What on earth key is this on a vintage Tenor

[Melissa]

Hi all,

Got myself a wierd old Tenor, Jacques Albert Fils, it is going on to the ebay shortly, I do not wish to look like an idiot but does anyone know what key this is.. I have never seen one before on any Sax.

The D key or cup has a hole on the top-above this is another cup- D#?!

 

[jbtsax]

You're right. It is a key to trill from D to Eb without using the little finger. I call it the "piggy back Eb". My vintage Buffet/Evette soprano shown below has the same key along with some other weird keys to play the low C#, B, and Bb with the middle finger of the RH.

 

[Melissa]

You're right. It is a key to trill from D to Eb without using the little finger. I call it the "piggy back Eb". My vintage Buffet/Evette soprano shown below has the same key along with some other weird keys to play the low C#, B, and Bb with the middle finger of the RH.

Thank you JBT 🙂

 

[kevgermany]

I've seen them on other old saxes - like A Sax. They obviously didn't help much as they weren't universal and seem to have been dropped between the wars.

 

[Andante cantabile]

Unless I am mistaken, this is the key described on pages 26 and 75 of Paul DeVille's Universal Method for Saxophone. If this is the case, it was the subject of a patent obtained by Evette and Schaeffer in or before 1907. The description makes it sound a rather useful key, but it seems that the buying public thought otherwise.

 

[milandro]

I saw those on German saxophone and I have always assumed they were there to help someone who had lost the use of their left hand pinky.

 

[Doodah]

My first sax was a "Tone King" which I believe was an old Keilwerth, probably from 1960s. It had an auxiliary G# trill key between F and E keys. I liked it, but have never seen the like of it again. Have been on Yani and Yamaha for past 20 years.

 

[milandro]

I don’t think that Yamaha or Yanagisawa (both relative newcomers to the world of saxophones) ever had any of these keys but even Selmer offered it as option even as late as the ’60.

One of the latest horns featuring all of these alternative keys has to be the Dolnet Royal Jazz, which features:

side, Eb trill, G# trill, High D trill, and High F# ( of course not unique) + a sort of microtuner.

 

[Hubert OG]

What pads go in there? Do you need some special ones, or could you just cut a hole in a normal pad?

 

[Colin the Bear]

Polo make one and I think there's a swiss cheese one too. Small bagels and doughnuts work too.

 

[jbtsax]

A regular pad the correct thickness with an exact sized hole made with a sharp hole punch is the technique commonly used. These keys generally have a tight fitting ring with a lip that overlaps the edge of the pad to stabilize the leather covering around the circumference of the hole. On the small "piggy back" key that some sopranos have on the upper stack to help the intonation of the C# a synthetic pad such as a Valentino works quite well.