SSC992 Intonation

[patseguin]

I bought the curved soprano a while back and love the sound but not the tuning. Are these horns know to be more difficult on intonation than the straight sopranos?

[ericdano]

If anything they have easier intonation than straight sopranos. I've played several (students and other pros I know) and they are solid. I think I have one of the older ones where the keys on the bell are on the left instead of the right. I think the new ones have them on the right? Mines like a 90s vintage I suppose. Love it. It just plays, no futzing with the tuning.

Though mouthpieces……some of the ones I liked on straight soprano don't really work. Like I didn't ever like the Selmer mouthpieces I have on it. The stock Yanigasawa mouthpiece is nice but I think it was like a 4 opening? I have a friend who I think still plays on a 7. I think I'm playing on a rubber Berg 80/2 or 80/1. I forget.

But the sopranos play great.

[William Bua]

Its definately a mouthpiece issue. Try a hard rubber Yani 7. They also like Runyon classic plastic pieces and selmer super session pieces as well.

[soybean]

I don't know about the old ones like EricDano's, but I had a SC991 and a S991 at the same time. The straight soprano (S991) had better intonation than the curved one. However, they were both excellent horns and had great intonation for a soprano sax. In general, curved sopranos have worse intonation than straight ones. This is especially true in the cheap Asian sopranos.

[milandro]

Well, the two post commenting on intonation with opposite views on what " in general" curved sopranos are in terms of intonation, are emblematic of the fact that intonation is a thing that has a lot to do with the player, his equipment (mouthpiece) and his expectations and abilities to control all of this.

More so on sopranos where individual variation such us mouthpiece placement and relative embouchure (which, if the mouthpiece placement is not correct, might be easily throwing the intonation all over the place in the attempt to lip things up or down) and mouthpiece type, than with anything else in the saxophone world, perhaps only equal to baritone intonation.

So, if these opposite views can co-exist in the same world it must mean that someone is doing something radically different than someone else.

Although I don't own a Yanagisawa 992 ( I've tried several times and loved it but in the end I bought its best copy, the BW AI bronze) I think that, as far as I can tell, the horn's intonation is very good.

What is, Patseguin that you don't like about the tuning of your horn?

[bjornblomberg]

I have a SC992, and as far as I can tell, the intonation is great. In the beginning I had some doubts about the intonation, but some general attention to mouthpiece placement made it work great for me, i.e. mouthpiece further in, so that tuning is spot on on the middle C# (no fingers), with completely relaxed embouchure. I think that soprano is an excellent little horn, both mechanically, soundwise and with regard to intonation.

[sycc]

My youngest daughter plays on a SC-991 w/ no intonation problems! I play on a straight S-80 II w/ no Intonation problems! I have pirated her SC-991 from time to time and have had no issues w/ it!

[pc1234]

I play a Yani 7 hard rubber mouthpiece with an SC991 and intonation is very good with the mouthpiece pushed pretty far in.

[Dr G]

I've had two SC-992 sops - no issues with tuning once paired with a good mouthpiece.

I found the Selmer Super Session "J" and the Morgan to work very well.

[Narb1]

I have the SC-992 and it's a great horn...I love it. But I also had intonation problems when I first got it....to the point where I considered sending it back. The trick for me (which was suggested here on the forum) was to push the mouthpiece all the way in - much further than I would have normally. Once I did that with the stock Yani 5 Hard Rubber, the intonation was spot on.

[Dave Dolson]

All three of my Yanagisawa sops (and all the others that I've owned) have/had good intonation. S901, S992, and SC902 are the current ones . . . Super Session J, Morgan Vintage 6 and 7, Link STM's, Kessler's sop mouthpiece, and many others play fine on them. DAVE