[jthsax87]

I have been given a nearly new Yanagisawa T901 Tennor Saxophone using a C* and 3.5 blue box and am trying to fix a problem with it. I'm not sure if it's user error or not. I have played bari sax for MANY years and only got this horn because my baby was stolen from me a week before last christmas (a Black lacquer Selmer Series II Baritone in a walt Johnson case so if you've seen it let me know that too :angry4::crybaby: )

ANYWAY... the issue is that the high G (not altissimo) is "growling" or jumping up to a harmonic when I start on the note or come down to it from a B or higher (biggest issue is typically jumping from C down to G) I can sometimes make it happen with just a slight growl at the beginning with just my emboucure but if I'm just playing through scales and etudes it's VERY frustrating. I've looked for leaks in palm keys and there aren't any stuck pads, the octave key seems to working just fine... ran a leak light and haven't seen anything at all. I'm generally pretty good at repairs that don't involve a sodering gun from my years working in a ... but this one has me going nuts! help please!

 

[Dave Dolson]

I'm thinking it is a mechanical problem that you have yet to discover - some very subtle movement, maybe in the upper octave mechanism . . . maybe the upper octave's rod that sticks up at the neck is too far out and puts pressure on the upper octave ring (G being the point where the upper is supposed to be closed and the lower octave opens - always a good guess when G is involved). OR, some other upper-range pad is slightly unseated or maybe even a hair, etc. is on a tone-hole. Let us know if you fix it . . . and welcome to SOTW.

By the way, don't want to sound like a broken record, but did you make a police report and include the serial number of the stolen baritone? Jurisdiction? DAVE

 

[Finnerski]

Take your tenor to a tech, and get the word out on your bari. It's not everyday you see a black series II, it should really stick out. Check your local pawn shops. Go to the stolen instruments thread that has been started here and post pictures if you can and a serial #. Sorry about your loss, thats gotta hurt.

 

[Oric Muso]

Could be an embouchure issue or an issue with the octave mechanism. It may be only a slight tweak that is required in either case. With those reeds I would suspect embouchure.
Sometimes it can be a slight weakness onthe G# spring. The G is the last note before the octave keys switch over to the one on the crook/ neck so it's really in the 'wrong place' to suit the G properly. Some horns need the side octave opening up - but a Yani should be OK. Again it hints towards something to do with the player or mouthpiece placement.

 

[Gordon (NZ)]

My thinking is along Orico's lines.

Especially for a bari, the octave vents are only an aid. They do not absolutely fix a note in a given register. Much of that is done by embouchure and breath pressure.
The compromise location of the octave vents is probably at its worst for G, so the vent is even less definitive at setting the register.

An embouchure/breath-pressure combo that is fine for lower notes may not quite make it for the G. This may be fussier with some saxes than others, depending on what set of ideals the acoustic design aimed for.

Try playing in the second octave for a while without pressing the octave key. That will force the embouchure/breath pressure be at its ideal, without relying heavily on the vent. Then add the octave vent and see if G works OK.