OUCH! My thumb hurts!

[OLDAIR]

I have an old Lyon and Healy Martin Stencil soprano with one of those narrow little rings that are supposed to be thumb rests. Are there any tricks to making this thing more comfortable to hold?

Also I can occasionally hit the high D (first palm key upper octave) but above that - nada/zero/zilch. Common? I've only been playing a few months but I just can't seem to squeeze out the last palm key notes up there!

[colibri]

If you bite down too hard, you'll never get those palm key notes. Relax your embouchure and don't put so much lip on your bottom teeth.

[max]

See the discussion at:
http://saxontheweb.myforums.net/viewtopic.php?t=1299

[MojoBari]

On the thumb: I'm tempted to try to make a wider thumb rest on my Conn ring by using some epoxy putty. I have to play it a lot next week, so we'll see...

[Roger Aldridge]

Steve Goodson is currently making some modifications to my Buescher soprano so that it will be physically easier for me to play it. The design and placement of the original thumb rest did a serious number on my wrist and shoulder! Steve did a similar mod to Zman's soprano.

A simple trick you might try is resting the bell of the soprano on your knee or leg. This will help to take some of the weight off your right thumb. Of course, this works only if you're sitting down when you play.

[old dawg]

I have a Keefer straight soprano, with the 'ring' you speak about. I also have felt 'your pain..!!' I did some searching around and found that at craft stores there are cloth devices with pads that are used to push needles through needle point material. I bought a couple and use this on my thumb with the padding against the round post. It seems to work fine. I also have used bandaids with cardboard. I personally wouldn't alter my saxophone or change the ring. I would think this would distract from the aethetics of the instrument. Good luck.

[MojoBari]

I did end up augmenting my ring with some epoxy putty. I built it up to the left side. But since this reduced the "dig in" effect of the ring into my thumb, the sax had a tendency to want to slide off. I need some spongy material to line the new thumb hook. I glued some 220 sandpaper on it for now to get through the show I used it for.

[OLDAIR]

I ended up having my tech solder a strap ring above the thumb ring. Looks good and sure takes the weight off. Thanks for all the advice.

[dzane]

I realize this thread has been completed but I have a possible solution to this problem for those who are looking for information here. My thumb was cramping after about 20 minutes of practice so I talked to a fitness expert about exercises that would help. He suggested placing the thumb and fingertips together, then place half a dozen rubber bands around the fingertips and thumb, then repeatedly open the hand, stretching the rubber bands and strengthening the thumb. The resistance could be varied by adding or subtracting rubber bands. It worked very well...thanks Mike. No more cramps.

DZ

[Razzy]

And just to comment on the side topic of not being able to go above the palm D comfortably, well, the upper register will always require more breath support and voicing. You have to voice those notes and above like you voice the altissimo on alto sax. It may also be the mouthpiece. I'd been playing soprano for 6 months and having serious trouble getting the palm key notes out after hours and hours of hard practice every day... I also noticed my tone was not quite up to par with the other saxes. I'd been playing a Yamaha 4C that came stock with the instrument. A few weeks ago went out and played selmer C*, and instantly I was comfortable up to the high F. Now I play a selmer metal classic D and even the high G is not much of a problem anymore.

[Perfect Pitch]

As noted above mouthpiece can have a big bearing on sound. In my case a metal piece changed me from a scratchy D(as highest note with ebonite piece) to an easy F# player :idea:

[saxomophone]

If you guys are looking for something spongy to put on your thumb rests, try MoleFoam. It's like MoleSkin that you put on blisters, but it has about 1/8in of foam. You can cut it to whatever shape you want, and it has an adhesive back so you don't need to glue it. Works great on Clarinet thumb rests as well.