[milandro]

:bluewink2:

Come on guys! I wasn't talking of what all of you are thinking! Obviously!

I am talking of those who use Hemp, Silk, Cotton thread instead of cork around the neck where cork normally goes to receive the mouthpiece. A friend of mine does this and I know that way back it was common practice to use threads of various types on several woodwinds.

Still to this day, double reed instruments players make their own reeds by using the stuff and occasionally some has admitted to that kind of addiction!

I use waxed hemp instead of neck cork. Doesn't require replacing, and is very easily adjustable to any mouthpiece with ease.
sheet rubber instead of most felts and corks. Helps keep the noise down and deals with compression better.

Most of my necks have a brass ring that is soldered onto the end of the neck to keep the cork from sliding forward. *was done at the factory, on my King and Selmers I think*. With no cork on the neck I put a rubber ring on the neck and slide it almost back to the octave pip. I put the mouthpiece with the longest shank on the neck and push it all the way on and roll the ring up to the end of that * if the neck doesn't have a ring at the end, when you start rolling, put the neck against the table so you don't go off the edge.
I take the hemp, and wrap it tightly on the neck from the front end of the neck back to the ring. I continue this until the hemp is about as thick as the cork. take the neck and with slight pressure so you don't bend it, roll it on a tabletop or something to compress the hemp. Stick your mouthpiece on there. If it's too thick, take some off and vice versa. It shrinks a little over time, so you have to add some hemp at various times, but the initial layers last for years.

So are you USING it? And if so, why? Share your experiences!

 

[tinpalaceroach]

Yeah I did but didn't inhale. seriously I only used the thread method on clarinet and bass clarinet tenons when the cork was too compressed over time and it worked great, real snug. never tried it on saxes though it may or may not work for me there. Weed, that is another story, it worked.

 

[littlewailer]

Weed, that is another story, it worked.

I'm old fashioned. I'll stick with my neck cork and Zig Zag whites.

 

[BOPITY FUNK]

I get it for our pet budgerigar!

 

[Chris Peryagh]

PTFE tape has taken hemp's place for wrapping around loose tenon and crook corks as it has for domestic water and central heating plumbing.

No good for budgies though, or smoking for that matter.

 

[slausonm]

I recently purchased Hemp string to put on an old wood flute of mine, but the smallest sizes available locally was too large. So I went back to using cotton thread. Since they pay me to cork necks on saxophones and I have a machine for grinding the cork, I see no need to use string on saxophones.

 

[Dr G]

I add shelled hemp seed to my daily breakfast - good source of protein.

 

[JayeLID]

I get it for our pet budgerigar!

Holy crap...how's his vocabulary ????

 

[milandro]

I forgot this was SOTW and when you start a thread you get a number of people who answer and talk about something else that the thread starter never wanted to talk about.

I am happy for those who have a corking machine and for those who are happy about their corks. They can go about their business and I won’t be at all bothered by that.

Please, take time to read what I wrote. I will say it again.

No, I am not talking of a botch, temporary, solution for if and when the cork is too thin for your mouthpiece, that is most definitely NOT what I intended to talk about when starting this thread.

I also not wanting to convince anyone who is not convinced by using cork, has a corking machine or has never heard of using thread of whatever type ( not on top of cork to make up for thickness but INSTEAD of cork) directly between neck and mouthpiece.

The PFTE quick fix has nothing to do with this.

Despite the jocular tone of the question, please force yourself to try to stay within the intent of the thread? Cheers!

 

[rhino]

Yes I saw an old Dolnet that had string around the neck.

 

[FremontSax]

the russian made alto sax that I bought used thread for the neck cork.

 

[milandro]

the russian made alto sax that I bought used thread for the neck cork.

Yes, it is indeed something that you see either on very old instruments or you would see this done from people who don't have cork readily available. My friend and teacher Arthur Heuwekemeyer has taken to use this after having found it on one of his Lyrists from the '30.

 

[BOPITY FUNK]

Holy crap...how's his vocabulary ????

It's great George thanks! he's into singin' 'Tico Tico' --vocalese style as words evade him---at 250BPM in 12 keys. The parrot's only nailed it in F# minor at the mo but he's makin progress.

 

[BOPITY FUNK]

I forgot this was SOTW and when you start a thread you get a number of people who answer and talk about something else that the thread starter never wanted to talk about.

I am happy for those who have a corking machine and for those who are happy about their corks. They can go about their business and I won't be at all bothered by that.

Please, take time to read what I wrote. I will say it again.

No, I am not talking of a botch, temporary, solution for if and when the cork is too thin for your mouthpiece, that is most definitely NOT what I intended to talk about when starting this thread.

I also not wanting to convince anyone who is not convinced by using cork, has a corking machine or has never heard of using thread of whatever type ( not on top of cork to make up for thickness but INSTEAD of cork) directly between neck and mouthpiece.

The PFTE quick fix has nothing to do with this.

Despite the jocular tone of the question, please force yourself to try to stay within the intent of the thread? Cheers!

Sorry Milandro! but it is nice to have a laugh in this increasingly humourless world we are living in.
BTW the big problem with thread of any sort on a tapered metal neck is --the fact that it's tapered. Eventually the string/thread is going to 'creep' hence the use of cork. On recorders and clarinet/wood flute/oboe tenons it's fine. In general corking is an easier or quicker process.

 

[milandro]

well, that’s not what happens with my friend’s horn and the one played by member SaxPlayer1004 whom I quoted before.

The hemp does compress and requires from time to time that you wind little more on it, but doesn’t ride up.

I understand that the comments above come from smoking the hemp thread instead of using it for your saxophone!


Anyway, again, I don’t want to convince corkers. This is not a post to push the use thread versus the one of cork.

If you like cork better, please be my guest, keep doing so! However, although I use cork myself and don’t intend to switch soon, I want to talk about the use of thread with those who do or like the idea of using it.

If you don’t, you don’t , it is fine with me!

Thanks for understanding.

 

[Saxophone Boutique]

Usefull link / tip :

http://pubcs.free.fr/joints-toriques/bocal_joints_toriques.htm

In french (sorry) but I can translate if needed

 

[milandro]

That link is about the use of O rings instead of cork.

Apples and oranges and pears?

How is this relevant to what I am asking?

Since it is NOT about the use of hemp thread, or am I missing something ( My French is ok)

 

[Saxophone Boutique]

Agree Milandro... was just my 10 cts

 

[milandro]

OMG!

I am going ...........

 

[BOPITY FUNK]

The 'string' for want of a better term used to be available at local music shops and was a thick twine usually red in colour. I remember re stringing my recorder tenons --I was about 8/9 years of age--the recorder was rosewood-- plastic stuff was still in its infancy. A friends Dad who was a keen angler showed me how to do 'wipping' that's the way they fixed the rings onto fishing rods with twine, in this way the string cannot unwind. My own father got me some thick beeswax to finish the job off.
This was back in the day when people from my background fixed and repaired everything themselves, there were men, skilled in all trades who you could call on to make things or 'get' stuff no matter what. I used to build bike wheels from a pile of spokes and a rim when I was 11 or 12 and get them perfectly 'true' --got a book from the local library that showed you how to.