Archive for November, 2009

If you have a high quality, professional horn, there are two other items you will need to protect your horn. First is a sturdy, hard-sided case. I prefer the hard-shelled Walter Johnson cases made in California. They are even custom sized to the make and model of the horn, which ensures a proper, tight fit. I then use a neck pouch to store my neck and mouthpiece in the bell when the sax is in the case.

The second item is a very sturdy stand. I prefer to use SaxRax stands, which are made in the UK. They are extremely study, and come in a height that is a little higher for easy pickup at gigs when you are switching horns.

Reeds can be frustrating (that’s an understatement!). So let’s discuss some reed basics, and things you might do to get more out of your reeds. First of all, every reed cannot be made to play well. Generally, most players find that two to three reeds, out of a box of five, will be acceptable. Maybe only one or two will play great. So don’t spend a lot of time trying to trim, sand or shave a reed thinking it eventually can be made to play well. This is just a fact of life.

So what are some things you should do? You need four simple things for reed care and maintenance. First you need a quality reed trimmer to trim reeds to make them stiffer. I like to use a Coudier-Lunic brand. Second, you need a Vandoren Glass Resurfacer for sanding the reed bottom to make it softer and, perhaps more important, ensuring that the bottom of the reed is flat and even so that it seats well on the mouthpiece. Third, you need a glass (preferably with square sides) to soak the reed before practice. And last, you need a nice reed case (like the four reed Vandoren blue plastic cases) for storing your reed.

I also like to rotate my reeds. I think it helps them last a little longer. I typically will start the week with three decent reeds. Every time I do a MPT 30-minute session, I will switch to the next reed. Before I practice, I soak it for a few minutes. After I finish practicing, I remove the reed from the mouthpiece, swab out the horn and neck, and rinse the reed off with fresh water. I then stick it back in my Vandoren 4-reed case. During the week, I will also break-in two new reeds. Before my weekend gigs, I will usually test all five reeds (the three used reeds and the two new ones), pick the best playing three, and throw out the other two. Sometimes I only throw out one, if I end up with four great reeds. But more often than not, I may need to break-in another reed if I can’t find three really good reeds for the weekend gigs. If you always come prepared with three great playing broken-in reeds, you should not have reed problems at a gig… ever. There’s nothing more frustrating than getting to a gig with poor playing reeds, and no excuse for not being prepared.

To help reads last longer and play better, it should be broken-in properly. Alexander Reeds provide the following instructions for proper reed break-in.

There are many variables that affect the sound you will get from your saxophone. These include the saxophone itself, the mouthpiece, the reed, the ligature, your embouchure, your oral cavity, and the way you move air through your horn. We will talk more about sound production in other lessons, so for now we’ll just discuss some mouthpiece basics.

For a student starting out, it’s best to buy a quality mouthpiece (such as a JodyJazz HS* for tenor, or a Meyer for alto), and stick with that mouthpiece at least until the student has developed good embouchure habits. For starters, a simple ligature (such as a Rovner Dark) should be used. Once the embouchure and intonation is developed, and the student has a good feeling for the sound he or she wants, other mouthpieces (such as metal ones) can be tried.

I happen to use a Jody Jazz HR* on my tenor, alto, and soprano. I think they get a great warm, dark sound, and are fairly free-blowing. But I also like to use a Dave Guardala King if I’m doing an R&B or blues gig. The Guardala has a much louder, bright sound that cuts through the band, but is far too bright (for my liking) in more quiet settings.

The mouthpiece should be cleaned weekly, usually with just warm water and soap. Check with the manufacturer to make sure what method they prefer.

Before I tell you how I clean my pads, let me give you my disclaimer. Pads are fairly delicate, so you may want to ask your repair specialist how he or she would like you to keep them clean. The method I describe below is similar to methods found in a number of sources, the most recent being an article I saw in the Saxophone Journal some time ago. Anyway, here goes…

Cleaning the leather pads must also be done very carefully, in order not to damage the pads or to mess up the key adjustments. Place a small amount of WD-40 on a Q-tip, and gently wipe the pad and the rim of the tone hole under the pad. Do this for all the pads. Wipe off any excess WD-40.

If you’re in a humid climate and have issues with pads sticking, you can also then use another Q-tip to wipe a small amount of Old English lemon oil (it must be this type!) on the pad after it is clean. Again, be sure to wipe off any excess.

Handling the Saxophone

The saxophone is an intricate instrument that needs to be handled carefully and maintained regularly. The best way to pick up a saxophone is by the bell, or with at least one hand holding the bell. You should never pick up the saxophone by grabbing an area with keys. The weight of the saxophone in your hand can easily bend or warp the keys, knocking it out of adjustment.

Saxophone Maintenance

A trained instrument-repair person should regularly check the horn for leaks around the pads, check corks, check springs, check key heights, and perform other minor adjustments. If you have a professional quality horn, adjustments should be made by a repairman who regularly adjusts professional (not just student) quality horns. Ask other top musicians who they use. I like to have my horns adjusted every six months, at least  for horns I play often. In addition, the pads will eventually develop tears or wear out. When this occurs, an entire pad job is needed, which usually runs anywhere between $300 and $700 depending upon the pads used and what other work might be required.

A saxophone should regularly wipe off and clean the saxophone. On a daily basis after practicing, the student should run a wipe (see photo) through the horn to remove any saliva from the main part of the horn.

In addition, the neck should be swapped with either a wipe or a soft rag with a cord. I prefer to remove the mouthpiece after each practice (to keep the cork fresh), but some saxophone players leave the mouthpiece on the neck for extended periods.

The outside lacquer of the horn should be carefully wiped with a little dab of rubbing alcohol on a soft cotton rag. If desired, a little dab of Old English can be used after the alcohol wipe to give the lacquer a little glean. For newer horns, check with your manufacturer to find out what they recommend.

About every few months, the keys should be oiled and the pads gently cleaned. To oil the keys, drop a miniscule drop of key oil into every place where there are moving parts. Keep this oil off of the pads, cork, felt, and lacquer.

Should You Consider An Aftermarket Saxophone Neck?

Play Testing a Peter Ponzol Tenor Neck

By Don Kelly, Copyright 2009, All Rights Reserved

Have you ever wondered if replacement necks really make a difference on your sax? There are a number of really reputable individuals (Ponzol Oleg, Goodson, and others) that make high quality necks, and I’ve always wanted to know if these really make a noticeable improvement. They all claim that using their necks will provide significant improvements in sound and intonation, as compared to using your stock neck. I have to say that I was skeptical that they would make a difference, but most offer money-back guarantees, so I decided to give it a try. Plus they’re pricey at roughly $300 to $500 U.S.

After researching the various models, I decide to try one of Peter Ponzol’s tenor necks for my early 60s Selmer Mark VI. Why try an aftermarket neck? I was motivated for a couple of reasons. First, I bought my horn from a very respectable professional sax player and private dealer from the Northeast. He play-tested it prior to sending it to me, and mentioned that he gave me a different neck because the original just didn’t sound that great. So over the years, I’ve played around with the two necks on my two Mark VIs, and always felt there was a little bit of a “stuffy” sound, or maybe a slight resistance. But overall, I have always loved the way my Mark VIs sound, feel, and play.

Initial Impressions

I contacted Peter Ponzol via his website, www.peterponzol.com, and ordered one of his necks. The first thing Peter does is to have you mail him your current neck so he can approximately match the size. The Ponzol neck arrived on-time and was very carefully packed. Cosmetically, the neck is beautiful. Peter says it’s gold-plated, but it almost has a hint of copper to it. Really looks very well made. When I look at the necks side-by-side, the angle of the Ponzol neck is slightly larger than the stock neck. So while playing, this means that the mouthpiece will be about ¼ inch or so higher (further from the keys) with the Ponzol neck than on the stock neck. It’s so slight that I didn’t notice it while playing; only after I looked at the necks up close. It also seems to me, although I’d need to measure it with a micrometer, that inner diameter of the neck on the mouthpiece side may be slightly larger.

Well, next it was time to try it out. First of all, it fits great on my early 60’s model Selmer Mark VI. Now to see how it sounds. I have two Dave Gaurdala King mouthpieces, and as best I can tell, they are nearly identical. So I put one on my old neck, and one on my new neck, thus allowing me to quickly change necks by just switching over the reed and ligature.

I first notice that the Ponzol neck seems a little less stuffy, and significantly freer-blowing. Being skeptical still, I go back and forth several times, and sure enough, this is the case. I like my setup to be really free-blowing (i.e., small amount of blowing or air pressure to create a sound). I also noticed that the sound seems to be a little more complex, possibly darker.

Finally I notice that the dynamic range and expressiveness of the Ponzol neck seems to be slightly better. By this I mean that I can get a nice ppp sound to a fff sound, and get these extremes with a little less effort. Because of this, I seem to notice that I can do embellishments (expressiveness like growls or subtle sound changes) a little easier or at least more noticeably. Some of these differences may be related to the freer-blowing nature of the Ponzol neck, so I will just need to see if my initial impressions last.

A Couple of Days Later

The saxophone can be a particularly challenging instrument to play in tune. It requires continual use of your ears and constant adjustment depending upon a number of factors, such as volume. So it is fairly tough to come up with a realistic “static” test to check intonation. One of the best ways would be to play random notes on a piano, and seeing how well the saxophone notes match. But this doesn’t provide a way to really measure and record the accuracy of the intonation. So I like to tune the horn, and then compare randomly played notes to a tuner and see how far off I am.

Using this method, I did an intonation check over the full range (every half step) of the instrument today. I started with the Ponzol neck, and then tuned the horn. I then randomly played each note, at a medium volume, and wrote down how far off the intonation was for that note. Using the same reed, mouthpiece, and ligature, I did the same exact thing for the stock neck. What I saw was interesting. The variability (measured as standard deviation) was noticeably better on the Ponzol neck versus the stock neck. This means that over the full range of the instrument, the Ponzol neck was a lot tighter, or closer, to being in tune, as compared to my stock neck. Even though I checked a lot of notes over the full range of the horn using both necks, for this to really be statistically significant, the whole test would need to be repeated a number of times. Nonetheless, this was very promising!

Even though the neck fit into the horn relatively tight on the first day, I’ve now taken it and the horn down to my repairman to have him fit it a little bit tighter. It seems I can’t quite “lock it down” as tight as I like to have it for gigs. I’m also having him shave just a little bit of cork off the Ponzol neck so that I can slide my Guardala King mouthpiece on a little further. So I should be picking it up later today just in time to try it out on a gig tonight.

After The Gig

I was able to pick up my adjusted neck just before the gig. It cost me another $30 to have the fit tweaked, but now it absolutely fits perfect on my main axe, and even on my backup horn. The gig was an outdoor poolside performance with my guitar player friend, Ed Motter-Vlahakos. My impression was the same as a day or two ago; the intonation does “feel tighter.” It seemed easier for me to play in tune, and that I was perhaps making fewer adjustments with my embouchure to stay in tune. I asked Ed to let me know what he thought. Twice he commented that he thought my intonation was noticeably better as well, especially in the sections where he and I play in unison.

Since the Ponzol neck give a fuller, freer-blowing sound, I’m now contemplating trying a mouthpiece that’s slightly warmer than my Guardala King. Jeez, seems like there’s always something else to try! My guess is that as I play exclusively on the Ponzol neck over the next few weeks, it will even be easier for me to notice the difference between it and my stock neck. We’ll just have to see!

Bottom Line

So should you run out and replace your neck? The answer is “It depends.” If you’re happy with the sound you’re getting, then you may not want to even experiment. But from my experience, especially if you have an older instrument, I think there’s a possibility that you could notice a marked improvement in both sound an intonation. Peter mentioned to me that I may even notice more improvement over time, and after a week, I’m beginning to agree with him.

So have you tried a different neck on your horn? What was your experience? Email me and let me know!

About the Author. Don Kelly, Ph.D., is a Houston based saxophonist and flautist. He plays a variety of music, including contemporary jazz, R&B, latin, funk, jazz standards, blues, and classic rock. He has played with the Kim Kafka Group, S&G Project, Juan Manuel, Black Friday, The Blue Monks, Sparky Koerner Quartet, Austin Big Band, Devere Pride, On Time Airline, Kemah Bums, The Zentenos, Ed Motter, and numerous others. Don has been greatly influenced and has studied under trumpeter Ken Waters and saxophonists Woody Witt, Mike Palmerari, Jeff Kashiwa, Bob Ackerman, Bob Sheppard, Mark “Kaz” Kazinoff, and Jake Lampe. For information on gigs or lessons, contact Don at don.kelly@mac.com or visit the www.equinoxjazz.net website.