Yanagisawa crook for Walstein

[peterboulanger]

I just bought a Bauhaus- Walstein soprano, found out it was a copy of the Yanagisawa SC992, and then noticed that the Yana had a crook that was bent more than the Walstein. Does anybody know if a Yana crook will fit a Walstein?

 

[Saxlicker]

I don't know if it fits but are you looking for one?
I purchased the one mentioned here http://www.melmartin.com/html_pages/yana.html
direct from Mel but I don't use it.
I wouldn't say its fully curved either but about 50% more curved than the Yani neck supplied with my SC901.
I may part with it and if so I would of course donate a % to a charity Pete supports (as per yard sale rules).
The tone is definately more in keeping with the rest of the sax family than the stock neck.
The reasons I don't use it are:-
I can't keep Soprano in tune with out dedicating more concentrated time (that I don't have) and its less in tune with the SC901 than the stock neck is.
Therfore it stays in the box (pretty much aklong with the Sop it self).

 

[silver_smurfer]

Don't know about sops, Pete, but the alto crook is a different at both ends to the Yani 992.

 

[rhysonsax]

When I tried out the prototype Walstein curved soprano [May 2008] I played it back-to-back with my Yanagisawa SC991.

I noticed that the Walstein neck is less curved and I didn't find it quite as comfortable (see my comments on other threads here somewhere). I reckon it was just their bent neck from the straight soprano - too much trouble to make a special neck. I did comment on this to the good Walstein folks.

And yes, I swapped necks with my SC991 and it fitted and played perfectly.

Rhys

 

[TomMapfumo]

Hi Rhys!

Was the 991 an improvement and, if so, in what way?
Cheers
Tom 8)

 

[rhysonsax]

Hi Tom,

The Walstein had not been properly set up, so it wasn't a really fair comparison. However, I would say that there was very little in it and the differences didn't reflect the massive price difference.

Comfort/ergonomics - nothing in it except the neck
Action - Yanagisawa a bit crisper, possibly due to lack of setting up for the Walstein. Could easily be sorted out.
Tuning - nothing in it that I could detect.
Tone - I don't recall any great differences, but there was a minor burble on the Walstein's low C. Possibly due to set-up issues (e.g. a minor leak).

I really respect Yanagiswa's devotion to saxophones and the effort and money they have put into research and development. It's a funny world where another factory can just take all that hard work and churn out someone else's design. They do it well and the consumer benefits in the short term, but I feel guilty about encouraging it.

Rhys

 

[thomsax]

Rhys wrote:

I really respect Yanagiswa's devotion to saxophones and the effort and money they have put into research and development. It's a funny world where another factory can just take all that hard work and churn out someone else's design. They do it well and the consumer benefits in the short term, but I feel guilty about encouraging it.

Rhys,

I agree. But wasn't that excactly what Yanagisawa and Yamaha did in 60's? I was told that the Japanese were not better in building a sax comparing to other manufactors in those days. But they made better tools and machines that maunufactoried saxophones.

Thomas

 

[rhysonsax]

Thomsax wrote:
Rhys,

I agree. But wasn't that excactly what Yanagisawa and Yamaha did in 60's? I was told that the Japanese were not better in building a sax comparing to other manufactors in those days. But they made better tools and machines that maunufactoried saxophones.

Thomas

Thomas,

That is very wise and it helps treat my guilt.

The early Yanagisawas were direct copies of Selmer saxes. Over time they got good enough to develop their own models. We can expect the Chinese and Taiwanese to do something similar in a decade or two.

I suppose it is all part of the natural cycle of things, but what are Europeans and Japanese going to contribute ? We used to think we were good at "Financial Services" !

Rhys

 

[PaulyT]

rhysonsax wrote:

Thomsax wrote:
Rhys,

I agree. But wasn't that excactly what Yanagisawa and Yamaha did in 60's? I was told that the Japanese were not better in building a sax comparing to other manufactors in those days. But they made better tools and machines that maunufactoried saxophones.

Thomas

Thomas,

That is very wise and it helps treat my guilt.

The early Yanagisawas were direct copies of Selmer saxes. Over time they got good enough to develop their own models. We can expect the Chinese and Taiwanese to do something similar in a decade or two.

I suppose it is all part of the natural cycle of things, but what are Europeans and Japanese going to contribute ? We used to think we were good at "Financial Services" !

Rhys

It goes back to the very beginning, I believe..... That's why Adolf (the nice one) died destitute - fighting for all his patents in the courts!
PaulyT

 

[TomMapfumo]

Hi Rhys!

I was referring primarily to the Yani crook played on the BW. I had a brief play of my new BW this morning and it sounded fine, but there was a slight gurgle on the low E. I had assumed from the WWB blurb that they are properly set up before shipping out.

Kind regards
Tom

 

[rhysonsax]

TomMapfumo wrote:
Hi Rhys!

I was referring primarily to the Yani crook played on the BW. I had a brief play of my new BW this morning and it sounded fine, but there was a slight gurgle on the low E. I had assumed from the WWB blurb that they are properly set up before shipping out.

Kind regards
Tom

Hi Tom,

The Yani crook worked well on the Walstein prototype curvie, but it was a comfort thing for me rather than making any difference to sound or feel.

I think that the BW are checked over and corrected where necessary by a UK technician after being set up in the factory in the far East. It's more a five or ten minute activity than an extensive process. The prototype I tried had definitely not been checked over before I tried it, and that was made clear to me.

Burbles/gurgles are a pain that can afflict me on one horn or another. It is often a small leak in a pad, sometimes higher up than the note on which it shows up. Othertimes it can be a mismatch between the mouthpiece and horn, or a slightly mispositioned mouthpiece. I suggest trying another mouthpiece or moving the one you have further on / off, even if that puts the horn out of tune for the moment.

The worst gurgle I have had was on my Selmer low A MkVI alto. It was worse with some mouthpieces (high baffle) than others and didn't show up when Steve Howard played my instrument. I ended up fixing it for good with a lump of stuff (blu-tak and foil) fixed to the top curve of the bow section.

Let us know how you get on.

Rhys

 

[Pjonah]

TomMapfumo wrote:
Hi Rhys!

......I had a brief play of my new BW this morning!!!!
Kind regards
Tom

When is your your Birthday?

 

[TomMapfumo]

Hi there!

I reach the big Hawaii... on 14 November

Thanks, Rhys, for your observations. I only briefly tried it with my Yani 5 HR mouthpiece, so will try my V16 and fiddle with reeds/lig etc. and see what happens.

Kind regards to you both - Iam now switching from cornet to sax practice so neighbours will all breathe a sigh of relief. After 3pm people start coming home - kids, neighbours etc.

Tom 8)

 

[peterboulanger]

I'm really interested. I can be contacted at [email protected] , let me know how much you want for it.
and thanks!

Saxlicker wrote:
I don't know if it fits but are you looking for one?
I purchased the one mentioned here http://www.melmartin.com/html_pages/yana.html
direct from Mel but I don't use it.
I wouldn't say its fully curved either but about 50% more curved than the Yani neck supplied with my SC901.
I may part with it and if so I would of course donate a % to a charity Pete supports (as per yard sale rules).
The tone is definately more in keeping with the rest of the sax family than the stock neck.
The reasons I don't use it are:-
I can't keep Soprano in tune with out dedicating more concentrated time (that I don't have) and its less in tune with the SC901 than the stock neck is.
Therfore it stays in the box (pretty much aklong with the Sop it self).

 

[peterboulanger]

That's great. I went down to Long & McQuade in Vancouver, and they let me try one of their Yana's necks. My crook was an easy fit in the Yana, but the Yana's crook was tight, and I didn't want to force it.

rhysonsax wrote:
When I tried out the prototype Walstein curved soprano [May 2008] I played it back-to-back with my Yanagisawa SC991.

I noticed that the Walstein neck is less curved and I didn't find it quite as comfortable (see my comments on other threads here somewhere). I reckon it was just their bent neck from the straight soprano - too much trouble to make a special neck. I did comment on this to the good Walstein folks.

And yes, I swapped necks with my SC991 and it fitted and played perfectly.

Rhys