[Woodshedfred]

Hi

anyone got any suggestions about a problem I'm having?, or do you experience the same difficulty?

- when playing palm keys, especially high D, the sax wobbles with the consequence that tone production suffers, because the mouthpiece moves.

although it is manageable at lower tempi, when playing faster it is harder to keep under control.

I'm considering reducing spring tension on palm keys so I don't have to push as hard, reducing sideways thrust (sax is a Yani A991).

the other option appears to be extended practice of pressing keys lightly at all tempo.

thanks, fred

 

[hakukani]

Let the neckstrap take the weight of the horn. It shouldn't move when you open the D key.

 

[martinm5862]

Adjust the angle of the neck and the neck strap so that the sax balances with just the aid of the right thumb.

 

[dubrosa22]

Push your right hand out from your body until the sax is more or less 'vertical' then adjust the neckstrap to suit.

 

[maddenma]

It also strikes me that you may be moving your hand quite a distance to open the palm D, causing the sax to push to the right from the momentum of the movement.

Perhaps a key riser on your palm D would help with that, so that the key touch is close at hand and you aren't yanking the horn around to try and get to that key?

 

[DanPerezSax]

Don't push the palm keys in when you play. Bad technique. Instead, pivot your hand around where the thumb is resting and PULL DOWN the palm keys. The key will catch against your palm and open up just fine. The motion of your hand is like a mini karate chop, and the D key just happens to be in the way and get pulled down by your palm. Once D is open, just use the first and second fingers to open the other palm keys. The horn holds still because there is no lateral pressure against it that isn't countered by its anchor points (the neckstrap and thumbs). In the case of a D, there's no lateral pressure at all, really.

 

[Woodshedfred]

Thanks for your feedback guys

I tried the karate chop concept, discovered the D key doesn't really stick out enough to be chopped at a downward angle ( sax is a yani A991), so I put a riser on the D key which helps, so I'll try that for a bit that and see if it helps.
( If so I could get the key re-angled for a more permanent solution)
also, thanks for reminding me about neck angle and balancing sax with right thumb

 

[maddenma]

Do a search on "Sugru" on the forum. No need to chop keys.

If you want a better looking key riser, you can have a tech make and install one from epoxy resin. I'm not fond of the look of Sugru.

Advantage of Sugru is that you can quite easily do it yourself. It's just ugly.

That said, both will stay in place quite well, and both will come off without damage if you want to sell the horn later -- something you won't get from a more permanent mod.