Lots of threads here on what mouthpieces will work, and other issues you might come across with these old horns (such as the limited keyed ranged). I use an old red lettered, extended shank (5 1/2") RPC 120 rollover on mine for bar blues and rock & roll. Before that I used a vintage Woodwind Co. K6, and way, way back, an old King Equa-Tru mouthpiece. There's another thread going on about a new double chambered piece being marketed for these old horns, but other than that, you have few modern alternatives. Even a Link STM can sit way, way, way off the end of the neck to play in tune. And on a hot day? Forget about it.
These aren't just any horns though. They are more particular than other vintage baritone saxophones in regard to mouthpiece choice; favoring the old styled pickle-barrels, or their modern equivalent.
Good job, but I would have extended the 'bis' key touch while i was at it. I've often wondered ---no pun intended!---if folks played the 'bis' with their 2nd finger way back. Bopity
I try to leave instruments in as original condition as possible. This one has two non-original features. The old black rollers were frozen and turning to dust. I have replaced them with music medic mother of pearl rollers and a post that limits how far the low c# pad will open. Gabe Eaton found a silver post from off of a flute to replace the missing post.
Good choice on the rollers, as many of them had mother of pearl originally. My 1923 and 1924 Conns both do.
The silver plate on yours looks to be in beautiful condition. If you can manage without E and F keys and can deal with the fixed neck position and ergonomics, the sound is wonderful
For modern mouthpieces, a Link might work (does on mine). A better choice would be getting a piece made/reworked by Erik Greiffenhagen. He makes the chamber larger, in addition to other tweaks, to give a really nice playing piece for these old Conns.
I was thinking with my spelling.... who needs an e an f or an low a...
I have mocked up a mouthpiece extension and gotten a cool sound out of the sax... So I am looking for a better mouthpiece that fits this vintage instrument. I love the look and the feel of it.
Once again, I thought I was going to have to physically wrestle it away from the guy doing the rebuild. Seems like he also loves it.
What a beautiful bari...this inspires me to get my '21 to the same point! My 2 cents would be a metal Link...it works well for me with my vintage bari's as well as my bass.
I can understand why the tech didn't want to see it leave.
Mouthpiece situation. I have acquired a no name pickle barrel baritone mouthpiece and while it isn't perfect (it could use the tip being opened a bit more, I would guess it has a .075) it does play in tune up and down the range while being on the neck to a normal degree.
I am also patiently awaiting a RPC baritone mouthpiece. The deal with the RPC is that they are each individually made and the blanks neck can be trimmed or not leaving an extra 1/2 inch or so.
The conn new wonder 1 have a shorter neck, so that they were expecting the mouthpiece to make up the extra volume. Modern mouthpiece of course have a reduced volume and so the extra neck length is needed to make up the difference.
If the RPC doesn't work for you...I just bought a slew of very interesting, old-school style ebonite m'pieces on eFlay. Would be happy to send one down to you.
Am not sure if they are new or NOS, but they are purple-box Leblanc Woodwind Co. 5B's.
In a nutshell, they are large-chambered and almost identical to Caravans in every dimension, except the tip opening is about .09 as opposed to Caravan's .07 or so.
Big mutha' of a chamber... with a nice tip opening IMHO.....they work pretty well and have helped intonation across the horn on both my Conn and Noblet. Dark and deep sounding but the tip is just open enough to give some needed articulation, as opposed to the Caravan which is all dark, and no bite.
(Hehehe...I didn't even mean to say that: All dark and no bite. Hehehe...jeez, I AM a card, no ???)
Hecka rehab job there, cool one fer' sure. I missed seeing it at Gabe's, in person, by about 2 days
RPC mouthpiece arrived today. Man oh man what a difference. The tone of the sax is sweet and in tune up and down the stack. I don't think this thing has a top end. Now I just got to figure out how to control it.
Glad that worked out for you, and that you got the piece in a relatively short amount of time. I know what a great match an extended shank RPC is for these old horns. Next step now is to figure out how to get above Eb3...
Above that high D sharp? No problem, put a number 3 reed on and finger a high g and let it squeal.... I bet you also meant to keep it under control?
Yea I have got the low notes speaking when I want them. But with this .110 tip on the rpc it can break into high frequencies. I just picked up some number 2 rico royals to play while I struggle with the high end.
Any tips for alternative fingers for the high e, f and f#. I can kick off the high frequencies by fingering a left hand first and third fingers and maybe just a touch of the second finger.
I have found E to be nearly impossible, F difficult, but F# up as easy as any other bari. I can rarely get the E out unless coming down to it from a higher note.
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
Sax on the Web Forum
3.3M posts
75.5K members
Since 2003
A forum community dedicated to saxophone players and enthusiasts originally founded by Harri Rautiainen. Come join the discussion about collections, care, displays, models, styles, reviews, accessories, classifieds, and more!