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Grafton + TH & C alto || Naked Lady 10M || TT soprano || Martin Comm III
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Temperature can affect the pitch, cold can make it sound flatter.

I think you can leave the mouthpiece on but not for too long because you really ought to be cleaning it out from time to time.

Regarding tuning just put it back in the roughly the same place. If it sounds flat just push it on a bit. If it’s sharp just blame everyone else :)
 

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Yes, temperature has a big effect. I wouldn't recommend leaving the mouthpiece on. If you never let the cork decompress, it will stay that way and your mouthpiece will no longer fit tightly. So you'll have to get your cork replaced far sooner. In addition to too much compression, your mouthpiece can also fuse to the cork and get stuck to the point you can't get it off without destroying the cork. Unless you live in place where the temperature and humidity never change, you'll always need to move the mouthpiece a little. Lastly, if you're not taking it off, it's probably not getting cleaned very well, leading to some nasty smelling and looking bacteria and mold.

After a few weeks, you'll see a permanent indention where the mouthpiece usually goes, which will serve as a good visual starting point.

We have a joke in my band about guys who always have their mouthpiece in the same place or are perfectly in tune without making adjustments. We say the horn was "factory tuned", which is of course ridiculous.
 

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Well, if you don't mind the cork getting crushed down so the MP is loose, and if you don't mind that after long enough the cork will stick to the inside of the MP and get ripped off the neck when you do finally take the MP off, go right ahead.
 

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Temperature can affect the pitch, cold can make it sound flatter.

I think you can leave the mouthpiece on but not for too long because you really ought to be cleaning it out from time to time.

Regarding tuning just put it back in the roughly the same place. If it sounds flat just push it on a bit. If it's sharp just blame everyone else :)
Hey, it's better to be sharp than out of tune!
 

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I told this story in another thread a while back. There are many reasons why you don't want to leave it on the neck (cork compressing, humidity under the reed will corrode a metal mouthpiece, etc). IMO the most important is hygiene. I friend of many years ago started learning sax and after each practice, he would usually put his sax on display fully assembled in his living room till next session. A few months into this routine he caught a super nasty lip infection due to bacterias that developed in his mouthpiece from not cleaning it. He gave up playing sax after that episode.
 

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If there is a mouthpiece placement where you are generally in tune, it is easy to take a ball point pen and make a mark at that location. Tuning will change due to temperature, stiffness of reed, etc. but this mark will provide a good benchmark for where to start.
 

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Any reason not to? Can temperature affect the pitch of the sax? I want to leave the mouthpiece on the neck to avoid having to retune.
Three words, hygiene, hygiene and hygiene! Your mouthpiece should be cleaned after every session. how long does it take to tune up, a minute? The longer you play you should be able to put your mouthpiece on the neck and visually measure how much cork is left exposed. Or like others have said, simply mark a line on the cork where the mouthpiece ends.
 

· Distinguished SOTW Member, Forum Contributor 2015-
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Any reason not to? Can temperature affect the pitch of the sax? I want to leave the mouthpiece on the neck to avoid having to retune.
If you don't brush your teeth, you don't need to clean your mouthpiece.

Ewwwwwwwww...
 

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How would you swab the neck with the MPC on? How do you clean the gunk in the MPC when it is on the neck? Just leave it on for 2 weeks, and then take some CLEAN toilet paper and wipe out the inside of the mouthpiece. After that you'll never leave it on again. As for tuning. that's what we have ears for and if they don't work, there are online or other digital tuners.
 

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Any reason not to? Can temperature affect the pitch of the sax? I want to leave the mouthpiece on the neck to avoid having to retune.
Is a frequently asked question with many answers, please consult the archives whenever possible, nothing prevents you from adding to an older evergreen thread such as one of these... ( just mark the position with a pencil on the cork)

https://forum.saxontheweb.net/showthread.php?78118-leave-mouthpiece-attached-how-long
https://forum.saxontheweb.net/showthread.php?328986-Leave-Mouthpiece-on-Neck-or-Remove-After-Playing
https://forum.saxontheweb.net/showt...-mouthpiece-stored-on-or-off-the-neck-and-why
 

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I leave mine on 100% of the time. I just take the reed off, then throw the neck/mouthpiece combo into a pouch and into my bell. Have been doing that as long as I can remember - no issues here!
Is that what you teach your students to do as well?
 

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Is that what you teach your students to do as well?
Nope - I'm just saying what I do and my experience with doing it. I also play with horrendous technique, and also teach my students to play correctly. There are many things I do on saxophone that are not correct - my job as an educator is to get my kids to do them correctly, and NOT make the mistakes that I make.
 
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