Aquilasax replacement neck
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I got an Aquilasax neck for my Conn from Steve too. It was tight on my sax too. I spent a morning sanding down the neck with 400 grit sandpaper and got a perfect fit.
Well,
I took my new Buescher replacement neck to my tech. He showed me how loose the rod/tube was on the octave lever. So he had to make a new rod and size the tube. The tenon was too big on the very end and loose farther up. so for $50.00 he fixed those problems. I tried it briefly, paid him and came home to try it for real. First thing I found is that my SR Technologies Pro tenor piece wasn't going to work. The intonation was bad, octave hell. This new neck is smaller in diameter and shorter than the original. This changes the performance rather dramatically. The whole sax is more alto like. I tried a couple alto pieces and the low register was hard to get and blatty, the high shrill but easy. I tried the Aquilasax metal piece, better than the SR but still very sharp in the upper register. I tried a no-name student piece that is halfway between an alto and tenor in length and bore (it came with one of those plastic recorder/saxs). The intonation is very good, the registers are well matched in timbre and volume. The overall tone is softer and smaller than my SR piece. I think I need a 3 1/2 reed rather than my normal 3. It seems that possibly I will be able to relax my embrouchure and maybe not have to "chew" as much. I have to spend more time and "get" this new setup. My tech said that he could move the pip on my old neck if this doesn't work. I had hoped that this was a "easy fix", but of course that never happens. Oh, the altissimo fingerings that I know are strong and matched with the palm keys.
Updates will be forthcoming.
I took my new Buescher replacement neck to my tech. He showed me how loose the rod/tube was on the octave lever. So he had to make a new rod and size the tube. The tenon was too big on the very end and loose farther up. so for $50.00 he fixed those problems. I tried it briefly, paid him and came home to try it for real. First thing I found is that my SR Technologies Pro tenor piece wasn't going to work. The intonation was bad, octave hell. This new neck is smaller in diameter and shorter than the original. This changes the performance rather dramatically. The whole sax is more alto like. I tried a couple alto pieces and the low register was hard to get and blatty, the high shrill but easy. I tried the Aquilasax metal piece, better than the SR but still very sharp in the upper register. I tried a no-name student piece that is halfway between an alto and tenor in length and bore (it came with one of those plastic recorder/saxs). The intonation is very good, the registers are well matched in timbre and volume. The overall tone is softer and smaller than my SR piece. I think I need a 3 1/2 reed rather than my normal 3. It seems that possibly I will be able to relax my embrouchure and maybe not have to "chew" as much. I have to spend more time and "get" this new setup. My tech said that he could move the pip on my old neck if this doesn't work. I had hoped that this was a "easy fix", but of course that never happens. Oh, the altissimo fingerings that I know are strong and matched with the palm keys.
Updates will be forthcoming.
I feel like a politician. I was always striving for a tenorish sound on my C mel, but since I got my new neck I seem to have flip-flopped. When I tried my SR Technologies alto piece made of bullet-proof lexan (ostensibly based on an old Meyer) with a bass clarinet Rico Royal 3 (it gave it a bigger low end than an alto reed) the sax opened up. Not like a tenor or an alto but a "tenalto" (altor?). The tone is sassy, the timbre and pitch are very flexible. The intonation and evenness of scale are awesome. Wide dynamics seem to be possible. The best thing is that it's easy to play. It feels like I found a Ferrari hiding in my sax. The sound is not as ballsy especially in the low register, but the tradeoff is refinement. Since the neck is shorter than the original the strap issue came up. Ironically one of the shoulder straps that came with my Aquilasax case works well. For a while at least I will use this setup and see how it holds up in a live situation. I have to shed like crazy because I have a gig on Monday and it is outside next to a waterfall.
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Is it not possible to move either the waterfall....or the band?
As I understand it, all the Aquilasax replacement necks are identical apart from the tenon diameter...they seem to be based upon the Conn.
My very tenorish Martin suffers from the "forward octave pip", resulting in weak palm key notes. Noting the "rearward" pip of the replacement Aquilasax I bought one.
As expected, the palm key notes were rock solid....but....it turned my Martin into somewhere between a Conn & a Buescher....a distinct lack of cojones...not for me.
A very good neck in every other respect & very well finished.
I was faced with altering the pip position of the Martin when I turned to my excessive collection of mouthpieces.
With the Martin fitted with it's own neck, all the following resulted in weak palm key notes:- SR Fusion, Berg Larsen, STM Link (especially), Colletto, Dukoff, Runyon, Jody Jazz ESP, Selmer...plus some that I have forgotten. Then I tried the M11 Metalite....solid as a rock in the palm key area. Thinking that this improvement was a feature of the large tip (0.130") I tried my girlie M9 at a mere 0.117"...it was very nearly as good.
It seems not to be a feature of the tip size as the Fusion & some of the others are a similar sized tip to the M9....it is something to do with the internals of the Metalite....& what a ballsy, flexible sound.
Anyone out there with a spare tenor M11 that they would care to sell me?
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