Yesterday I got an email from someone asking me if I’d seen the latest in bari necks. It seems Oleg has designed a neck for baritone sax, that resembles that of a tenor saxophone, and is currently selling it on eBay.
Source: intermuzika
If you’re a bit like me, and never grew out of that preschooler’s need to ask “why” about everything, you’re likely asking yourself: Why did Oleg design this? I’ve played bari for X years now, and have never wished for a different neck design, or perceived that I had a problem.
Well according to the good folks at Oleg, here’s why this handy little rig is a good idea:
Introducing the Newest Ground breaking development in baritone sax Ergonomics and Acoustics from OLEG! For sale is the first ever Curved baritone saxophone neck that will make every baritone player enjoy the instrument so much more!
Finally the baritone sax feels like tenor saxophone with the power of two baritones.!
Initially introduced at the recent NAMM show , the Oleg baritone with a curved neck was perceived as a sensation and unanimously voted by all musicians who test played it as the best sounding and feeling baritone sax they ever experienced. The curvature of the neck allows the musician to lift the instrument 3 inches up to a natural , relaxed neck position while releasing pressure from typically strained right hand wrist and thus eliminating the possibility of a carpal tunnel syndrome development so prevalent among professional baritone players. The neck will fit many professional and student brands and models with the widely common neck socket diameter of 22.35 mm, thus allowing students also to benefit from the rich and powerful sound and amazing comfort of playing Oleg curved baritone neck. The neck will improve sound, intonation , response, power and presence on all Selmer, Yamaha, Keilworth, Yanagisawa models as well as other brands with comparable neck sockets.
P.S. The common response from the musicians already using the curved baritone neck: why the baritone was not designed that way in the first place?
Good luck with your new playing adventure!
Source: intermuzika
Source: intermuzika
Source: intermuzika
Mmm…. It doesn’t have an octave key in it. That rules out a number of older, student model horns, and even pro horns like the King Super 20, Martin Committee III, or the Conn 12M. Although the neck is photographed in a vintage Keilwerth of some stripe (at least I think it’s a JK), I suspect that it will fit more modern horns, than vintage ones.
Now this new Oleg bari neck would fit my Mark VI, but then some people will argue that Mark VIs aren’t really vintage anyway. 😈 That argument aside, I know when I was playing my bari exclusively, and rehearsing or practicing 3 to 4 hours a day, I was starting to develop wrist pain in my right hand. Would a goose neck-shaped, bari neck really help this? It is an interesting claim.
Another interesting claim that Oleg makes, is that with this new neck, “the baritone sax feels like tenor saxophone with the power of two baritones”. I’m curious why this would be, and if the neck allows for more volume, ergo more projection.
I checked on both Oleg’s website, and their Facebook page, but neither lists this bari neck as a product. I wonder why? You’d think that if a company had a new product—such as a new baritone and/or a revolutionary new neck design—that they would promote it through their online presence and social media.
If this new style of bari neck sounds interesting to you, I’m sure the good folks at Oleg would love to sell it to you. The eBay auction is set to run for another 13 days from today (March 27, 2013). Oleg has put a Buy It Now price of $795 on the neck, but they are open to offers. At the time of writing there was 1 offer of the neck already.
I bought Oleg sax curved neck to my Selmer bari in order to improve the ergonomics. It really does improve the ergonomics. However, it ruins the tuning of the instrument. The neck creates a large variance between lower and higher octave pitch. If I tune my saxophone right on pitch for the lower octave, the higher octave plays way to high and I have to correct it with my embouchure. The same applies if I tune right on the pitch for the higher octave and then the lower one plays too low. When tuning the sax in between, I have to keep correcting all notes by embouchure. This does not happen with the original neck at all. The original neck plays both octaves right on pitch when tuned correctly. THE OLEG CURVED NECK IS TOTAL WASTE OF MONEY. Oleg shop did not even care to reply to my complaint.?
Hello Rami.
Thanks so much for chiming in with your experience with this neck. What kind of saxophone do you have?
Funny thing, my tech recently became an Oleg dealer, and we discussed this neck. We were kicking the idea around about its merits. My opinion for me was: If it’s not broken, why try to fix it? Since all of my baris currently have their original necks, and all are undamaged and work well, why would I try and replace any of them? It seemed like a lot of $$ to spend on a something that I really didn’t need. Since David didn’t have another bari player looking for a neck, he opted not to order one in.
I will let David know what your experience was. He will be most interested.
What I’m really sorry to hear is that Oleg didn’t respond to your complaint. Did you try and send your email more than once? Did you also try to call them?
If this had happened to me, I know what I would do, but that’s me.
The tuning problem reminds me of a youtube subject from 2013 made by the sax proshop.
Update: This auction ended with the Best Offer accepted according to eBay. Of course nowhere does it tell us what that was. It shows up as: US $795.00
Best offer accepted (This item was listed in the fixed price format with a Best Offer option. The seller accepted a Best Offer price.)
But fear not, if you lost out on this neck, and really want one, Oleg is selling more of them on eBay. The price? You guessed it, $795, OBO. Or for $1,150 you get not only the neck, but a mouthpiece, lig, & cap as well.
Update: Mmm… Well either the original auction is over, or Oleg just extended the existing auction they had running. (I’m not up on how eBay actually works, since I don’t buy or sell on it.)
This quirky bari neck is still on the site, and now the auction— which should have ended around now—is scheduled to run another 28 days, 11 hrs from today. Yet there is still 1 offer on the neck. Is it the same offer? Is it a new offer? I don’t know. All I do know, is that I wouldn’t personally spend $795 on a neck for my bari, without trying it out first. (Unless is was made by Gloger.)
Hi Helen,
It is a good idea.
People of around 160 cm long have to play the baritone with two depressed shoulders, a very unnatural posture. The baritone is much easier to play when you are 200 cm long.
For soprano, alt and tenor there are already neck designs that accomodate for differences in height and now there is one for baritone.
Helen,
I’m with you: why?
I’m not buying the claim of reduced wrist stress, when it pushes the body of the sax further from the player, placing more weight on the wrist, although the angle could be arguably better for some people.
I suspect this is not where my next $800.00 +VAT is going.
Peace,
paul
The neck looks like if it was straightened, it would be quite a bit longer than the conventional neck.
See picture #3 where the Oleg is compared to a conventional neck.