Come on you guys, there must be somebody reading this who has an alto and a tenor. All I'm asking is
how much lower is the right hand position, compaired to the RH position on the alto.

Thanks

 

Without pulling out my horns right now, I can tell you that when I hold my alto, my right forearm is pretty parallel to the floor and even with my belly button. On tenor, my right wrist ends up very close to my hip. This is all from a standing position. If you try to hold your arm in those two fashions, maybe that can give you some idea.

 

Thank you for replying Agent27,

Can you roughly translate that in inches? It sounds about 4 inches, am I correct?

 

go to a music store and hold one.

 

Also, it is possible to hold an alto in front of you when standing -- I tend to have it where the Eb key guard is just in front of my right hip. Tenor, however, does not handle this treatment well. You will almost certainly have it off to the side. Consider that also when thinking about your hand positions, if you are the "alto in front" type.

The best answer is the one already given -- go somewhere you can try one and see for yourself.

 

Measuring from the top of the neck tenon (not including the neck) to the top of the thumb rest, on my YAS 23 and my YTS 23 gives:
20 1/2 inches on the Tenor,
15 inches on the Alto.
Note that the thumb rest on both is adjustable, but they currently line up pretty well with the f key (lower stack).

 

Thank you very much for mesuring Bfahle.

 

Really the bigger difference I feel between alto and tenor is the lower stack keys and the finger-spread between them. Most modern horns do try to ameliorate this somewhat by putting the keytouch for the f key off the key (down just a bit), and centering the e key keytouch, and making the d keytouch extend quite a bit upward from the top of the key cup. This brings the fingers a little bit closer together, but there's still a pronounced difference between tenor and alto in this regard. Remember that as you get to the lower toneholes, they get further apart, just like the first frets of a guitar are further apart, and as you move toward the body to the higher notes they are closer together.