[borko]

I just bought a P. Mauriat 67R alto sax from Long & Mcquade after asking to have it set up. After about two weeks of hearing nothing it finally came in and I was able to pick it up just before the store closed. I should have tried it before, but I took it to the practice rooms at my school and found that it seems like it came back worse. Middle D and low C play completely different notes (around a 5th above), certain keys feel downright loose (low C is very slow at coming back up, doesn't move with my pinky) or strange. There is the possibility that some of the keys just feel strange because I have changed saxophones, but the main thing is this saxophone came back worse than when I first tried it. I can (and will) be sending it back to them either to do again at a better repair shop or for a refund.
Does anybody have suggestions on why an A would be popping out when I play a D, how to adjust the sensitivity of the keys (like make the low C springier if that's even possible, or to make my Eb a little easier to press down). Some keys also feel like they only move a millimeter when I press them (palm key F, side F#), I didn't notice this before. I don't know how the hell this thing made it through inspection, clearly no one cared enough to play it.

 

[William Bua]

The A popping out during D is an octave key problem. It's playing the harmonic instead of the note. That should be easy to resolve. The rest of the horn needs help too and so does your tech. I would take it bake and insist they fix it while you are there. If they don't make good on taking care of the issues, find another tech. What area of the country do you live?

 

[borko]

Waterloo, Ontario. Would the octave key idea explain why I can get a D if I try changing my embouchure to something very different than normal? I can hit it, but it's extremely breathy and takes a lot of focus to keep it on a D and to keep it speaking. The Long and Mcquade I'm near sends their saxophones away, they don't do it there, but there's supposedly some place nearby called Saxonia which is pretty good. I'm not sure if I would be covered under warranty if I took it there. I don't want to follow the day I dropped 2500 dollars with another day where I drop 200 to fix a brand new horn...

 

[Ballad Man]

Sounds like the tech didn't do a good job. I agree that the octave key adjustment should fix the popping D problem and spring tensions are easy enough to adjust. The ergonomic stuff may just take getting used to the feel of a different horn. What were you playing on before? All my experiences playing on the 67Rs has been good so I think you need the techs at Saxonia to do a better set up for you.

 

[windman53]

you should ask them to fix it up for you, but if it does not work, don't feel surprised there are some horn are just not mean to be used.

 

[borko]

I took it to my sax teacher, he did a very minor adjustment to the octave key and it seems to have totally cleared it up. I'm redoing my chromatic and 7th scales slowly, I really liked the feel of my YAS-23, but that's likely because I played it for so long. I still think I'll get them to take away some tension from certain keys if they can. I appreciate the help.

 

[Metalflake]

If you have any more problems, see if you can take the horn to the downtown Toronto store. Their techs are very good, and since it's still a L&M shop you should be able to get it worked out for no money down on your part.

 

[Ballad Man]

I played a YTS-23 for probably over 10 years. I really liked that horn because we had been through the learning process together and had a lot of memorable gigs and experiences. We were comfortable together. Then, I had the chance to buy a P. Mauriat, PMXT 66R for a decent price and made the plunge. That was six years ago. It felt awkward at first because of the way the keys seemd off-set to the right unlike the inline YTS. It took a little bit of time to adjust but once I did there was no looking back. I love my 66R.....well, that is, until I get a new Mauriat!
Glad to hear that you have resolved your issues and like I said, spring tension adjustments are relatively easy to get done. Good luck and have fun!

 

[Graysax]

Waterloo, Ontario. Would the octave key idea explain why I can get a D if I try changing my embouchure to something very different than normal? I can hit it, but it's extremely breathy and takes a lot of focus to keep it on a D and to keep it speaking. The Long and Mcquade I'm near sends their saxophones away, they don't do it there, but there's supposedly some place nearby called Saxonia which is pretty good. I'm not sure if I would be covered under warranty if I took it there. I don't want to follow the day I dropped 2500 dollars with another day where I drop 200 to fix a brand new horn...

Sometimes a leak somewhere in a pad located near the top of the horn can result as an octave type, or harmonic producing problem, and when you change your embouchure and push a bit you could blow past it. This sounds like your issue to me.

It sounds to me (like you have heard before - and probably figured out on your own) that this was a poor job of a "set up". At the very least ask him to drop the leak light down it again because something is "not right". He should agree to that without reservation.

 

[borko]

I played a YTS-23 for probably over 10 years. I really liked that horn because we had been through the learning process together and had a lot of memorable gigs and experiences. We were comfortable together. Then, I had the chance to buy a P. Mauriat, PMXT 66R for a decent price and made the plunge. That was six years ago. It felt awkward at first because of the way the keys seemd off-set to the right unlike the inline YTS. It took a little bit of time to adjust but once I did there was no looking back.

I appreciate that, I love my YAS-23 and feel bad I have to move on. My heart broke a little when I transferred my stuff to my new case. Did you notice intonation problems? I keep noticing my middle D to F# is incredibly sharp. I've compared it to a yamaha, and some 4000 dollar Selmer alto I don't remember (then some Jupiter thing just for laughs) and they all did it to a certain extent (except the Jupiter had intonation problems everywhere else), but no where near as bad. I'm a little worried I'm going to keep sending it for adjustments and if I realize it's unfixable, by which point I may run out of time to return it to the store.