[terjeo]

Hi all C-melody fans!
I have a couple of silver plated Conn straight necks (serial no's within a few thousand in the 137xxx range), and they both have the same problem; The middle C is extremely flat! Using alternate fingering (RH palm key) is a lot better, but still not in tune with the rest. In general the lower stack is sharp and the higher is flat; I can usually compensate for that, but not the C. Necks are original with microtuners, I have a C-mel mouthpiece and use tenor reeds. They are both beautiful instruments but kind of useless right now.
Any ideas?
I've ordered a new C-mel mouthpiece from Aquilasax; anybody have any experience with them? I've also ordered one of his necks and some reeds, so I should probably just wait for his shipment and try them.

Any suggestion is appreciated!

 

[ukebert]

Aquilasax is great, excellent service etc. etc.

The middle C is fairly common I'm afraid, but using the ballad C isn't that big a deal. as for the Stack, could be a pad angle problem.

Ultimately, saxophones are never going to play in tune. These were made 80 years ago, so it isn't surprising that a little bit of creativity is needed. There are ways to compensate, including mouthpieces, reeds necks etc. etc. etc. I'm sure others more knowledgeable than I will help. Doc Frazier alters the angle that the pads make with the hole when closed, which is supposed to help with intonation.

 

[csax]

I suppose that's another 'slant' (pun intended) on altering the internal profile of the tonehole ! There's something wierd along the lines of "reducing the size of a tonehole, as well as optionally building up one side to theoretically 'move it' a tad, has the same effect as raising the open height of the pad". In this case I'm talking about the open LH 'B' pad, which has some bearing on the pitch and clarity of the crossover front C.

I also prefer the pitch and tone of the side/palm "ballad C". It's all a question of balance. Or voodoo.......