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Faster action on The Martin tenor

807 views 7 replies 5 participants last post by  mijderf 
#1 ·
Hi guys,

today I was testing a BA, MkVI and an SBA because I thought about a switch. I was (again) leaving the store thinking: well, I think my Martin can actually do almost the same as those horns (not the sound of the SBA though, it was great) and for studying and playing gigs it's perfect.

HOWEVER

The mechanics and the action on all the selmers seemed much more elaborate and fast, playing was light. On my Martin, I have to do some more work, especially when playing fast.

As I'm mostly into bebop, I'm wondering if iI can get that changed by a tech? I got a full overhaulrecently but all springs where left in. I suppose it's the original springs. Would replacing those with lighter springs ameliorate the action? And maybe lowering distance of keys to toneholes?

Does anyone have experience with this?

Best
Hannes
 
#3 ·
The mechanics and the action on all the selmers seemed much more elaborate and fast, playing was light. On my Martin, I have to do some more work, especially when playing fast.
Not sure what you mean by elaborate, but if the action was light on the Selmers, you can just have your martin adjusted to be as light if you like that. There's no real reason for it to be less "fast"
 
#7 ·
Iv'e had 4 the Martins. They are fast horns ergonomically. But to prevent hand /wrist pains I took a tool and lightened the tension on all my springs. You can have a tech do it but i watched my tech do it to so many of my horns I just started doing it myself. I bet theres a your tube video on that. a crochet hook can work also but some springs are really hard to get to. I'm not very mechanical but I figured it out. You can get your martin fast!! K
 
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