Years ago I played in a saxophone quintet with a guy who was constantly struggling with his vintage Conn alto (circa 1920s), that had serious warbles below low C. Try as he might, he couldn’t get it to play without a warble, unless the sax had a wine cork in the bell. At the time, I had never heard of this trick before. A few years later, when I got my Conn C melody, I encountered the same problem. I too corrected it with wine corks.
A couple of weeks ago Randy Emerick, AKA Groovekiller, who, besides being a phenomenal saxophone player, is also a distinguished repair technician, explained why this trick works. He was responding to a thread in the Woodwind Forum, about a problem a player was having with his Mark VI tenor.
Before trying anything else, ensuring your horn is not suffering from any mechanical problems is of course the first order of business. Randy says: [quote]
Once you or your tech have determined that your horn is mechanically OK (pads are sealing, all inter-connected mechanisms are working properly, etc), and assuming that your technique is correct (eg: adequate breath support), then placing either a cork or a mouthpiece cap down the bell of horn might do the trick, because…
A tightly curved tube, like a sax bow, behaves acoustically like a tube with a “bulge” where the curve is. This change in the cone shape of the saxophone can interfere with notes near the curve, usually low B but sometimes other notes.
Often the problem can be eliminated by removing some of the volume of the bore in the curve. American made Selmer Mark VI altos around serial number 200,000 have a small baffle soldered into the bow at the factory. Sometimes dropping a mouthpiece cap, cork, or other object into the bottom bow will also work.
It’s always interesting to learn why these tricks that have been passed down over the years from player to player, actually work. Thanks, Randy, for clarifying this saxophone work around. Now it finally makes sense to me.
Thank you SO MUCH! You saved me from having to send this sax back for an exchange that would have been a waste of time and money! The cork works PERFECTLY!!!! 🙂
Glad to be of help val!
I was gifted a 1958 Conn Director Alto a couple of Christmases ago. It blew the horn I was renting away from the first moment I picked it up and started playing. However, as I got used to the horn and started experimenting with songs that hit the lower part of the Alto’s range, it became clear to me that the low C was not speaking correctly. I tinkered a bit. Tried to adjust my embrochure and even tried to see for myself if there might be a sealing problem on the pad. Nothing seemed to help till I looked online and saw this solution. One thing I tend to have on hand that works is my key ring along with my keys. Dropping my keys down the bell enables the note to speak and doesn’t seem to adversely affect the other notes.
Thanks so much for putting this solution where I could find it. I’ll be getting the sax checked again when I can afford to but for now, I’m happy.
Hi April.
Welcome to my site. I’m glad that you stumbled across this solution to your Conn’s problems.
When you do take it to your tech, he/she may be able to get it fixed so that it no longer needs this “fix”. Although, it is also quite possible that he/she might not. There is something about the Conns that make them prone to it. I’ve sometimes wondered if it’s not also mouthpiece related…helen