondhand instruments available, I'd not bother and look for one in better condition.
There are specialists like Gloger or Stephan Boesken who'll hand build replacement necks, but you'd pay about £500 and it might take a while
 

Similar threads... or are they? Maybe not but they could be worth reading anyway 😀

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