The Path to Enlightenment

Spirituality, divine inspiration, introspection and self-discovery... Yes!  All these things can contribute in a very positive way to your experience as a musician.  I'm talking about something else, though:

Leak lights.

Every saxophone player should have one - no matter what age or skill level.  Period.

You spend all sorts of time and money selecting the right horn, the right mouthpiece.  You search endlessly for that tech that "gets it" and appreciates the difference between your setup and the multitude of school rentals that occupy most of the rest of their time.

The more specific you can be with an automotive mechanic about the problem you are having with your car, the better chance they will correctly identify the problem.  Better yet, if you have the ability to do some basic diagnostics, not only will they probably fix the problem correctly, they will be less inclined to take advantage of you as a customer.  Of course, all instrument technicians are perfectly honest individuals that would never think to take advantage of anyone, so it was probably unnecessary to make that point, right?  Right?...

The saxophone is both a mechanical marvel and a mechanical nightmare - your perspective being a function of on how much you understand about the mechanism, itself.  Now... I don't recommend you take your horn apart out of boredom as there are many many surprises lurking around the corner.  Little bits flying apart, standing a good chance of getting lost or bent in the process.  If you have a saxophone with needle springs, you may want to consider firmly stabbing yourself in the finger tip with a push pin before taking the instrument apart.  That way you will know how it is going to feel when you have an unintentional run-in with those pesky springs.

Best thing to do if you feel the urge to get terribly intimate with your saxophone... buy a junker and rip it apart with no expectations other than to get your hands dirty and have some fun.  Try to put it back together into a condition better than it was when you took it apart.  If you can do that, consider yourself accomplished as some techs still don't seem to know how to do that consistently ;)

A leak light is a non-destructive, ever so slightly intrusive way to both learn about your instrument and perform a basic diagnosis to discover issues that you knew were bothering you and perhaps find a few others you hadn't expected.

A short rope light from a home improvement store is a fine, inexpensive way to equip yourself for this task.  You'll be out all of about 5 to 10 bucks.  Cheaper than the half-box of reeds you'll end up throwing away because "they all suck" on account of a pad leak you are unaware of...

There IS expensive, specialized equipment you can spend hundreds of dollars on for detecting leaks and, yes, it IS worth it if you are the kind of person who has the need, desire, (and means) to extract the highest level of performance out of your instrument.  The more expensive lights are very bright - typically fluorescent tubes - and they are so effective that you don't necessarily have to put yourself into a pitch black room to see the leaks between the pad and tonehole.  If you really want to keep yourself up late at night making your horm perfect, get yourself a Magnahelic.  Use your search engine if you need an explanation on that one...

So... you simply run the light down the body of the horn and turn it on with various keys depressed.  The darker the room you are in, the more you will see.  Do not press any harder on the keys than you normally do when you play.  Note the interactions between the upper and lower stack.  Note which keys are normally closed when not in use like the palm keys, for example.  If one of those little guys are off just a little bit, they will bring havoc to everything else down below.  If a pad is supposed to be closed but light escapes from anywhere around the pad to tonehole interface, you have found yourself a leak - Congratulations!

Anyhow... I don't have the time to provide a step by step process for checking over your entire instrument and adjusting keys and pads and such - I just wanted to sensitize you to the importance of identifying and addressing pad leaks.  There are resources out there which can guide you through the process and even give basic instruction on how to replace pads.  If you've never replaced a pad before, for heaven's sake don't try it out on your main horn.  There's a knack to just about everything related to saxophone repair.  As it was invented prior to the cathode ray tube, unfortunately it usually takes more than a firm whack to the side of it when it starts to act up.  If you see a pad leak, take note of it and point it out to your tech.  It could be related to the pad, itself, or perhaps some other complex mechanical interaction - let your tech sort that one out.

If you find yourself having issues with sounding specific notes on the horn and you are frustrated that all the whiz-bang mouthpieces you've been trying aren't making your world a happier place, consider that you may have a pad leak!

It is my hope that now you, and soon your saxophone, are enlightened!


How's your neck?

Aside from it being sore from all those hours of practicing with too thin of a neckstrap...

Actually - I'm talking about the neck of your saxophone.

When you insert the tenon into the body of the horn, does it go in easily?  It should go in with a slight bit of resistance, but not so much that you are having to force it in risking "push-down" damage to the neck.

Once the neck is fully inserted, do you have to tighten the receiver screw with much force for the neck to stabilize?  Once the tenon is fully engaged and you start to feel some resistance when turning the receiver screw, you should only have to turn it 1/8 to 1/4 a full revolution.  No more!  If you are having to pull the receiver shut with the screw for more than 1/2 a turn to get the neck to stabilize, it is too loose and performance problems could result.

Just last weekend I was noticing I was having some trouble playing notes below low E.  I got out my leak light and could find absolutely NO pad leaks.  I knew my neck was a little loose, but I didn't think that would be the culprit.  Perplexed, I attended to what I had been putting off and re-fitted my tenon to the horn and wouldn't you know... all better now.

And if your neck tenon has an uneven pattern of wear lines that run it's length in seemingly random locations, it's likely that either the tenon, the receiver, or both are out of round.  Need both to be true to each other (like any happy couple) for optimum performance.  With the neck installed in the horn (and the screw left loose), there should be an even feel of resistance as you rotate the neck all the way around.  If it binds or goes loose on it's round-trip, then it's time to pay your tech a visit.

And don't put any lubricants into the tenon to receiver connection.  All it will do is encourage the build-up of other crud that you don't want in there - unnecessarily scratching and wearing things out.

Also... Does your mouthpiece fit well to your neck cork?  I can't emphasize enough how important this interface is.  Also, the fit has to be right in the right place - which is the TIP of the neck.  Just because a mouthpiece fits snugly at the shank end does not mean that it is fitting properly.  Gaps within the mouthpiece at the tip of the neck can cause stuffiness, low end "warbling" and other performance phenomena.

So if the tip of your neck cork is chipped up - replace it - and when it's replaced, make sure the tech keeps the tip of the neck cork fat enough to seal well against the interior of the mouthpiece.  If it's too thick, it can get damaged when attaching the mouthpiece to the neck, so be careful not to go too far with this.

And what's the deal with the "ferrule" at the tip of Selmer (and other) necks?  It's there to protect the tip of the neck from damage, but I would much rather be careful not to damage the neck and get that piece of metal out of there and have cork all the way to the tip of the neck (like can be done with Keilwerth necks).  In some instances you can have a thin layer of cork around the ferrule, but the fit can be tight in the mouthpiece so it may or may not hold up over the long haul.

Anyhow - make sure your tenon to receiver fit is solid and that your neck cork is in good health.

NOTE:  Not all techs are knowledgeable or sensitive to what I've pointed out here.  Don't be surprised if they look a little confused when you point out the specifics of what you need done.  It could even be possible that your tech doesn't have the right tools to round and fit a tenon to receiver correctly.  But that's another story for another day...

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Reeds and Resonance

Resonance occurs when a dynamic system reaches a relatively steady state such that minimal energy input is required to keep the system in that state.  For a saxophone player, every time a tone is produced, the system's resonance has a say in what kind of tone results - further, how much effort is required for tone production.

Think of producing a tone on a saxophone as a complex machine. The reed, the facing, and other factors combined with the player's personal embouchure, determination and stamina all come together to form the system from which tone is produced. Yes - include the players' psyche as part of the system as the mind is part of the feedback loop as much as the ears.

Imagine some optimum configuration for the system which requires minimal effort to keep the machine running - a nice clear tone comes out and can be held steady for a reasonable duration - the performer can reach their lows and highs with an acceptable amount of effort - a minimal amount of effort, even.

Then imagine modifying one aspect of the system - taking in a different amount of mouthpiece, changing to a softer or harder reed, increasing or decreasing the tip opening, finally fixing that pad leak, etc. Now you may have to adjust other inputs or factors in the system to find that optimum configuration.

Fine tuning a player's system is a matter of going through reeds, mouthpieces, horns, technicians, refacers, gurus, psychologists... until that optimum point is found. This is why the holy grail (however one defines it for themselves) is so elusive. That's the thing about stars aligning... they never stay there.

About those stars... Having an efficient mouthpiece can have a dramatic effect on performance and the player's experience - similar to and as significant as having a horn completely refurbished. The system can now tolerate greater variation of inputs and parameters such that there are now fewer "bad" reeds. Altissimo is still attainable in high humidity, etc.  The sweet spot has been expanded.

It's my observation that reed type and strength is one of the most significant factors when it comes to a player finding their sweet spot relative to mouthpiece choice, tip opening, and facing design. Having worked with hundreds of players through countless dialogues, I came to the conclusion a while back that individuals are geared towards certain reeds and reed strengths moreso than tip opening. I'm a 2.5 player. I can play 3's on some pieces and 2's on others, but I'm most happy with my playing experience (tone, stamina, etc.) when I tune my setup around a 2.5 reed.

Sometimes players go through mpc after mpc because they are on the wrong strength reed. Perhaps convinced they are a 3 player, they are really a 3.5 player and need to go to a smaller tip opening to find their sweet spot - their range of resonance for the tone they seek. Or they think they need to be on 3.5's (due to machismo, ill-informed band directors, etc.) and really what they need is to back off to a 3 and go with a little larger tip opening to find their personal tone zone.

What number are YOU?

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