Ne0Wolf7
Member
- Messages
- 563
- Locality
- Long Island
Hello all,
For the past months, I have begun to experience water building up in the neck octave vent of my YAS 62iii and the schools YTS 62iii. The water causes a very noticeable hiss on high A and #A that is nonexistent after blowing the water out by removing the neck, covering the tenon end with my palm, and blowing through the mouthpiece.
I use the original necks and Vandoren A/T-L3s on both instruments.
This started happening on alto shortly after I purchased it about four or five months ago; It took me a while to realize that water in the vent was the problem (my band director realized that high A is the first note that uses that vent and suggested that it could be the problem, I did my little fix on a whim, and, lo and behold, a sizeable bead of water shot out of my horn's octave vent). When I told my teacher, he suggested that the hole could have been drilled too small during manufacturing, which made sense. The intonation is really good on my sax anyway, so I decided to deal with it and just plow out the pip every so often while playing.
More recently, this has been happening on tenor. this is surprising because I have used that tenor for two years and not experienced the neck vent issue until becoming more of an alto player.
I'll be making a trip to the store I bought my sax within the next two months because that would mark the semi-aniversary of when I bought it, but before I mention this to the tech, I would like some opinions:
Could this be a result of my technique adjusting as I play more alto?
Am I just making more spit?
Is my breath just warmer than it used to be?
Most importantly: Is this a result of the horn, or myself?
Here are my answers to my own questions:
Most probable cause.
Maybe as a result of the adjusted technique, but I doubt that spit could make it all the way to the pip to clog it up.
Doubt it, but you never know.
I think it's myself.
I'm fairly confident in those answers, but I'm really posting as more of a way to share and discuss any solutions people with similar problems might have had, or different causes than what I think (or whether or not I'm even right, for that matter).
My solution: Cover the tenon end with your palm. Open the octave vent with your thumb. Blow through the mouthpiece.
That's not ideal because if you're playing a long song without a lot of rests, you're stuck with the hiss, and kind of looks a bit odd on stage.
Another solution I found on the internet it to put something hydrophobic, like oil, in the vent, but this too is only a temporary fix.
For the past months, I have begun to experience water building up in the neck octave vent of my YAS 62iii and the schools YTS 62iii. The water causes a very noticeable hiss on high A and #A that is nonexistent after blowing the water out by removing the neck, covering the tenon end with my palm, and blowing through the mouthpiece.
I use the original necks and Vandoren A/T-L3s on both instruments.
This started happening on alto shortly after I purchased it about four or five months ago; It took me a while to realize that water in the vent was the problem (my band director realized that high A is the first note that uses that vent and suggested that it could be the problem, I did my little fix on a whim, and, lo and behold, a sizeable bead of water shot out of my horn's octave vent). When I told my teacher, he suggested that the hole could have been drilled too small during manufacturing, which made sense. The intonation is really good on my sax anyway, so I decided to deal with it and just plow out the pip every so often while playing.
More recently, this has been happening on tenor. this is surprising because I have used that tenor for two years and not experienced the neck vent issue until becoming more of an alto player.
I'll be making a trip to the store I bought my sax within the next two months because that would mark the semi-aniversary of when I bought it, but before I mention this to the tech, I would like some opinions:
Could this be a result of my technique adjusting as I play more alto?
Am I just making more spit?
Is my breath just warmer than it used to be?
Most importantly: Is this a result of the horn, or myself?
Here are my answers to my own questions:
Most probable cause.
Maybe as a result of the adjusted technique, but I doubt that spit could make it all the way to the pip to clog it up.
Doubt it, but you never know.
I think it's myself.
I'm fairly confident in those answers, but I'm really posting as more of a way to share and discuss any solutions people with similar problems might have had, or different causes than what I think (or whether or not I'm even right, for that matter).
My solution: Cover the tenon end with your palm. Open the octave vent with your thumb. Blow through the mouthpiece.
That's not ideal because if you're playing a long song without a lot of rests, you're stuck with the hiss, and kind of looks a bit odd on stage.
Another solution I found on the internet it to put something hydrophobic, like oil, in the vent, but this too is only a temporary fix.
