[BlueTone]

I remember the first time I saw a Sax with a (High) F# key. My first impression was "You've got to be kidding".
The Salesman was tripping on the fact that... You can hit F# or even trill with the F# key!!!...Big Deal...Any Saxplayer worth his/her salt can hit a stinking F# without any trouble and as far as trilling...there's 8 ways to trill
around F/F#/G.
The whole "Deal" seems like a con-job to me.
If the manufacturers want to REALLY help players, put in a High "G" key....
I know a lot of players that have trouble with that one.

Rant over

 

[sonnymobleytrane]

I remember the first time I saw a Sax with a (High) F# key. My first impression was "You've got to be kidding".
The Salesman was tripping on the fact that... You can hit F# or even trill with the F# key!!!...Big Deal...Any Saxplayer worth his/her salt can hit a stinking F# without any trouble and as far as trilling...there's 8 ways to trill
around F/F#/G.
The whole "Deal" seems like a con-job to me.
If the manufacturers want to REALLY help players, put in a High "G" key....
I know a lot of players that have trouble with that one.

Rant over

Its like having an Amp that goes to 11!

 

[BlueTone]

F3=f#=f3=f#

 

[sonnymobleytrane]

I had a friend that had an alto with a low A that was pretty cool.

 

[Steve P]

In common saxophone terms, F3 does not equal a high F# key; it refers to High F (Low F = F1, Mid F = F2 etc). The key is referred to as a High F# key, or C5 in French Terms (Londeix et al).

Personally, I like the high F#. Plus, using the front fingerings changes the sound too much for my taste.

Steve P

 

[asaxman]

I comes in handy,(for me), for the altissimo Eb

 

[heath]

I've long since thought the high F# is a key that isn't needed on any saxophone. I plugged the high F# on all my Selmers. I use the key on the soprano however.

 

[Carl H.]

In common saxophone terms, F3 does not equal a high F# key; it refers to High F (Low F = F1, Mid F = F2 etc). The key is referred to as a High F# key, or C5 in French Terms (Londeix et al).
Steve P

Look at the 3 key on your keyboard and you will understand what the 2nd post was about.

 

[Steve P]

Well, it makes a bit more sense, but it can still be confusing. We need to standardize sax terms!!!

Steve P

 

[SactoPete]

Amen on the G key... there's something just wrong with that note on sax. Up and down from it no sweat... but it sure doesn't like to "set" nicely.

 

[harmonizerNJ]

You never know what certain individuals are going to need.

I cannot reliably hit the high F# on my Selmer MkVI, which does not have that key. It used to be an easy note, but with the advice of a teacher in college, I gradually moved up to a large bore mouthpiece in several steps (6-7-8-9-10) so that I now play a Meyer 10M with a LaVoz medium reed. This has hurt my altissimo, but I am now able to play my horn much more consistently from the bottom to the top (ok, I am calling the high F the top here). For me, this was a great trade.

The addition of several Billy Joel songs to our covers band's song list has moved up the urgency to get that high F# working again, so I am starting to work on it. I wish my sax "went to 11".

 

[SAXISMYAXE]

On the horns I have with a high F#, the key goes unused.

As others have said, if you have truly become comfortable and proficient in the altissimo range, it is largely superfluous if not downright in the way.

To each his own.

 

[LazySaxman]

Funny thing is, I only use my F# key to play the G up there...

 

[Demolisher]

Dont know what the problem is with the altissimo G, to me its one of the most stable notes on the saxophone. Yes, the front f has a huge change of timbre to me, I dont use it as well. I do use it for altissimo C# and D though. If you really need a high G key to hit the altissimo G, you probably havent actually learned altissimo the correct way yet...

 

[matty]

I comes in handy,(for me), for the altissimo Eb

yup!

 

[heath]

Actually the G isn't the most stable note on the tenor at least. Now if your sliding into the note any altissimo can be hit with some practice, but if your jumping larger intervals and trying to hit it clean it can rear it's ugly head and start cracking, splitting or just plain clamp down. Kind of depends what mouthpiece your using. I use large chamber pieces for all my horns, but if I slap on a baffled piece altissimo obviously becomes easier, but the tone suffers greatly.

Although a high G key on a tenor has been shown to screw up the response of the G2 and G3 usually causing them to want to crack into a higher harmonic. It was an idea that several manufactures tried on the tenor and alto a few years back and it's since now hard to find. It's doesn't seem to mess up the response on sopranos however.

 

[BobbyC]

Don't think of it as the high F# key, think of it as the high G key.

Finger a B3 and add the side G (F#) key to play G.

From this moment on, refer to it as the high G key.

 

[edhara]

yup!

+2

Back when I had horns that had F# keys on them, I used to use it for the altissimo Eb.

For me, altissimo G's come out just fine on alto consistently. On tenor, it's a slightly different bag since it's a different fingering/embouchure.

 

[58tenor]

BobbyC's high G fingering is a wonderful thing. It works great! Stable and can be nailed from far away with confidence. My old Selmer had no such fandangle. It was a mighty fine sax but my gimmicked-up B&S is better. Especially high G. Why all the emotion over such a trivial thing?

 

[Reedsplinter]

Don't think of it as the high F# key, think of it as the high G key.

Finger a B3 and add the side G (F#) key to play G.

From this moment on, refer to it as the high G key.

Yes, that works really well, and it's an easy G to split. It comes out clean or split, depending on the airstream.