sop woes

[dingfelder]

I just got my new cheap soprano off ebay...

It arrived last night and I eagerly opened the case, and was relatively impressed with the packing, it seemed to survive the trip well.

The only problem is that it is the wrong horn :shock:
The seller sent me a brass sop instead of the nickel one I won :roll:
I sent him an email and now am waiting on a response.

Before putting it back into the case and repacking it, I took out the key wedges used for shipping, and tried to see what it sounded like...

I could barely make a sound

My chops are not very good, and when I do I play it is on a Bari.

Should a soprano be hard to get a tone out on for a newbie?

Note: I assume the crappy reed he inclosed is junk and the mouthpiece belongs in the trash. I bought a new #8 Runyon Metal Quantum and 2 Fibracell Reeds ( 3 & 3.5) a but this order has not arrived yet.

What is the chance that the playability will improve with the new piece?

[Mike Ruhl]

What is the chance that the playability will improve with the new piece?Very good. I took up soprano three years ago after decades as a tenor-only player. I could barely make it play with the cheap mpc that came with it. Once I got a decent mpc, though, I did a lot better.

[Bill08690]

The finger keys [LH 123, RH 123] should play fairly easy even for a novice. If the reed is too hard then more lip pressure is needed, but it should not be very difficult. Try to sound C#, all keys up. Then proceed down the stack and see if there is a leak in one of the main pads. I would suggest #2 reeds to start with until you get the hang of the Sop. I think the Fibercells you ordered may be too hard for a beginner especially with a #8 mpc. But hold on to them as you will require harder reeds in a short time.

The palm keys and the front high F are tough on the Sop and you may require some time to sound these notes. Do not give up, the Sop is a whole different horn and requires some different skills to play. However, it is a great horn in the hands of a capable player.

Finally, your low buck horn can probably be made to play just fine, but may require some careful adjustments. If you have a leak light I would suggest verifying that all the pads close tightly.

Good luck......

[pknight]

I also had problems making much of any sound the first time I played my first soprano. The dog hid and the milk curdled. A better mouthpiece helped, and eventually a better soprano helped even more. However, the biggest factor is experience. I hope you get the right instrument without any problems.

[dingfelder]

After weeks of waiting, I finally got my correct horn.

I slapped the new mouthpice on it, and let out a wail :lol:

I was able to play all the notes in the upper register, but anything below a low F warbles and glugs quite badly.

I am gonna get out the leak light tonight and see if anything is out of whack.

I think the intonation is pretty bad but I need to get an electronic tuner to be sure.

Anyone ever adjust key hights on a piece of junk Maxtone ?

[Bill08690]

The Soprano is sensitive to mouthpiece volume on the lower notes. You can push the mouthpiece onto the neck to see if that clears up the gurggle. With a tuner balance the mouthpiece position between the low end and high end tuning. It's been said that the high end is sensitive to the distance between the reed and the tone hole where the low end is sensitive to the mouthpiece volume. On the Soprano everything is in micro inches so go slow with any adjustments.

Key heights are a subject that requires a lot of verbiage to describe. What I do is play low Bb and adjust the mouthpiece to get the horn in tune. Then proceed up the horn and adjust key heights to keep the scale even. For example, if going from low Bb to B the horn goes flat then the Bb key need to be raised.

I have noticed that the lower stack key heights are often set too low. Especially low C#. To double check any key height, play a note and slowly push down on the next lower key. If the note you are sounding goes stuffy right away then the key height is probably too low. There should be a little slack in lowering the next lower key before the note goes flat or stuffy. Adjustments are made by sanding the cork on the high stop foot for that key. Do not bend keys up from the tube as you will have to regulate the whole stack.

Finally, warm the horn up before taking any readings and do not worry about the high palm keys at first.

Hope this helps.....

[retread]

I get low note gurgles when I hold the soprano at too low an angle. When I hold it up so the mouthpiece is straight into my mouth, rather than angled down like a clarinet, the gurgles stop.

[Bill08690]

Sounds about right. See Paul Coats' articles on playing Soprano on the home page of this website. You can also experiment with opening the throat on the low notes too. Use long tones to experiment with throat size to get the tone and tuning needed.

Good luck...

[mstrick96]

I'm taking up soprano after playing the clarinet for many years.

When I first tried my Yanagisawa I had the same problem with gurgles. In my case, it was that my embrochure was wrong and needed some developing. Also, I was blowing it more across the mouthpiece (like a clarinet) instead of straight thru.

I am certainly no expert like most of the folks on this forum, but having been where you are recently, I would suggest that you just keep at it. I was about to give up when I got some help in the form of a lesson and things are much better for me now.

Mike S

[JohnZ]

Bill, you didn't mention whether you have a curved or straight Maxtone. I bought a curved Maxtone about 6 months ago, and it's a whole lot better than a straight cheapo I've had for a few years. If low notes don't play easily, you surely have a leak, possibly the screw that adjusts the linkage between the lower F key & the upper Bflat. Keep after the leaks, as the pads will need to set, but don't go making all kinds of adjustments just for intonation yet. Don't be in too big a hurry to toss the stock mouthpiece, especially if you are new to the soprano. It might not "wail" like a better one, but it should play in tune if you don't try to "overblow" it. My Maxtone curved soprano experience has been that the weak part is the springs. This makes for frequent adjustments and a mushy feel. Intonation shouldn't be a problem. Above all, don't bend or force anything. There are plenty of screw adjustments to explore.

[Morry]

I had some low note problems when I first tried to take up soprano back in the mid 80s. I can't tell you what I did different upon taking it back up a year ago, other than using a decent Selmer C* mouthpiece, instead of the stock Yamaha piece.

[dingfelder]

btw, pushing the piece in farther solved all my woes :)