New Vintage Slant sits very far out on neck.

[markvihandcraft]

Hello,

I recently came across a 113xxx Mark VI tenor (Long story short: My dads friend had it sitting in a basement and sold it to us), that is in beautiful condition and is a great playing horn. Sounds great and looks great. A few months prior i had purchased one of the New HR Vintage Slant links, a size 7. It is a good playing piece, and worked very well on my Yamaha -23 tenor. However, on my Mark VI it sits in tune really far out on the neck, to where it can hardly sit and not wiggle around while playing. Just over a quarter inch from the end. Has anyone else had an issue like this? Is there anything that can be done about it, or should i go and try to find a better mouthpiece for the horn?

Thank you!

[Daveyz]

Try getting the neck recorked so that it won't wobble around. You can tell the tech your problem and where the mouthpiece plays in tune. They'll definitely work with that in mind. Make sure to bring your mouthpiece when getting it recorked too! If it ends up that you can't put your mouthpiece as far on as you want, make sure to bring it back to them. Forcing the mouthpiece on might put in a chance of pull-down.

[LampLight]

Interesting. The new slant generally fits tightly, so the issue is probably your neck, which isn't surprising. You can replace the cork, but you might instead try wrapping your neck with plumber's tape (aka pipe seal tape, Teflon tape, thread seal tape):



$0.94 at Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/William-H-Harvey-Pipe-Teflon/dp/B000KKVWNO/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=hi&qid=1254104277&sr=8-2); I use it and it works great for me.

[hakukani]

Make sure that you're playing a concert G or below with the mouthpiece alone.

[Noj the Terrible]

I have a 117XXX vintage MKVI tenor and play mostly with a new vintage slant sig Tone Edge 7* with La Voz med-soft and have no problems at all. Do other mouthpieces tune out at about the same place? I haven't had any problems using a regular tone edge, STM 7 and 9NY, Barone, Selmer or Meyer. Does the horn have the original neck?

[holdenjazz]

Something is messed up if you only have 1/4 inch of the neck in the mouthpiece. I have a new vintage link (along with way too many other pieces) and a little more than a full inch of the neck is in the piece to play in tune on my MKVI. Push the piece in where it should be, make sure using a reed that isn't too hard, open up your throat and chest, and it should be close to in tune. If you are used to a very closed classical piece or something with a lot of baffle, it may be you; you may be playing "sharp" by not having your airway open. If not, the neck may be bent down. The new vintage links play in tune just about where any other piece would, give a or take 1/4 inch.

[SethVaughn]

Something is messed up if you only have 1/4 inch of the neck in the mouthpiece. I have a new vintage link (along with way too many other pieces) and a little more than a full inch of the neck is in the piece to play in tune on my MKVI. Push the piece in where it should be, make sure using a reed that isn't too hard, open up your throat and chest, and it should be close to in tune. If you are used to a very closed classical piece or something with a lot of baffle, it may be you; you may be playing "sharp" by not having your airway open. If not, the neck may be bent down. The new vintage links play in tune just about where any other piece would, give a or take 1/4 inch.


+1

Try backing off on your reed strength and spend a good amount of time playing the piece. I've played links for tenor for almost 15 years and every single one of them has taken a fair amount of time to "learn". Right now my main piece is a New Vintage Slant 7*, it played way sharp for me for about two weeks. Then we started to get along. Now I love the sound and feel. I've got a brand new Barone Jazz on the way that I ordered a few weeks before I bought the NVS. The Barone is going to have to kick major rear to dethrone the NVS.

[ParrotTheLegends]

Hmm, I'm not sure I would advise the OP to play a softer reed. IMO if it's enough softer that you have to move the neck up by 1/2 an inch or so then it's probably too soft. And furthermore, if you have to compromise the playability and sound of the piece in order to play in tune then there is no point to playing the piece imo.

If you're able to hit all the altissimo notes, overtones and subtones that you are normally able to play, I would just stay on the reeds you're using and give the piece a few more weeks of practice time. It's possible that your throat is too closed or that you haven't optimized your airstream for the piece yet, among other factors.

[mfry]

Make sure that you're playing a concert G or below with the mouthpiece alone.

At the highest. There's no reason you should be anywhere near that far out on any piece on the VI. Either there's something very wrong with the neck or your embochure is way too tight. How much playing on just the moutphiece do you ever do? Have you tried different mouthpieces on this horn?

[JL]

I agree with those who say something is very wrong with this picture. No way you should have to pull that mpc way out on the neck to play in tune. Something is wrong and I'm not sure we can diagnose it here. You might take the horn to a tech and have it checked out. Also, if you know a good sax player, maybe have them play it and see if they have the same problem. If so, there's something wrong with the sax/neck, if not, you're biting way too hard or something like that.

[markvihandcraft]

Thank you to all who replied!

I think i may have it figured out. I have played the piece alone and tuned it too an A before, but i think i was subconsciously correcting more than i thought for being sharp. I just sat down and worked with just the piece and a tuner for about 20 minutes and i'm pretty sure i was playing quite a bit sharp without knowing it. I changed my embouchure to get it to play comfortably at slightly below up to an A, got it to stick around there, and put it on the horn. Bam. It sits where a link would usually sit on a VI.

I guess i underestimated the power of tuning the piece to a tuner. I have had the horn in to my teacher(s) and my tech and i know there is no pull down or other issues like that. They have all said it plays great.

Thanks again! I learn something new everyday.