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Baritone Saxophone High Register

6K views 13 replies 10 participants last post by  NissanVintageSax 
#1 ·
I am currently a fairly new player to Bari sax, and I've played alto for about 5 years now so spare me any of the basic stuff please! Regardless, on the bari I'm playing which is a rather old martin of an unknown age though it is probably more than 40 or 50 years old and the pads have definitely seen much bettter days althought not all of them are bad. With this bari, the high register sounds terrible and I'm unsure what it could be. The lower end of the instrument is beautiful so I guess it's not me (I hope!). The nastiness begins above the F on the top line, and extends upwards. I have a difficult time explaining the timbre of it, but it sounds pretty much like when you bend a note until it sounds like crap, like when you lower your bottom lip off the reed. I am using a Bari standard Medium Hard on a Yamaha 5C hard rubber mouthpiece. Is it me, a set of pads gone bad, or a reed/mouthpiece conflict?

Also, sorry for no audio!
 
#2 ·
It can be any number of things, but the condition of the pads suggests that there are mechanical issues with the horn. By any chance, are both of the octave mechanisms moving properly? It's probably best to have a tech look the horn over. A bari sax has it's own set of quirks, and it's most certainly heavier than other saxes, but you should be able to blow through the regular range without an issue. Your mouthpiece/reed combination seems to be alright as well.
 
#3 ·
It's possibly a combination of two things.
You still being new to the baritone.
And mouthpiece.
Martins are notoriously picky about mouthpiece chamber size.
A proper large chambered piece (pickle barrel) will help bring it into tune.
There are not many modern pieces that work particularly well on the Martins unless they have been modified either with a shank extension or chamber enlargement.
Its my guess that the "sounding crap" can be attributed to tuning issues from both mouthpiece selection and possibly biting a little more than you should.
Baritone requires a far more relaxed embouchure than alto.
 
#4 ·
I was curious about the mouthpiece/horn combo, but Yamaha mouthpieces have always worked well with any horn I've used them on, including picky vintage horns. Of course, I haven't tried the baritone version of the 5C, so maybe it's the exception in the family.

Biting, or choking off the reed, could make sense, but F2 seems like an odd starting point for this problem. Definitely something that the OP should keep in mind though.
 
#5 ·
I've actually had the 2 octave mechanisms looked at by instructors at my school and they did some modifications which helped considerably. Prior to what I am experiencing now, I couldn't hit a note above the middle D because the mechanisms were so shoddy. I guess it shouldn't be them but a more technical person would probably be able to advise on this.
 
#6 ·
It can very well be something in the mechanism. The pads aren't great, but you stated that you're able to to get the lower register out, so they're at least passably sealing. The issue may also be with key heights, but I'm shooting in the dark without seeing the horn, or at least hearing the issue.
 
#7 ·
Assuming the neck is original---all above comments are correct. However, the body octave pip could be sealing badly when the mechanism is being activated thus causing instability above middle D which will get progressively worse higher up the range. Also check for 'crud' in upper octave pip, check condition of water key cork --'spit key'--as well.
I have a suspicion the mouthpiece reed combo is not compatible , Martin bari's have a great sound and what works well is a Link either STM or Tone Edge-- if you know anyone with a Link Baritone m/p around 6/6* ask if you can try it--as mentioned above keep the embouchure very relaxed. The upper register is the hardest aspect to master on bari IMO.
 
#8 ·
Is this instrument yours, or does it belong to your school? If it belongs to you I'd say get it repaired. If it belongs to your school I'd say have them repair it for you. You can't really think about anything regarding the mouthpiece if it's not in reasonable playing condition, and it hasn't been since you started playing it.
 
#9 ·
Check the pads to make sure they either have flat resonators or no resonators in them = especially in the upper half of the horn. If someone replaced the pads with domed resonators it will throw the intonation off in a really bad way. I've run across this twice..
 
#10 ·
I am currently a fairly new player to Bari sax, and I've played alto for about 5 years.........The nastiness begins above the F on the top line, and extends upwards. I have a difficult time explaining the timbre of it, but it sounds pretty much like when you bend a note until it sounds like crap, like when you lower your bottom lip off the reed......
Have you played on any other bari saxes recently?

Can you cite an example of a pro bari sax player whose tone you like in the upper end of the bari, who you would like to sound like?
 
#12 ·
The best mouthpiece I found for my 1955 Martin was a vintage Berg hard rubber. Mine was a 130/1 but that's a little big for most players and really has little to do with how it gave me a better high register and also controlled the intonation. It's a very long piece which the Martin needs. Now I have a modern low A bari and it has completely different needs. Pic shows it on the new sax before I found a different piece.

 
#14 ·
My old 1926 King bari was picky on mouthpieces too, even after extending the neck! Most mouthpieces just sounded like crap on it, but stick a Berg Larsen, or Berg-inspired mouthpiece on it, or an old Couf mouthpiece, and she sang! Palm keys are still flat, but she sounds good, well intonaltisimo! Strangely enough my Drake Custom and Couf pieces still sound great on my TaiShan low A bari too!
 
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