Why not just stay with the 52 you already have? Have you tried out any of the higher level models, and what did you think?

It doesn't make sense to upgrade for the sake of upgrading.

Don't forget that for many years the YxS-62 WAS their top line instrument.

 

Oh I love my 52. It's truly a great horn. I have a half dozen different mouthpieces, and was thinking of trying a different neck to play with my sound. I see some people adding additional Yamaha models as they say they have distinctly different sounds. Hence my out of curiosity question.

I have an Allegro 575 Alto which is a great horn that came with the G1 neck, and added the V1 neck and it really makes the Alto sing.

I know that sound profiles can be vastly different between an alto and tenor. Hence my curiosity if I should just do a neck/mouthpiece change to get the horn to get that more powerful jazz/rock tone, or even the softer classical tone.

I guess those who purchase the custom horns are getting them to play one specific genre?

 

Oh I love my 52. It's truly a great horn....
I guess those who purchase the custom horns are getting them to play one specific genre?

Pardon my ignorance, but any saxophone regardless brand/type/looks can be used for any genre. Any saxophone is basically a cone shaped device with a mpc and reed attached with some sort of ligature. Same goes for a trumpet. Regardless of how fancy it is, it doesn’t feel inclined to play a certain genre, it’s the player who does "the magic”.

Your Yamaha 52 is an excellent horn. I play mostly Chinese crap, as some of you would identify my horns, but I never had any complaints from the audience, nor band mates. Nobody cares what brand you play. As long as you make the horn sing. IMHO, I think we all focus too much on gear anyway.

 

I doubt very much that any actual person restricts a particular horn to a particular "genre". I'd be frankly amazed if any more than a vanishingly small fraction of people do anything other than trying out a bunch of horns and picking the one they like the best. I'd suggest the same to you.

I ask again, why are you feeling dissatisfied with the one you've got? Just because other people play different horns?

 

I'm not dissatisfied with my horn. I have been watching too many Saxophone videos comparing different horns. I want more out of my 52, hence asking the questions.

 

Weird tenor in this thread. Who doesn't want more out of their horn?

OP - I've read, though I can't confirm, that the 52 has the same body tube as the 62 and the only difference is the neck. Allegedly the 52 has a lower level neck found on the student/intermediate horns, while the 62 has a more refined "professional-level" neck. First figure out what you want "more" of from your 52? - upper overtones for a brighter more modern sound? Do you want to round the sound out for a more traditional jazz or classical tone? Then look for a neck that moves you in that direction. I think the V1 is the brightest and most free-blowing. The C1 is closest to the M1 that came with the original 875 tenor (refined, mellow, classical). The E1 lands in the middle. Then there are a full host of aftermarket necks that'll fit: I put an Eastern Music Power Neck on my 875 tenor and was pleased with the result.

Necks are about the same price as mouthpieces these days and, IMO, make much bigger and more tangible changes to the sound of the entire horn. Go nuts.

 

The 52 is a weird Tenor? Okay. I want a darker more classic 1950's tone out of my horn. So I'll just try some different necks and mouthpieces and see what I come up with. Thank you for your input on the different necks ands such.

 

When I purchased my YTS-52 brand new, I had considered the 62, but at the time it was $1,000 more, and when I tried both horns they felt VERY similar, and sounded very similar. So I chose the 52, and have been very happy with it.

I know there are pro's out there who play a mix of jazz, rock, classical, contemporary, pop, and more and do just fine on their 62's.

What are some great recommended upgrades to change my sound profile along the wide range of music genres?

As others have stated, "change sound profile" doesn't mean you "need" a different horn. Mouthpiece, reed setup can get you there.

52 is a good horn, like all Yamas on the bright side but that is its tonal paradigm as are most saxes these days.

82 is a nice model, a bit wider and lusher in spread, albeit still bright IMHO...but again you can get there with a mouthpiece, too. Some people have reported going with one of the new 62 necks (apparently they have different versions ? I don't follow that stuff) also changes the tonality. A more expensive option than a mouthpiece, and one which can start to digress a player's attention some, but it is probably true. But DON'T start getting duped by neck tube MATERIAL (ex. - "the silver plated neck gives a deeper, more robust tone" BS. The neck tone is determined by neck geometry. From what I hear, again, the various available Yama necks do produce subtle differences, but that'd be do to their geometries, not finishes).

What you seek really isn't unusual, I think the way you initially stated your 'problem' could have used a bit more specificity at the start, thus the sorta initial tone (no pun intended) of the responses.

People with modern-toned horns wanting their tonality to be more "vintagey" - darker, wider, a bit more spread, etc... - that's a pretty common desire.

Ditching the horn is not a requirement, tho.

 

(sorry, it was a cheapie I couldn't pass up)

 

I have a 52. 1st most obvious is different mouthpieces, then try different necks. I usually use an old Phil Barone neck with mine, and more recently got an Eastern Music neck that works really nicely. Between the above options I can achieve a nice spectrum of different sounds out of it.

I then went berserk with mine and installed a YTS475 silver-plated bell, but that's a whole other thing that I wouldn't recommend unless you want it pretty badly.

EDIT: It's a silver 480 bell, not 475. Can't believe I put the wrong model in, sorry!

 

I have a 52. 1st most obvious is different mouthpieces, then try different necks. I usually use an old Phil Barone neck with mine, and more recently got an Eastern Music neck that works really nicely. Between the above options I can achieve a nice spectrum of different sounds out of it.

I then went berserk with mine and installed a YTS475 silver-plated bell, but that's a whole other thing that I wouldn't recommend unless you want it pretty badly.

Wait a YTS-475 silver plated bell? . Interesting...... How did you get it aligned with the current tone hole and bell key position? What about the body to bell bracing? I have soo many questions lol but more importanly, how does it sound and feel FOR YOU?

 

To change your sound profile you will have to do it in your head first. You will need to pick a specific sound profile and work on it, developing a new embouchure and everything else that goes with that different sound.

New horn, new mouthpiece, same guy. After a couple of weeks, will still sound the same...

 

Get a YTS-21, 23 or a Yamaha-made Vito in a good shape. Play it, exclusively, for a couple months. Once you get used to it, try again the YTS-52. You may be surprised.

 

This is something a lot of people have been through, and if you don’t want to change horns, I would say…
Change NECKS.
It may be that a Yamaha Custom neck or other custom neck will really bring more out of your horn.
You may have to have some fitting work done by a tech to have the neck work seamlessly on your horn - I’m not sure. Check into it for sure.
If you have a 52 in good shape and feel you want to make changes you really could look into selling it or trading it off against a 62 or a Z.
Good luck!

 

* It's OK to try different gear. If you dig something & have the bread, buy it. Then play it. Don't waste brain cells wondering whether you shoulda bought something else. Just play.

* If you like your sound with Neck A better than your sound with Neck B, that is subjective evidence only of those two individual necks on that particular rig, as played by you on that day. To extrapolate & generalize would be silly. Two data points do not equal a trend.

* Do not expect your gear to do all the work. Your sound comes from you. It is your voice, informed by your ear. Immerse your ear in the sounds of the best saxophonists. Do not ask about their gear -- that's the wrong question. Dig something you hear? Woodshed until you sound like that.

* Take good care of your gear; keep it optimal. Then, if your sound fails to meet your expectations, you won't get hung up blaming your rig. You'll know right away it's yourself you need to work on.

(I can sound like me -- or calibrate my sound to fit various genres & ensembles -- on any reasonable configuration of horn, neck, & mouthpiece. What two things affect my sound the most? The reed. And my mood.)

 

You’re right. It’s definitely me, and I just need to work on my sound—whether it’s more productive practicing, different mouthpieces, etc. I definitely take care of my gear. My 1994 YTS-52 looks as it did when I purchased it new. I’ve always taken very good care of my musical instruments.

Reading everyone’s responses, scouring the forums for the answers I hoped I would find made me realize there are some great musicians in this group with a TON of valuable experience. Some who are brutally honest, others downright degrading and mean, but at the end of the day everyone will have their opinions on the gear they prefer, what has worked and hasn’t worked, and that a good player can make almost any level of a Saxophone sound good with proper technique.

Looks like I have some serious practicing to do to get the sound I am after. Thank you all again for your input, recommendations, and advice.

 

What area of the country do you live in? On the East coast, there's Boston Sax Shop that has custom necks. Kessler and Sons is in Las Vegas. I'm sure there are many more that carry some variety.

 

Kessler and Sons is a good option (6 hour drive). I’ve talked with Dave Kessler a few times. He’s a really knowledgeable and nice guy.

 

YMMV, & this is only a single data point: I've only ever purchased one alternative sax neck... & it played identically to the neck I already had.

Am still on my first human neck, too. It's far from perfect, yet I see no compelling reason to upgrade.

 

A second neck can be useful if you have two favorite mouthpieces with markedly different ID sizes.

 

I picked up an SA80 SII silver plate and a reference alto neck on a too good to be true price years ago as spares and/ or to experiment- neither are as good as the originals (tone and intonation) on my three Selmers (cigar cutter, BA and SA80). Like etc said can be useful if you've got different pieces.

 

I have an YTS-32 which I heard is the same as -52 in the states. A while ago I wanted a less "metallic" sound so I bought a wooden neck from Paraschos in Greece. It gave me a softer and warmer tone. However, I had some issues with pitch in the upper register, so I had to do some adjustments to the neck.

 

I picked up a 52 a few years ago and it has become my most used gigging horn. It's light, which helps long sessions, and responds well to various mouthpiece set ups, though the bottom end is nowhere as rich as my Barone tenor.
The entire horn got even better when I changed to a V1 neck. I wouldn't say it got brighter, more so wider/more spread sound, and a touch more powerful. Altissimo and multiphonics much easier.
I did have to get the octave key mechanism/lever lengthened as the V1 neck rocker/key is set higher. Big thanks to @Stephen Howard for working his magic on it.

 

I did recently purchase a V1 neck--should be here any day now. I'm sure that will help with the sound profile. I purchased a V1 for my alto a few months ago and it's made a huge difference in my alto sound--the altissimo and low range is much cleaner, than with the G1 neck it came with.

**Update: The V1 neck works great with my YTS-52 Tenor! I’m enjoying having more projection from low Bb through the altissimo register. It works with a variety of mouthpieces.

 

Thank you all again for your recommendations. I found the sound I was looking for in adding a V1 Yamaha neck, and for a warmer/darker tone adding an Eastern Music gold plated copper neck. I have a host of different mouthpieces that are working out great as well.

 

Ask a friend to help you with a randomized, balanced, blind experiment:

1. Original neck;
2. V1
3. Eastern Music.

Same mouthpiece, swapped multiple times. Before trying out, play all three to establish the optimal mouthpiece position on each neck. Your friend knows the neck but you do not.

You can change the seed to another integer if you want a different randomized sequence. The sample is balanced: each neck gets to be tried out 20 times. Write down, each time, what neck do you think you were playing. Record the trials, listen, then write down your listening estimate.

Send us the table of the results: for each trial, what was the actual neck, what was the neck you thought it was when it was played, and what was the neck you thought it was when you listened.

Below code is in R. In bold, is the randomized balanced sequence.

set.seed(5)
sample_size <- 60
smp <- sample(rep(1:3, sample_size/3), replace=FALSE, size=sample_size)
table(smp)
smp
1 2 3
20 20 20
smp
[1] 2 1 3 3 2 2 3 3 1 1 3 2 2 3 1 2 1 3 3 1 1 1 3 3 1 1 1 2 2 1
[31] 2 3 1 1 3 2 2 2 3 1 2 2 3 3 1 3 3 2 1 2 2 2 3 1 1 2 1 3 3 2

 

I won a YTS-52 in a local auction. fixed it up (just pads plus COA) and made a little profit of it. I also have a YTS-62 II with the V1. G1 (non custom) and rereleased YTS-62 neck from Yamaha 24x7.. I have also tried a YTS-875 older model for about a week and briefly (about 20 minutes) the 82Z

Here are my thoughts.
1- The pad sound test. The thunk on the 52 is not as resonant as the other pro horns. 82z is the most drum like
2- Feel, not as premium as the others. Things like Eb to front F. Fast chromatic on the bell keys or craxy jumbs like low Bb to palmed Eb or F are a bit harder.
4- Tone wise even with the same neck, The 52 is just a bit thinner but that would be splitting hairs. For most gigs this is really a non issue
5- Intonation, I think the 875 and the 62 are head to head followed by the 82z and the 52 but again splitting hairs. If you do intonation where you also change the volume and timbre, that's where the 875 and 82z may have an edge.
6- Loud the 82z is indeed loud, not at fists but if you have someone that can really blow it is can get really loud, but in terms of throwing the sound the 875 and 62 is what I'd choose

Having said that, The 52 is very capable and even lighter if that's what you want. Slap a custom V1 or C1 or even the re=released 62 neck and you are in business. I do think if you listen really carefully you cannot change it's tone profile even if you change the necks. The V1 will add in a lush factor. but I honestly it is not going to sound like the others specially not the 875 or 82z.

Get a YTS-62 II. They are the best bargain, not overprice3d like Purple logo first gen and not as expensive as new IIIs.

If you have a higher budget get an older 875 non EX. All these horns are not genre specific despite what every one says. If you want a Mk VI copy then get the older YTS 61 with the art deco racing track key guards

If I need another Yamaha tenor, it will be the OG 875 - best bung for the buck for me and the budget that I have

 

If you seek more of a vintage vibe on your 52, consider a Otto Link STM V mouthpiece, one of the latest versions from JJ Babbitt.