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What do you do with your C-mel?

10K views 40 replies 25 participants last post by  Little Sax 
#1 ·
I'm just curious what other C-mel players are playing with their horns.

I like my C-mel and I enjoy playing it, but I don't see it ever coming on stage for my normal sort of playing. I treat mine compared to my other horns the way a guitarist might treat an acoustic compared to AEs and electrics. It follows me around to a casual get-togethers (bonfires, parties, etc.) where I wouldn't bring my usual horns, and if I travel for any length of time it's probably coming along for that. I typically use it for impromptu bluesy jams with guitarists, and for practice when I don't want to be loud.
 
#9 ·
The other got ran over by a steam roller (true story) and is also displayed as a piece of art.
I think I remember reading that story on here a long time ago.

Salsa gigs must have been interesting. I can't imagine getting a high enough baffle on mine to get a bright enough sound, but maybe if I tried alto pieces I'd have better luck. What did you use for that?
Btw my horn's not quieter either; I just use a small tip opening.
 
#4 ·
Mine stays in the case. I keep it for nostalgic reasons because I inherited it from my grandfather. Also, it was the first sax I ever played so it has deep sentimental value. Mine's a 1925 Conn NW by the way. I pull it out and play it once every year or so just for giggles and grins. Surprisingly it's still in pretty good shape even though it hasn't been to a tech since 1968.
 
#5 ·
Well I sold mine (Buescher TT, nickel plated, kinda nice) but my instructor kept his. Being from NE Ohio we would get a bunch of snow. The kids wanted the snow man to be jazzy like their papa so he would let them take his old King C melody tenor out and hang it around the snowman's neck. Then when spring came (the period of time in OH known as "Construction") the snow would melt and the horn would fall off. He would pick it up off the ground and hang it in his garage until next year when OH returned to winter.
 
#6 ·
I'm just curious what other C-mel players are playing with their horns.
When I was still gigging (I play exclusively in a home studio now), I used it in a salsa band. No horn was loud enough to cut through without a metric ****load of amplification, and I'm not convinced it was actually any quieter anyhow. The range demanded in the part was a little too high for a tenor (unless you really enjoy playing altissimo G all day, or have a tenor with a high G key, which I actually do, but it's a dark horn not well suited for the purpose), and often too low for an alto. A two-horn solution did work, but why not use the even simpler one-horn solution? Transposition wasn't a problem, I was the one doing the transcriptions so I could print them in any key I wanted. The range of keys in use ran from B major to Bb minor, but the majority of the songs were in C-friendly keys like A minor and D minor.

(BTW, the board software lets me enter Unicode flats, and they show up in the editing box, but render as a ? once posted. I think the Unicode support is a bit broken.)
 
#11 ·
The last time my Martin C went public was at Xmas when it played carols at a couple of local hospital wards.

Just the right range, and I could read the dots over the keyboard players shoulder without transposing - hmmm, that sounds like a novel use for a C-Melody saxophone, wonder if it'll ever catch on ? :mrgreen:

Still play it quite a bit at home, despite availability of Bb's and Eb's, it's my 'go to' noodling-around horn :bluewink: - and I still can't resist trying all and any mouthpieces on it just in case I find something better than the one I'm using ! Hope springs eternal, eh ? (Note to self : must try Morgan and Zinner C mouthpieces one day...)

(btw, although I prefer the name 'C-Tenor', I almost always refer to them as 'C-Melody' online these days as anyone seeking info on C's inevitably Googles 'C-Melody'. So any creative instinct, or preferences, is being moulded by the requirements of a Google search, sigh...:( )
 
#12 ·
I use the C melody tenor to learn new tunes from several of my Fake Books written for C instruments like the piano (which is my usual instrument), then I tanspose the melody to the appropriate Eb or Bb versions once I get it down. It is my go to horn which is always set up next to the piano ready to be played. This 1924 Buescher True Tone C melody is also more difficult to play ( for me) given the old style key set up and ergonomics, and the odd playing position, having to lift it high using a Sax Holder.
Once in a while, I will spend an entire day playing the C melody tenor, then go back to the regular tenor, soprano, or alto saxes the next day, and that's when I truly enjoy and appreciate the ease in playing my other horns with the modern ergonomics. I also use it to test tenor mouthpieces, as the intonation I find more natural in the concert C pitch. After trying numerous mouthpieces, the Rico Metalite M7 with a 2.5 green Java Vandoren reed seems to work best for me.
Edit: another use for it is playing the melody part without transposing, instead of me singing, using thousands of karaoke tracks in my collection or have access to as a subscriber to Karafun (streaming using iOS or PC).
 
#14 ·
Well, I wouldn't say "no one", although I don't have mine any more.

Footwear Musical instrument Music stand Musician Drum
 
#15 ·
I still play mine (buescher TT)more than ali the per horns. I play a lot of Brazilian music (bossa nova, choro, samba) Jazz standards, some pop and rock, just for fun.
I am using a metal Berg tenor mouthpiece now, with fibracell reeds. I like the sound I am getting, with lows close to a Tenor and highs close to an alto, but still unique.
Of course, no one can sound as tenorish as csax...
 
#16 ·
Of course, no one can sound as tenorish as csax...
Visiting csax some years ago, I went out to my car for some reason while he was playing his Bb Martin tenor.
When I returned to his house a few minutes later he was still playing it......I thought.
I was astonished to see that he had swapped it for his C tenor Martin....quite remarkable....nothing more to be said !
 
#17 ·
Most of the time it comes out during the holidays when friends and family start gravitating towards the piano. If piano sheet music comes out, the 1923 Conn comes out. It's in great playing condition, but it's unfortunate how much time it spends looking good on the wall.
 
#18 ·
The Buescher C melody tenor is the least expensive sax I have, and in my opinion, the sturdiest (built like a tank), so lately it's the horn I take with me when I get together with musical friends. It helps that they are mostly guitar and piano players and vocalists, and I can just read directly from their charts without transposing my part on the sax.
I think this sax is much more appreciated and more natural for guitar, piano/ keyboard players who also play the sax. Any change in the key in one instrument or voice is the same in the sax without additional adjustment/ transposition.
 
#20 ·
I just used my King C in a rock band rehearsal, and it was great. I could read the chords off the guitar or bass player, and the King C has plenty of punch. No one would have known it wasn't a tenor if they hadn't been told. I hear the Conns and Yorks are quieter, but the King (and Martins, it seems) are built like other saxes, sound like them and play like them. They don't have little hamster voices, or sound like a plastic harmonica. Great instrument, just not made any more.
 
#21 ·
I love the sound of my C-Melody, a vintage Conn. Wasn't played for about 30 years till it was passed to me. It blew beautifully the first time I took it out of the case. Luckily it still has the original mouthpiece which is awesome. It still can sit all day with a dried out reed on it and play right away whenever I pick it up. I plan on using it for a Jazz quartet I will be playing in soon and reading off the vibes music. BTW, does anyone have fingerings for altissimo on the C-Melody?
 
#24 ·
I found the altissimo pattern of mine to be mostly that of an alto, but with some twists like G being chronically flat and requiring quite an awkward combination to bring up to pitch. The alternative was to use the fingering for G# but only barely crack open the C side key. (Easier said than done at speed!)

From Bb on up, the patterns are pretty much the same across all my horns -- except that on the bari, they all run a semitone flat. The pattern is identical, but they don't produce the expected notes. (I suspect the coil, and its extra bends, is responsible for this.) My altissimo pattern is really simple though: hold down LH3 to make sure the neck octave key stays closed, but otherwise just work up chromatically from C# (which produces Bb). When I run out of notes (either at D or D# depending on whether that horn has a high F#), I have to leap to a higher harmonic and do it all over again. Fortunately for me and for any listeners, I generally don't need to do this except on bari where I find it useful to reach as high as F. (Also I have to start over just to reach D, due to no high F# and the semitone flattening.)
 
#25 ·
I play Irish dance music, which is almost entirely in D/G/A and relative minors. C melodies were featured in Irish "orchestras" - actually just combos, a dozen pieces tops - from the 20s/30s, along with jazzy tenor banjos being strummed madly. I love the music of that era and picked up a Concertone CMel a few years ago, kind of noodled on it a bit and that was that; but traded it in for a 1923 Conn the other day, which works a fair bit better.

This music is mostly played in little sessions, all acoustic and the Concertone was way too brash for people to handle; but the Conn seems a lot more reserved. I always thought sax would sound nice in Irish music, which can often feature a bit of a bluesy touch on certain notes; or perhaps the blues has some Irish-ness in it? Or it's courtesy of some common ancestor.

I also really like jazz/pop singers of days gone by and am practicing along with old sides of Peggy Lee et al, funny that these are usually in flat keys which would often be a snap on a tenor or alto...it forces me to work on those long notes which they say you should work on right off the bat though so no mess no fuss.
 
#26 ·
I play my C-melody a lot alongside my flute and a little bit of fiddle and currently adding U-bass into the mix, I play with a friend as a duo with all sorts of music - from folk, trad jazz and bluesy numbers (working on learning some blues properly as it's not something I'm used to doing!) and a lot of our own material - www.phantamchic.co.uk - prefer it to my daughters alto which I find oddly too heavy and clunky! I like the ergonomics of my old Conn!
 
#27 ·
I recently bought mine off eBay. Conn 1921 NW and in very good shape and was once exchanged for a Buescher. 6 new pads and ready to go. Sounds great playing the Our Gang theme music from the Hal Roach MGM comedy shorts. It will mostly be used for street gigs and jams.
 
#29 · (Edited)
So, the Rico Metalite 7 compensated the mellow tone on a C Melody., and gave it volume.?
What about metal alto mouthpieces like a Beechler 6 ... what might that do or sound like?
I have the Conn New wonder 1929 and its needing a re pad. Do I spend the $ . I'm used the my Alto Buescher TT with the dark original mouthpiece and it is a bit muffled sound which I love on some melodies. When I use a Meyer 5 M it's a whole new saxophone, very bright for me,just a hint of darkness. Which I prefer on some music.
 
#31 ·
So, the Rico Metalite 7 compensated the mellow tone on a C Melody., and gave it volume.?
What about metal alto mouthpieces...
I think you are referring to my earlier post?
Yes, If I want more projection and volume without affecting the intonation of my Buescher TT C Melody Tenor, I use the Rico Metalite Tenor M7 mouthpiece with a 2.5 reed. You need to push the MP almost all the way in. The neck cork fortunately accommodates both the C Melody MPs (original Buescher, C melody King), and all my tenor pieces, but not the alto pieces (so I have not tried any of my alto pieces). When I want a mellower warm sound I use the C Melody mouthpieces.
 
#32 ·
How do you tell a c melody mouthpiece? I know these Selmers are
Tenor, and I know the Meyer and , G6, K5, are alto, but what about the
Three woodwind Co.'s between. Tenor or C melody? The B5* is a different shank,no?








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#33 ·
How do you tell a c melody mouthpiece? I know these Selmers are
Tenor, and I know the Meyer and , G6, K5, are alto, but what about the Three woodwind Co.'s between. Tenor or C melody? The B5* is a different shank,no?
I'm really not an expert on how to tell, but from my limited experience while looking for C Melody mouthpieces and from info I gathered from this forum, the 3rd and 4th MPs from the left are about the size and external configuration of the C Melody MP (confirmed if they have a "C" marked at the bottom). However the 5th one I'm guessing, could be either a short shank tenor MP or a C Melody? Maybe you can do a search in this forum, or maybe members who are experts can chime in.
 
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