YBS 61 Stuffy High G Problem

Yamaha's fix for this problem was to reposition the upper octave vent up the horn about 2-2.5 inches from it's original location. I believe the correct location is near the reinforcement at the bend (bell side) but being the same distance from the highest 2 palm key holes. You'll have to make a longer octave key to reach. Some of the later 61's may already come like this.

Something I never thought of before was trying to see if enlargeing the octave hole first made a difference.

I've also found that a metal Yanagisawa mouthpiece (or probably any bright mouthpiece for that matter) makes the problem less noticable .

Are you sure? The G does not use the upper octave vent.

Or are you saying that the problem is caused by the intrusion of the upper octave vent into the air column at a 'sensitive' location in the air column for G?

You're right Gordon. I should have said the lower octave vent which is located at the very top curve of the horn. The upper octave vent is lower near where the neck goes in.

YBS 61 octave vent

The "lower" octave vent on late models is located at the highest physical part of the horn between the high E and F tone holes. The arm is about 3 inches long and is shaped like an "L" If your bari differs from this, then you have an early model without that modification. I have a late 61 bari with the relocated octave vent and it does not have a foggy G. But I use a metal RIA mp with Fibracell reed, and the horn is lively with that configuration.

Thanks to all who replied. With some luck and trial and error I tried making the inside diameter of the body octave vent smaller and it made a big difference. The opening was .160" and by inserting two short lengths of teflon tube (one snugly inside the other) I was able to reduce the diameter by 1/2 to approximately .080". This made high G (with the octave key) and low G overblown an octave sound virtually the same. Now high G with the octave key pressed has about 85% of the volume and clarity of its neighbor high A instead of about 30% with the same airstream. Luckily the D up to the F# are not adversely affected by the change in the body octave.

Yamaha's fix for this problem can be found here: