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New Yani A901

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yanagisawa
2K views 3 replies 3 participants last post by  altodave 
#1 ·
Hi all,

after mulling on it for about a year, I finally replaced my used Yammy AS100 for a brand new Yani A901. I haven't been playing for 3 years yet (original sax was a 40th birthday present :), but I play regularly in our church band.

The 901 is a beautiful instrument to play, but something I quickly noticed compared to the Yammy is how free-blowing it is. I've been using a Yani #6 metal mouthpiece and medium Fibracell reed for about 9 months now and on the 901, it blows *very* easily. In fact I bought a med-hard fibracell to help me control it. The problem is, if I'm not careful, I'll blow a distorted, partly one octave too high note when doing something like dropping from say G just above staff or C on the staff to a G on the staff. It requires a lot more control to get a clean note. High notes seem much easier to play cleanly, but transitioning from high to low is trickier.

I'm thinking of trying a hard fibracell, but maybe the problem is I'm biting a bit too much. Any thoughts? Has anyone else had a similar experience?

Thanks a lot,
Dave
 
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#2 ·
I just bought a new A901 to finally got with my s901 and t901 which I've owned for 6 years now and have had no trouble with. I am still experimenting with different mouthpieces for the alto to get the modern tone and dynamics I am looking for. I think this horn is better served by a hard rubber small chamber mouthpiece. I was impressed with the VanDoren V16 in the .0080 to .0085 range with a 2 1/2 to 3 reed. I had no trouble getting what i wanted without any Quirks.
Hope this helps.
 
#3 ·
I bought a Yani A901 just yesterday, and I also play with a V16 except it's an A5 M with 3's. I tried my C* with the A901 at the shop and didn't really like how closed it felt. So I dropped from blue box 3's to 2.5's and that fixed the problem.

To the OP-I didn't noticed any problems transitioning from the different ranges while playing on either mouthpiece. I just a junior in high school but, I've been trying to play consistently with an open throat for the past two weeks. I think keeping a more open throat between the ranges will help you. Hope this helps.
 
#4 ·
Thanks to both of you for the information and ideas.

I think I've found that I'm adapting and really getting to like the Yani #6 with the 901. (I tried my C* with fibracell medium read with it and I didn't like the tone, so much so that I traded it with my old Yammy.) I think the bottom line is I have to work hard to keep my embouchure more technically correct; less pressure top to bottom, more from the sides. A good reminder to work on the open throat too; something I really haven't done.

It's a really nice sax, and I enjoy playing it a lot.

Thanks,
Dave
 
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