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Yesterday I had my private lesson teacher (Prof. Trent Kynaston), play my "new to me" 1961 Conn 10M. He absolutely loved the sound of the horn, I bet he would have considered buying it if I offered to sell it, but he discovered an interesting quirk which led me to learn a new tuning technique I had never used before.
In the past, I've always just tuned to specific pitches. Someone plays a note, I match it and adjust until I'm in tune.
With Kynaston's method, he played either a D or C on the instrument (I forget which), and then played the overtone. When the main pitch and the overtone were in tune with each other (Done via adjusting the mouthpiece), almost the entire sax would be in tune. This worked perfectly on my Selmer alto, when I tried it, and just using our ears, I later discovered that we were spot on with a tuner throughout the range of the instrument.
On the 10M, neither one of us could get the overtone in tune with the real pitch, which must just be a quirk of that specific horn (to get the overtone in tune, the mp would have to be pushed in very far, and the real pitch would go very sharp. Just tuning to the tuner, he could get the main notes to play in tune through the whole range, it was just the overtones that were screwy.
I had never thought to tune to the overtone before. This may take over as my main tuning method, as it's much easier to hear and faster than other methods I've used in the past.
In the past, I've always just tuned to specific pitches. Someone plays a note, I match it and adjust until I'm in tune.
With Kynaston's method, he played either a D or C on the instrument (I forget which), and then played the overtone. When the main pitch and the overtone were in tune with each other (Done via adjusting the mouthpiece), almost the entire sax would be in tune. This worked perfectly on my Selmer alto, when I tried it, and just using our ears, I later discovered that we were spot on with a tuner throughout the range of the instrument.
On the 10M, neither one of us could get the overtone in tune with the real pitch, which must just be a quirk of that specific horn (to get the overtone in tune, the mp would have to be pushed in very far, and the real pitch would go very sharp. Just tuning to the tuner, he could get the main notes to play in tune through the whole range, it was just the overtones that were screwy.
I had never thought to tune to the overtone before. This may take over as my main tuning method, as it's much easier to hear and faster than other methods I've used in the past.