[saxxysaxman]

Hi everyone im fairly new to the site. Ive been reading and commenting for i wanna say about a year now but this is my first post as i cant find an answer to my question. I have 3 saxes. All altos which i love dearly and they are a 1925 King, Selmer AS500 and a p.Mauriat 67r dark lacquered. My question is, are there any aftermarket necks that will fit my mauriat? I love it but i want just thinking about getting a new neck for it. I love the idea of a under slung octave key but don't particularly know how this works. I tried out my AS500's neck and it plays quite nice but the octave mechanism is too big so i have to turn the neck so the octave loop dosn't hit any of the rods on the sax. The neck does play and i do know that selmer necks can play on mauriats. My 2nd question is, Is there anyway that i could maybe switch the octave key out and keep the neck so i can use this neck comfortably?

Thanks for any comments or suggestions!
Dylan

 

[milandro]

you can certainly buy aftermarket P.Mauriat necks

they have 3 different ones

http://pmauriatmusic.com/en/products/items/12-necks

however none is underslung.

Note that a true underslung neck has a “ pip” underneath and not above and is completely under the neck. Most , so called underslung necks..........aren’t!

Of course King, Buescher, Yanagisawa and many others who copied the “ underslung “ look made very cool looking neck but it is only in the looks.

Unfortunately you cannot just use any underslung neck because it will require some adaptation , first the fitting of the tenon and then either the octave key activator on the saxophone and or the actual neck octave key.

I did have , for example, a Yanagisawa alto neck fitted to my King Super 20 alto (this one was a late production and had an overslung neck). The technician extended the octave key activator on the body of the saxophone and actually the horn could use both the original neck and the replacement.

Anyway you will need to have it fitted by a technician and even buying a P.Mauriat after market neck is not a guarantee that the neck will fit perfectly without any adjusting work.

Good luck!|

 

[Gordon (NZ)]

What is the perceived advantage of a "true" underslung neck key?

Lighter and more rigid, hence less bounce? Is that all?

Why has it become non-standard?

 

[milandro]

well, perhaps even less than that and the only real advantage would be to have an octave lever more protected and less prone to possible bending while positioning the neck. The downside (nice pun) could be that (as some people claim but I have no reason to agree) could be that the octave pip in a true underslung might be clogged by condensation. The fact that only few factories ever produced it (Conn and , if I am not mistaken Pierret or some other French maker) perhaps says a lot about this.

 

[saxxysaxman]

you can certainly buy aftermarket P.Mauriat necks

they have 3 The technician extended the octave key activator on the body of the saxophone and actually the horn could use both the original neck and the replacement. u will need to have it fitted by a technician and even buying a P.Mauriat after market neck is not a guarantee that the neck will fit perfectly without any adjusting work.

Thanks for your reply! And yes I have checked out mauriat's website along with their necks available to sale. I already have a super VI that came with the sax originally. It's just not cutting it for me at times. I love how the sax sounds when I use selmer necks on it my only problem is yes the neck tenon does fit in the sax its just the moving part on the neck, the actual octave mechanism, is too wide for the sax because it ends up bumping into on of the rods on the sax. A note on the underslung neck is that there are a very few companies that still make a true underslung neck such as cannonball's fat neck. There are some where the start out under and move above as previously stated above.

 

[milandro]

yes, cannonball has an “ true” underslung” neck but I am a little puzzled by its double hinged mechanism which seems to me a more delicate arrangement that it needs to be.

 

[Dave Dolson]

I think there may be some truth in the concern that an underslung octave-pip may clog with water. But that may be affected by the interior design of the pip's extension into the tube, forcing the water around the pip rather than allowing it to run directly into the vent.

I had this very problem on a fixed straight-neck soprano saxophone. I finally built up a small dam of petroleum jelly in front of the vent that forced the moisture around the vent. That lessened the problem although on occasion it still happened. However, other straight-neck sops with the vent on the bottom-side didn't have the problem, so it must have been how much the pip extended into the tube that prevented the clogging.

With that being said, I see no practical improvement from the standard upper octave on an alto saxophone (with the vent on top) as opposed to the real underslung and the semi-underslung octave mechanism. The point was well made by Gordon - why isn't the "underslung" being done by everyone? DAVE

 

[milandro]

obviously is still being made by Cannonball.......

 

[Dr G]

yes, cannonball has an “ true” underslung” neck but I am a little puzzled by its double hinged mechanism which seems to me a more delicate arrangement that it needs to be.

What a goofy-looking contraption that is.

 

[saxxysaxman]

Yea the cannonball underslung works quite well as my friend has a underslung with the big bell stone series. Back to my original question are there any after-market ALTO necks for the p mauriat that would fit? There are the magnum and so on but only for tenor saxes. And if not, is it possible to replace or switch out the octave mechanism on a neck with another octave mechanism?

 

[Dr G]

And if not, is it possible to replace or switch out the octave mechanism on a neck with another octave mechanism?

Of course, it's just plumbing. You'll need to find someone willing to do the work - that is hopefully skilled at doing such repairs. Given that some people have fitted an entire mechanism from one horn to another, removing and installing an octave key is child's play - if you let children play in the shop with a torch.

 

[milandro]

You can have tenon size easily and cheaply altered, you can modify the activator on the body too. Both these alterations are relatively cheap.

Other alterations are perhaps only possible in principle but in practice these alterations are too expensive to be made.

 

[saxxysaxman]

Around How much would it cost to get a neck fitted to my sax?

 

[milandro]

well, that depends from the kind of work that needs to be done and on how much your local tech charges for his time. When it comes to things like this there are huge difference among different locations.

 

[John Laughter]

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[John Laughter]

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