[Nefertiti]

My SBA has the original metal domes resonators. I was wondering do VI's have metal or the plastic ones? Does anyone notice a difference between these? Anyone have metal and goto plastic or plastic and go to metal? I'm just curious if it makes a difference?

 

[bstrom]

I switched from plastic to metal (brass domed resotechs) on a VI and a BA. It made quite a difference especially in the BA. I would say it seems edgier at first until you get used to then it just seems to have more punch. Of course some people will just attribute it to the overhaul, but I don't think so because I never noticed that quality from an overhaul before. That's my experience anyway.

 

[Nefertiti]

I switched from plastic to metal (brass domed resotechs) on a VI and a BA. It made quite a difference especially in the BA. I would say it seems edgier at first until you get used to then it just seems to have more punch. Of course some people will just attribute it to the overhaul, but I don't think so because I never noticed that quality from an overhaul before. That's my experience anyway.

Did it seem more focused or just brighter?

 

[Horned Toad]

Selmers assembled in USA had those 'tone-ex' metal resonators until around late 82xxx or something, that is when they changed to plastic.
Plastic is not as bright or aggressive generally, but can have a slightly more 'colorful' pretty sound. SBA for example, I think MUST have metals, or they will be lacking. Early VI's also must have metals, but later one's like 140k and up may be just fine with plastic, since they lean more toward punch as it is.

Some of the early VI's assembled in Europe, however, had the crappiest (really cheapo) metal resos, literally made out of some kind of foil that literally twist-ties on the back of the pad. These are just throw away's, not at all kidding, they were junk. I am not sure when if ever the Euro manufacturing ever emphasized the good resonators.

 

[Nefertiti]

When I got my SBA , I remember bringing it to a tech and he asked me if I wanted him to swap out the metal reso's for plastic? I said "Why would I want that? I love the way it sounds" Luckily I didn't do it. (Plus I didn't have the money to pay him to do it)

 

[DonPedro]

Hi,I had plastic ones on my mark VI and changed them to metal ones.It now sounds brighter and more focused.

 

[saxkai]

I have two Mark VI tenors, which are in the same serial range (almost twins). One has metal, one has plastic resonators. As DonPedros experience the metal one sounds brighter, more focused and more direct.

 

[SaxTMan]

right know i've metal resonators on my mk vi, but two saxophone tecnicians already told me to change to plastic because it gives a better "mark vi" sound to it...(?) i don't know exactly what it means...lol anyway i only will change when the pads start really having issues, then i will give it a try to the plastic ones.. so i've no experience if plastic is better than metal on this particular horn model..

 

[MartinMods]

I switched from plastic to metal (brass domed resotechs) on a VI and a BA. It made quite a difference especially in the BA. I would say it seems edgier at first until you get used to then it just seems to have more punch. Of course some people will just attribute it to the overhaul, but I don't think so because I never noticed that quality from an overhaul before. That's my experience anyway.

I put Resotechs on my 82k VI, with the same results, but I attribute that to the increased size of resonators, not the material. You can get the sound you want by adjusting resonator diameters.

 

[RandyJ]

I guess this is another preference answer,
My VI's (both mid 60's) have plastic, One time quite a while ago a "tech" changed one of them to metal and I hated the sound and had him change them back.

Haven't thought about it that much but the Ref 36s I'm playing now have plastic...hummm could be another reason they sound so good.

 

[ptung]

Pisoni domed are the closest on the market to the original Mark VI metal reso curavature, should you decide to go that direction. It's very difficult to get plastic that match the original VI plastic resos as the modern are generally too thick at the edges. One nice thing about the original plastic is that they were screw-in (reusable).

 

[harmonizerNJ]

My late Mark VI alto that I bought new came with plastic (nylon?) resos. When I had a complete overhaul done by "International Woodwind & Brass" in about 1992, they replaced them will metal resos. When Matt (abadcliche) did another complete overhaul in 2009, he installed metal resos similar to what was installed in the previous overhaul. I noticed the benefits of very nicely done overhauls in both cases, meaning that in both cases it made the sax play much better, but I have no idea if the metal resos made any real difference.

 

[bstrom]

Did it seem more focused or just brighter?

I think both. But it isn't like you can't make it sound dark if you want. The sound really jumps out with the domed resotechs. It was a bit unnerving at first but now I really like it.

 

[DonPedro]

I have to add that the reason I changed to metal resos was that my sax is old (-56 mark VI) and the horn has very dark sound.I wanted to make it brighter and the metal resos worked perfectly.
I just had a possibility to play a mark VI from -65 and that was totally opposite.Plastic resos worked great with that one.

 

[Nefertiti]

You know what would be cool. Someone should sell a pad set with snap in resonators. They should include like 5 different sets of resonator. You could just pop the resonators off and on. Has anyone ever done that? That would be awesome...........

 

[bstrom]

You know what would be cool. Someone should sell a pad set with snap in resonators. They should include like 5 different sets of resonator. You could just pop the resonators off and on. Has anyone ever done that? That would be awesome...........

Yeah, something like that would seem to be the only accurate way to tell the way metal, nylon, small, large, domed, flat etc. affect the sound of your horn. Of course there are credible people that say they don't affect it at all but I haven't found that to be true in my somewhat limited experience of just getting my horns overhauled once in awhile and changing to metal resonators, etc.

 

[Nefertiti]

Why can't they do that? It seems like you should come up with a pretty easy system if you put some thought and a few bucks into it. Maybe I should try it...........any investors out there?

 

[abadcliche]

I've actually thought about doing such a thing. You would have to make it so the resonator could be secure and come on/off without messing up the pad. You could do this two ways: attach the spud/screw/bushing (depending on how you wanted to attach the reso) to the pad cup, or make the spud/screw/bushing sit on a flat washer with little spikes that press into the back of the pad to keep it secure (along with the adhesive used to float the pad). You would have to disassemble the sax to get to the resos, so each time you would be completely disassembling and then reassembling the horn.

Snapping them in would be difficult to do well unless you attached the spud to the key cup- unsnapping them if built otherwise would definitely mess up the pad. I'm not convinced that snapping them in/out wouldn't mess up the pad anyways.

Screwing them on (you could make the resonator the male or female end, wouldn't matter really) could be done either way, but into the key cup would be best I think. You would have to build the resonators so that the underside is smooth and doesn't have sharp edges, and perhaps even give it a little spray with teflon spray so that when you screw it in you aren't cinching the leather. You would have to put some sort of screw slot in the middle of the resonator. I'd vote for philips.

Once the system was installed, you could have a few sets of resos matched to your horn- different amount of coverage, of dome, of material. These would be reusable and would last a lifetime.

It MIGHT be possible to install such a system with magnets. One in the key cup, one in the reso. That way you could switch the resonators without taking the horn apart, just use some tweezers or a pad slick and a steady hand. It would be anybody's guess whether that would work in practice.

I'm game to try it- anybody want to pay me to make and install such a system on a repad or overhaul?

 

[Nefertiti]

I've actually thought about doing such a thing. You would have to make it so the resonator could be secure and come on/off without messing up the pad. You could do this two ways: attach the spud/screw/bushing (depending on how you wanted to attach the reso) to the pad cup, or make the spud/screw/bushing sit on a flat washer with little spikes that press into the back of the pad to keep it secure (along with the adhesive used to float the pad). You would have to disassemble the sax to get to the resos, so each time you would be completely disassembling and then reassembling the horn.

Snapping them in would be difficult to do well unless you attached the spud to the key cup- unsnapping them if built otherwise would definitely mess up the pad. I'm not convinced that snapping them in/out wouldn't mess up the pad anyways.

Screwing them on (you could make the resonator the male or female end, wouldn't matter really) could be done either way, but into the key cup would be best I think. You would have to build the resonators so that the underside is smooth and doesn't have sharp edges, and perhaps even give it a little spray with teflon spray so that when you screw it in you aren't cinching the leather. You would have to put some sort of screw slot in the middle of the resonator. I'd vote for philips.

Once the system was installed, you could have a few sets of resos matched to your horn- different amount of coverage, of dome, of material. These would be reusable and would last a lifetime.

It MIGHT be possible to install such a system with magnets. One in the key cup, one in the reso. That way you could switch the resonators without taking the horn apart, just use some tweezers or a pad slick and a steady hand. It would be anybody's guess whether that would work in practice.

I'm game to try it- anybody want to pay me to make and install such a system on a repad or overhaul?

I'd think about it. email me with the cost. Man if magnet would work that would be killer. Taking the sax apart is a pain in the butt. Imagine if you could just reach in pluck a resonator off and change it? Even on one note. My "B" is stuffy.......... let me try a different resonator......hey that's better! That would be awesome!!!!

 

[Sigmund451]

I have plastic on my 64 VI. If metal makes them brighter I definitely would not want to change. I bought it this way and really love the tone. I would not want to change it. Like Steve said, switching at will would be very, very cool. However, my pads are basically new so it will be a long time before I drop cash on a repad.