Straight Alto

[ken]

Curiousity question... anyone know if any manufacturers still produce straight alto's? I think yani used to, but seemed to have stopped it.

Also, are there any advantages to a straight alto? I wonder if this design improves the sound?

 

[rhysonsax]

Hi Ken,

I've just bought a Keilwerth straight alto seconhand from eBay. It was item 270028418688 and was delivered last week.

I had a play on it at a rehearsal on Wednesday evening and my initial reactions are that it's a bit of a novelty, plays like a proper sax but the sound is much softer from the player's perspective. There is also the issue of how to put the sax down safely when you're not playing it.

Keilwerth used to make a straight tenor as well as the straight alto and I know that Richard Booth (Bootman) in Australia plays one. http://www.bootmanmusic.com/ - I think he calls it his "man's soprano" !

John Robert Brown write in the UK Clarinet & Saxophone Society magazine and his website has a copy of his review article on the Keilwerth straight alto http://www.john-robert-brown.com/straight-alto-saxophone.htm

I don't think that Yani have ever made a straight alto, but LA sax did/do straight alto and tenor and in the old days there was a Buescher (sometimes called a "Stritch") as used by Roland Kirk.

And don't forget that some eccentrics have even made a straight baritone as a fun project !

All the best

Rhys

 

[ken]

Hi Rhys,

Thanks very much for the info. "man's soprano"... I like that.

I don't know why (just the way my mind works), I had a feeling that possibly a straight instrument may have an advantage (sound/tone wise) due to any design/manufacturing compromises inherent in a curved instrument.

I'll go off and have a look at those links... thanks again.

BTW: must be great for spraying the front row of an annoying audience 😛

 

[Rogerb]

That's almost like an alpenhorn(with keys) 😀

 

[Bobby G]

Does a straight tenor or bari have a rubber-footed leg or tripod on the bell, or does it have a small trolley?

 

[arazi440]

www.Sax.co.uk are currently selling LA sax straight alto's and Straight Tenor's 😱 have a look.

 

[arazi440]

Here's a picture of the straight Tenor, ?2,500

 

[arazi440]

 

[arazi440]

And the Alto

 

[ken]

Thanks Arazi440,

I looked on sax.co.uk and couldn't find those saxes. What make are they?

Ken

 

[arazi440]

La Sax theres a link on the main page Tenor extra special offers and alto special offers, scroll down the main page.

Under recent arrivals.

 

[ken]

Thanks Araxi440, got it.

 

[Lisa]

They certainly look good, but not so sexy as a curved horn I think. How do you put it down without damaging it? is there a special stand like a clarinet stand type thing, so it is held on the inside of the horn?

You know, if Bob sees those pics he'll want one...

:laugh:

L

 

[Bobby G]

Well, as an admirer of Roland Kirk I'd certainly be interested in a stritch (straight alto) or a manzello, but generally I'd like the big buggers - soprano is as high as I want to go really, but I'd love a go on a bari or bass sax, or even lower, the contra-mega-how-low-can-you-go sax known as the tubax. Now that is basso profundo.

So, a quick poll - soprano sax, straight or curved? After about 3 hours playing it yesterday, my vote goes to my curved soprano over the straight one. She's so cute!

Cheers, Bob

 

[lee_]

The curved sops supposedly have much better intonation than the straight ones. I would think the "straight" altos and/or tenors would be in the same boat (hard to play in tune).

Supposedly, that's one reason saxes are shaped like they are, to compensate for the problems of the conical bore (as opposed to, say, a clarinet, which has a cylindrical bore).

 

[oliver_bentley]

perhaps with the curve, the player can hear themselves a fair bit better, as the sound comes back towards them, and so intonation can be better.

 

[Bobby G]

Lee and Oli, I think you are both right if my sops are anything to go by. The intonation on the straight one is a little harder even blowing into a corner to make it easier to hear, but on the curved is pretty easy (once you've got the muscle memory of an alto or tenor out of your mouth!). Also I like being able to hear 'directly' the sound I am producing on the curved sop, which is generally sweeter than the straight one.

Cheers, Bob

 

[ken]

I thought that it would be easier to design a straight sax (ie for accurate tone hole placement etc) than the curved item. Strangely I also thought the idea behind curved saxes was just to make them more manageable with the reduced length... goes to show what wrong ideas I go off with.

 

[lee_]

Ken, we're probably both right to some extent. I have read the physics of conical vs cylindrical bores in the past. Probably didn't understand it well then, and can't say much about it now without talking straight out my . . . ("Why stop now," you say. Funny.)

Certainly reducing the length of the horn for ease of playing, carrying, etc, is a good reason to curve the sax bodies.

 

[oliver_bentley]

http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/~jw/saxacoustics.html

theres about everything you could posibly wanna know on this site about sax physics and acoustics if your curious - mind boggeling at times, but well worth a read.Oli