Sharp middle D on vintage Mark VI alto

[Balladeer]

I have a nice vintage Mark VI alto that I have played for years. What in the world can I do to solve the intonation problem with middle D being especially sharp?

[les]

Lower the felt bumper on the low C key. MAYBE the low B and Bb too. Slowly.......

[Balladeer]

lesax:
Thanks for all the tips! Using the felt bumpers I lowered the Bb and C keys each about the thickness of a dime. Also, feeling brave, I twisted the G key cup counter-clockwise fractionally, resulting in a more open G and a more open body octave vent.

I have dynamically adjusted the pitch of middle D for over 35 years. I'm really glad that I kept this alto. The thing that irks me is why none of the 3 overhauls/repads done from 1972-2002 fixed this for me.

Thank-you.

[les]

Balladeer,
I came to repair rather late in life. I graduated from Berklee in 1977 with a degree in performance and went on to teach there for 5 years. I played around Boston and briefly San Diego before doing my Masters(jazz perfromance) at New England Conservatory in the early 90s. It was while I was there that I became interested in instrument repair. I recorded a couple of albums for the Audioquest label about that time( w/K. Barron,C. McBee,J.Abercrombie,M.Stern etc..) and started seriously perusing the Ferrees catalogue. When I finally decided to jump in, I was pleased to discover that I liked doing it, so I finally quit teaching and went full time with repair and gigs. Knowing all the players in town helped a lot as did some lessons with Ernie Sola and Randy Jones(Tenor Madness). I have always tried to remember what Joe Viola told me about the saxophone and use that as a guide for my sax repair philosophy. The validity of Joes teaching is proved everyday in my shop by my customers.