very beginner question about assembling a sax

[bobk]

When you put the mouthpiece, neck and body of the sax together should you try and get them all to line up perfectly (neck in line with body, mouthpiece aligned so that the end of reed is horizontal relative to the body of the sax) or should you have the neck and/or mouthpiece rotated so that the mouthpiece feels right in your mouth with the sax hanging natrually on the neck strap?

I seem to find it easier to get a nice sounding note by rotating things a bit - but I've only been playing (trying to play) for 3 days...

cheers,

Bob

 

[Bobby G]

Hi Bob; we had a discussion about this only recently. It seems the best way to align the neck is to line it up with the strap eye. The mouthpiece should sit on the neck (cork grease is a good idea) and the strap length should both be adjusted so that the mouthpiece goes into your mouth without you having to tilt your head sideways, stretch upwards or lean forwards. Basically, whatever is comfortable.

Also, reed position on the mouthpiece - the curve on the end of the reed should line up with the curve of the tip of the mouthpiece, or nearly; if anything, the mouthpiece tip should slightly overlap the reed. You'll find after a while that moving the reed only slightly on the mouthpiece (fractions of a millimetre only) will have quite an effect on the sound.

Cheers, Bob

 

[bobk]

That's great - it was very hard getting a nice sound with my head on its side!

Thanks for the tip about the reed - it seems impossible to get the reed and mouthpiece lined up exactly so its nice to know which direction of error is better.

I've got another beginner's question, but I'll post it as a separate topic...

cheers,

Bob

 

[Bobby G]

You'll very often find that the curvature of the reed end and mouthpiece tip don't match exactly, so you are usually going to have a bit overlap there somewhere, but as long as the reed is not protruding beyond the end of the mouthpiece you should be ok.

Cheers, Bob