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Is there a difference in the length - Tenor Reed vs Alto Reed

15K views 7 replies 6 participants last post by  DavidD 
#1 ·
I bought a used alto sax and the reeds are different lengths. One is a #2.5 and is 82mm long and I bought some other 2.5 alto reeds that are only 70mm long but difficult to get a good sound out of. The 82mm reed (2.5) is a Vandoren and plays much easier than these shorter ones of a no name company from China. The Rico Royal (#2.5) reeds are also 82mm long and the one Rico Royal (#3) I have is 70mm, I am beginning to wonder if these no name Chinese 2.5 reeds are actually 3.0 or higher? None of the name brand reeds say alto or tenor and was also wondering how do you tell the difference between alto reeds and tenor reeds? Thanks for any help.
 
#4 ·
Chinese reeds aren't much good.

Tenor reeds are about 82 mm so it looks like you have some tenor reeds. They are wider too so you should notice they are too big for the mouthpiece.
70mm is the right length for alto.
Thank you very much. It looks like the person was using some tenor reeds with their alto which I guess is acceptable. I sure like the sound but then too I was comparing it to these cheap Chinese reeds that I would not recommend to anyone. Do many people use tenor reeds with their alto saxophones?
 
#5 ·
I do occasionally, the same as bari reeds on tenor. The only difference is that the bari reeds are more expensive than the tenor reeds so the one I use is a synthetic reed that will pay for itself by lasting as long as a couple of boxes of cane reeds.

I also play my alto with my Berg SS tenor mpc because it sounds bigger and fuller and surprisingly the intonation is good too. That's probably because it has to be pushed way down on the neck to be in tune and so it really is not inordinately larger than an alto mpc. This is mostly because the Berg SS vintage pieces are really thin and take a ligature the diameter and size of a soprano one.
 
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