Out of tune Bari... (Also, "Hi, my name is Lurker Hunte

[Lurker Hunter]

Hey, first off I'd like to introduce myself. I've been playing alto for 5 years(and I still do in my spare time, even though I now play bari for the school band.) Although I've been playing Bari for a measly four months, I've made the all-county concert band (9th/10th) and the all-county jazz band.

Now, I'm not sure if this belongs here or not, but here goes:

The school bari we have is a brand new Selmer Series II Super Action 80 It's a wonderful horn, sounds great, feels great. The only quirk I have with it is that it is horrendously sharp above high A, and the higher it goes the more out of tune it gets (when played "correctly," palm key E is 50 cents sharp!! Yes, I do have quite a few of those in the songs we're playing.)

I can't seem to fix this problem by dropping my jaw or lipping down, though it helps a lot I can't seem to play in tune with the band. If I pull out, then all my low notes are horribly flat. Unfortunately, there's no one song with everything in the high register or everything in the low register...

I'd like to be able to have the horn fixed, but I have no idea what is wrong with it. A talented senior sax in our section (who also uses the bari at times) notices the problem as well, but he doesn't have an idea of what's wrong.

So, I wanted to know if any of you could help me out in this predicament. I never thought a saxophone could be that far out of tune with itself! :?

[vick]

I played a series II on loan from a buddy last year for a couple of gigs. The one thing I noticed about it was its superb intonation (I was using an Otto Link at the time). Take it into a tech and ask him to check out its adjustment. I also used a meyer 5m on it for a wind ensemble and that played well in tune as well.

[SaxPlayer1004]

could it be your mouthpiece? if the chamber is too small the high range will go sharp. try a bigger mouthpiece, if your playing jazz try a meyer, or a link. for concert band try the selmer s90 or the yamaha 5c (i know it sounds wierd, but those things have dead nuts intonation on all the baris i have played. selmer keilwerth yanigisawa newport prestini jupiter yamaha) just a thought. good luck with it, not many schools can afford the sa80 baris.

[saxchado]

It's also not unlikely that you are trying to play the bari with an alto airstream. If you take the mouthpiece off and play just the piece, you should produce a concert-pitch D. chances are that the pitch you are producing is significantly higher than that!!

[UNTplayer]

One thing you can try is to pull out between the neckpiece and the body. Then push the mouthpice in further to get "G" back in tune. This increases the distance between the register hole and the tone holes in the body, which should drop the pitch. Since that register hole is used only for high "A" and above, it will not affect the notes "D"-"G#".

[Merlin]

One thing you can try is to pull out between the neckpiece and the body. Then push the mouthpice in further to get "G" back in tune. This increases the distance between the register hole and the tone holes in the body, which should drop the pitch. Since that register hole is used only for high "A" and above, it will not affect the notes "D"-"G#".

That's not going to work on a Selmer bari - the register holes are on the body. It could work on something like a 12M...

[shmuelyosef]

Even on a 12M you can only pull out 1-2 mm before the octave key actuator slips off the key.

[vick]

I tried to do this on my martin bari with little success. Pulling out at the neck pretty much whacks out a precisely set up octave mechanism. Take it to a tech.

[SaxPlayer1004]

ahh the amazingness of long neck baris. the only things i can think of is getting a larger chamber for it, having a tech disengage the big key. if you look just above the G# key, there is a lever which is actuated by any of the right hand main keys, which puts the bis key down. i wouldn't take it off on my bari just because i use that alternate Bb fingering a lot, but it should work to bring them down. or have your lower stack closed a little bit. alternate fingerings could work. i.e. on a high D you could shut the a key or the g key to bring it back, but that might start future bad habits. take it to a good tech, tell him whats going on, play it for him with a tuner and ask him. try a few different mouthpieces. the selmer s90 might do it for you. something is seriosly wrong with its octave mechanisim for the upper range, so he might know what to do with it.