Poll - Easiest Blowing Tenor

[Balladeer]

What is the easiest blowing tenor you have played? By "easiest blowing" I mean that the notes, including the right-hand low register, could be started and sustained with a very weak air column. Some horns, even in good adjustment, seem to require a little more uumph to get the notes going. While a few horns seem to play simply by exhaling into the horn. The easiest blowing tenor I played is a friend's Buescher TH&C. So, what is the easiest blowing tenor you have played?

[Enviroguy]

My Buescher 400 ain't bad. You can ease into a low b flat easier than on my boy's Yamaha 62II. This is especially true with the Buescher mpc that's original to the horn. My Link STM make it take a bit more air. And that's true on all notes when using a Link.

I'm not so sure that this is a function of the horn's design. The sealing of the pads and the mpc/reed setup may have more to do with it. Resistance from the mpc and neck probably also plays a part.

[SAXISMYAXE]

The Martin Committee horns. Second on my list would be a toss up between most of the Conn 10M/6Ms I have played, and the Super 20's. My TH&C's are definitely nice blowing horns too, but the Martin ranks first for me.

[saintsday]

The beater 156 Buescher that won the ugliest sax duel here a while back. Morgan, Berg or old hr Brillhart- a whisper is all it takes.

[OnyxSax]

A well adjusted Conn Chu is a very free blowing horn on its bottom end. 10Ms are similar, but they don't seem to be as rich sounding as the Chus lower end.

[Mactenor]

Conn 10M
Best Regards Mactenor

[Dr G]

Borgani Jubilee

[gary]

Well, I sure haven't played all that are out there, but I've played a decent cross-section and the biggest difference for me has not been in the horn, but in the mouthpiece.

[Balladeer]

A couple responses, above, point to the mouthpiece/reed factor having more significance than the horn itself. I'd like to say that I had my mouthpiece and Guardala tenor with me when I tried my friend's TH&C. The difference in ease of producing tone between my Guardala and his TH&C was huge! The Buescher produced solid tone with very little effort. While my Guardala requires a substantial amount of air support to start the notes. At my age I'd like to relax and blow more easily.

[Nefertiti]

Why not get a TH&C then?

[saxmanglen]

The Buescher produced solid tone with very little effort. While my Guardala requires a substantial amount of air support to start the notes. At my age I'd like to relax and blow more easily.


So..........are you saying you no longer want to be a "blowhard"? Some of us just can't help it. :shock: :D Doh!

[Saxland]

The easiest I have played is my Buffet Dynaction tenor. Next is the Keilwerth Shadow I tried last year.

[Balladeer]

Nefertiti: Why not get a TH&C? ...money!

saxmanglen: You've got that right. I'm trying to maintain better manners. I no longer want to be a blowhard.

I want to learn whether all Buescher TH&C tenors play this easily. I wonder if the Aristocrat and Big B, also, tend to be easy players. I was talking on the phone with a guy about this topic last week, and he brought up the affect of aging on the sax. His point was that a tenor that I think blows easier may feel that way because the horn vibrates more easily. He said this is something that results from playing the horn over and over for years, and that is why many consider new horns to play stiffly.

[Master.America]

Between the only two tenors I've played, my Mark VI and my early Bundy, I'd have to say... my Bundy. I don't prefer it over the VI because the action's so slow, but it blows a lot like the VI does. Which is odd, I think; does it mean that my VI needs adjusting?

[shmuelyosef]

I have to say that the Yanagisawas for me are the easiest blowing, most responsive horns around. The Super 20s are also very good and perhaps have a little more dynamic range available.

[Enviroguy]

Looks like the Bueschers are doing pretty well in this survey.

[JL]

I want to learn whether all Buescher TH&C tenors play this easily. I wonder if the Aristocrat and Big B, also, tend to be easy players.

Yes, the Big B/156 Aristocrat tenor is a very free-blowing horn. I have one of these and it's noticeably more free-blowing than my MKVI. The earlier "series one" Aristocrat is a bit more resistant and focussed, but still blows easy. I believe there was a long thread on this topic a few months ago.

[SuperDave]

Between the only two tenors I've played, my Mark VI and my early Bundy, I'd have to say... my Bundy. I don't prefer it over the VI because the action's so slow, but it blows a lot like the VI does. Which is odd, I think; does it mean that my VI needs adjusting?

Yeah Bundy's are much better and valuable than VI's
I'll give you enough money for your dog of a VI to get a back up Bundy!:|

[KingHarvest22]

Looks like the Bueschers are doing pretty well in this survey.

That's because buescher are great horns. Selmer's may have been great, but they get too much credit.

[brassnaked]

Borgani Jubilee

[hgiles]

The beater 156 Buescher that won the ugliest sax duel here a while back. Morgan, Berg or old hr Brillhart- a whisper is all it takes.

The Big B that lost the ugliest horn contest is a pretty easy blower too. Defies logic how this thing can blow so freely and have so much tone!

[Grumpie]

For free blowing I find the Buescher 156 and the Conn 10M are very close. The easiest blowing, low end in particular, is my 156. The 10M needs a bit more attention here for me but I'm only working my new 10M for about a week now so there is still some progress to be made. But at the moment it feels to me the 10M needs more air down below.

[Dr G]

That's because buescher are great horns. Selmer's may have been great, but they get too much credit.

So to compensate for Selmer's long reign of being great, now we must give all kudos and credits to Buescher. Hmmm, this reeks of reverse discrimination.

[Bootman]

Martin Committee II tenor is the most free blowing, better than a Chu or 10M. THe Bueschers are verygood too but a little too focused to be considered really free blwoing. THe Martin tenors play very freely down low too!

[saintsday]

So to compensate for Selmer's long reign of being great, now we must give all kudos and credits to Buescher. Hmmm, this reeks of reverse discrimination.

Exactly right, Doc. You should send me any old VIs, SBAs or peashooters that you have lying around and I'll send you back some nice fashionable Bueschers.

[1saxman]

'The Martin Tenor'

The word 'buttery' doesn't often come up about these horns for nothing.

[Honeyboy]

My easiest blowing set-up is my '49 Aristocrat 156 with a Berg Larsen 130/2 mouthpiece and a 2 1/2 Vandoren ZZ reed. My '53 The Martin would be next. Actually, I'd say they are even.The Berg seems to make playing in the lower register easier than most of my other mouthpieces. For example, with a Dukoff D7 or an Otto Link NY 5*or 7* I have to change my embochure a bit to voice low D and lower whereas on the Berg it is just there instantly as I finger it. Maybe these mouthpieces need work on them??
My Mark VI is not as loud or freeblowing as the Buescher or Martin and is more focused and sweet sounding- more refined. Interesting also is when I put a different neck on the Selmer (I think it's from a Signet) it is more freeblowing and has a brighter tone to it, the original is more dark and focused.The Signet one has a higher arch on the crook of the neck.

[speyman]

I believe that any Tenor that is in proper adjustment (no leaks) and has a good mouthpiece/reed setup is easy to play in the lower register. I think it is more the player than the horn.

[Wailin']

The easiest tenor I've ever blown into is one that had the correct mpc- reed match combination!!

[Colin B]

Strangely enough, a Weltklang Solist from the early seventies. Easy low notes and a really "earthy" sound throughout. It even plays resonably in tune..........not that it matters too much as most of the "audience" where I've been playing recently would be too drunk to notice.

[stevesklar]

blowed a mint 10M this past week - had to try several mpcs until one really worked well with it - i think i played it the most since it was bought. it had a repad a couple of years ago. it was very easy in the low registers.

though i think my old Couf Superba 1 was still easier on the low notes. super easy ...... plus my old long gone Superba 2. But my VII aint too far behind though .. have to give it a few tweaks and the pads are still original which I'll swap out one of these days.

[Swingtone]

Maybe it would help to clarify if an extremely free-blowing sax is an asset or a detriment. I owned a ca. 1971 King Super 20 tenor that was easily the most free-blowing sax I've ever blown--way moreso than my 1950 156 Buescher Aristocrat. In short, a low Bb could actually shake the house. But I eventually sold it because of this very characteristic--basically, it was too hard to control. I now own a 1957 Zephyr (finally got a truly great King after half a dozen tries), that is a real monster but with a little more finesse/resistance than the Eastlake Super 20.

I think that free-blowing is good, but only up to a point.

[John_Dikeman]

I currently own a Buescher Series 1 and a Conn 30M. I also played a Big B for a few months recently and I still consider the Keilwerth SX-90 R the most free-blowing. And, as Swingtone mentioned, for me I prefer a bit more resistance. For loud stuff it doesn't make a lot of difference, but the resistance is wonderful for playing very softly with a lot of air and really shaping your sound. With the Keilwerth you could barely blow and it would speak with a nice fat sound, but not as rich as what I get with the Buescher or Conn at a similar volume.

[Hotspur]

A Cannonball Hotspur

[Mactenor]

The Martin Tenor

[SaxxMan]

A Cannonball Hotspur
Yessss!....

I was wondering how long before someone mentioned cannonball...

My stone-series tenor was the easiest blowing, smoothest playing sax I ever played...
that's why I chose it over more "legendary" brands...

Talk about free-blowin....
if my cat runs past the sax on it's stand....you hear a feint C# floating softly out of the horn....;) :D





well...OK....maybe that sound is coming from the cat...

[unbalancedaction]

So I think that the "easiest blowing tenor" is probably whichever one you have been using for the longest. If you are looking for a first pro horn (which is fine), I would suggest buying a Mark VII. They are fantastic value these days (some can be had for under $1500), and they are the closest thing to a late-Mark VI (minus the neck).

If you put a Mark VI neck on a VII, you will be hard pressed to tell the difference between a late-VI (160,000 and up), I urge you all to try this.

The problem with this question is that money is always a factor in every purchase. The "easiest blowing tenor" with costs aside is an early-VI, or an SBA (Super Balanced Action)/BA (Balanced Action)/RI tenor (Radio Improved). Radio Improved horns are the cheaper of all, and SBAs are the dearest. In my experience, they are blow very similar but they feel very different from eachother.

[hakukani]

So I think that the "easiest blowing tenor" is probably whichever one you have been using for the longest. If you are looking for a first pro horn (which is fine), I would suggest buying a Mark VII. They are fantastic value these days (some can be had for under $1500), and they are the closest thing to a late-Mark VI (minus the neck).

If you put a Mark VI neck on a VII, you will be hard pressed to tell the difference between a late-VI (160,000 and up), I urge you all to try this.

The problem with this question is that money is always a factor in every purchase. The "easiest blowing tenor" with costs aside is an early-VI, or an SBA (Super Balanced Action)/BA (Balanced Action)/RI tenor (Radio Improved). Radio Improved horns are the cheaper of all, and SBAs are the dearest. In my experience, they are blow very similar but they feel very different from eachother.

I've tried two or three SBA tenors. I found them all to be 'stuffy'--I assume that is the opposite of 'free blowing'. The only time I played an SBA that wasn't stuffy was when the original neck was replaced with a MK VI neck. Played better, but the intonation was a bit off.

YMMV, and I admit I haven't played all of them.

[Lairmon]

I've owned and thus tried 3 MK VI tenors, '74 ,'71, and still own a '68. I played a Yamaha 62 tenor for 20 years before the Selmers and also own a Buescher 400 TH&C Tenor from 1949. The TH&C wins the easiest to blow contest out of these horns using either a Morgan 7E or 8M with 3 to 3 1/2 strength reeds. I've also played over several days a few different Couf tenors, which I think where about the next easiest to blow. I've played The Selmer series II's and III's and a few Ref 54s. Half of the Selmers were not set up right though, thus harder to blow. So, with my experience with Tenors its the TH&C for sure!...

[Swingin' Cat]

King Super 20

[bfoster64]

I agree the TH&C is very easy blowing, particularly in the low register.

My Buffet SDA is comparable to the TH&C in this respect. The low notes are very easy to play with hardly a whisper. The rest of the horn is also very free blowing, and even more so with a Barone neck.

Older King Super20/Zephyrs are very free blowing overall but not so much in the low register, which I find somewhat resistant.

My experience with Conn 10ms and Chus has been similar. They are very free blowing in general, but require more air support in the low end than is needed on a TH&C or Buffet SDA.

I played a Yani 991B alto yesterday that was free blowing in the sense that it would respond to very little air pressure, i.e., you could easily play in soft dynamics, but when you increased the airstream the resistance also seemed to increase. I can see why these horns have a good reputation among classical musicians.

I also agree with the comment about the Guardala in that my B&S Allora requires quite a bit of air support in the low end. All of the horns listed above are more free blowing. However, I further agree that free blowing is not always a good thing, and the resistance of the B&S Allora is much less than many other horns I have played. I think it responds a lot like a Selmer Ref 54.

In my experience, it is also true that the mouthpiece and reed have an even greater impact on the "free-blowingness" than the horn itself. That having been said, it is revealing to compare horns by using the same mpc/reed setup on each one and feeling for resistance.

For me, having a free blowing low end is really important because then I can use a harder reed and retain a better core and more stability in the high end without sacrificing expressiveness in the bottom. However, outside of the low end, free-blowingness is not so imperative and the differences between the horns are less noticeable.

[cfbugsbunny]

Yani's seem to be the most open and free blowing for me.

[Swingtone]

Late model (Eastlake) Super 20's--an old tenor caused pictures on the walls, or even the walls themselves, to shake/vibrate.

[Swingtone]

Older King Super20/Zephyrs are very free blowing overall but not so much in the low register, which I find somewhat resistant.

How many of them have you played? There is a lot of variation in the old King's due to hand production, and you might have had a stuffy one. I went through 8 vintage King tenors (S20's and Zephyrs--at least three were on the stuffy side), until I finally found one that lived up to the King legend--a 1956 Zephyr tenor (side note: the intonation is spot-on!). Man, this one's really got that Griffin buzz and hum thing goin' on. It has a thunderous low Bb and can take as much as I can give it. I have never played a Buffet that can take as much as you give. They seem to wimp out at a certain point...guess it's their classical nature.