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Saxophones Soprano necks and tuning

Mack

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Devon
I have a Bauhaus soprano which I had all but given up on, because the tuning was so awful at the top end - it was actually a semitone sharp at B and above. Given that that is the difference between one tone hole and another, I wondered how the manufacturer had possibly managed to engineer such a fault.

I always play with the curved neck, because I play with a strap to reduce pressure on my thumb. Today it occurred to me to try the straight neck, and the problem disappeared. Now it is just as out of tune as I expect a soprano to be :confused:. I am guessing that the curved neck has some difference in its internal bore which accounts for the difference. I know that some one-piece soprano's have a definite narrowing at the neck in order to improve the tuning at the top end. However I never thought that two necks from the same horn would make such a difference.

Anyone else?
 
Similar situation with my Sequoia - the straight neck is remarkably in tune, the curved neck is horrid.
 
Like me, my soprano only needs one neck for air supply. I'm just glad I found it...enough is enough.
 
If the Bauhaus design was based on the Yanagisawa soprano, and I think it was, then you could try asking around for someone with the Yani sop and see whether you can try swapping necks.

If the Yani curved neck fits and has good intonation on your Bauhaus then you should be able to beg/borrow/buy a Yani neck.

Rhys
 
Curved vs. straight do not necessarily vary as much as on your Bauhaus. I have a Yamaha YSS675 and there is almost no difference in intonation between curved and straight. I have tested the M1 as well as the F1 model both straight and curved. There is no significant difference beyond my own ability to play with reliable intonation. When I bought these necks second hand I was told by the previous owner that intonation and sound is less stable with the curved version. Not to me. When my obseesion with necks started I had M1R and F1R, R stands for curved. They sounded different but intonation was very comparable. Out of interest I determined the volume by closing one and of each neck with cling film, zeroed the balance, filled them with water and weighed them. They had identical weight/volume, despite the F1R being slightly shorter and being a bit more curved.

If engineered right, intonation is not dependent on the neck form. Only play feel and projection are affected. My straight necks can have an almost trumpet like sound, while curved is more mellow and a bit less loud. That's all.

And yes, any manufacture asking > 1000 GBP for his soprano should be able to provide 2 necks with correct intonation. Any thing else is fooling your customers.

Alphorn
 
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