I've restored a NW (90###) silver plate and NWII (M159###) lacquer saxophones with microtuners. I was able to get the NW to play in tune extending the microtuner out and not having to push the mouthpiece all the way in -- it plays and sounds great. But, I was not able to get the NWII to play in tune at all. In fact, it plays very sharp and I can't extend the tuner or mouthpiece out any further. I use high baffled mouthpieces (Drake Sanborn VR and Vandoren Jumbo Java) and thought maybe using a medium or open mouthpiece would work -- which it didn't. I then realized the mouthpipes on the two necks were different lengths The NW was much longer than the NWII, which is why I didn't need to push the mouthpiece all the way in so the shank would seat properly. I did some online searching and saw many videos and pictures of microtuners with long mouthpipe tubing. Is it possible the NWII mouthpipe was modified and cut shorter? I have another NW (83###) that I'm going to restore and I compared the neck to the other two. It also has a short mouthpipe. I'm going to clean the neck on this one and test it on the first to see the tuning difference.
If anyone has experienced or seen anything like this, please comment. If the mouthpipes are indeed short, has anyone successfully extended one?
If anyone has experienced or seen anything like this, please comment. If the mouthpipes are indeed short, has anyone successfully extended one?