{"id":29013,"date":"2011-12-04T11:11:16","date_gmt":"2011-12-04T19:11:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bassic-sax.info\/blog\/?p=29013"},"modified":"2024-05-28T16:57:12","modified_gmt":"2024-05-28T23:57:12","slug":"experimentations-with-carbon-fiber-saxophone-parts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bassic-sax.info\/blog\/2011\/experimentations-with-carbon-fiber-saxophone-parts\/","title":{"rendered":"Experimentations With Carbon Fiber & Saxophone Parts"},"content":{"rendered":"

Although the saxophone hasn’t changed a great deal since Adolphe Sax invented it in the 1840s\u2014it is after all still a conical bore that uses a key system to cover the tone holes in the body\u2014different designers have attempted to use different materials to build the instrument.<\/p>\n

\"4<\/a>
An Adolphe Sax original quartet featuring a: soprano circa 1858, alto circa 1857, tenor circa 1861-1862, & baritone circa 1858. Source: orgs.usd.edu\/nmm<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While by far and away, the majority of saxophones built are made of brass or other alloys, the 1950s, British-made Grafton was the first sax that utilized something other than metal for its body. The Grafton was an injection moulded, plastic saxophone made of acrylic, that had a metal neck and keys.<\/p>\n

\"Grafton<\/a><\/p>\n

     Grafton Serial #: 11355  Source: eBay.co.uk<\/h6>\n

The Grafton proved to be too fragile, and nothing further was done with plastics until Vibratosax<\/a> released its polycarbonate saxophone into the marketplace, in the winter of 2010. It was nearly a year ago to the day that saxophiles everywhere got their new, white, plastic saxophones.<\/p>\n

\"Polycarbonate<\/a><\/p>\n

     Vibratosax Model A1S Source: vibratosax.com<\/h6>\n

This morning I happened to come across something interesting: a polycarbonate saxophone neck<\/a> for alto and tenor saxophones. These necks are the brainchild of Zen Composites, a company founded by Dr. Larry Lessard. Dr. Lessard is an engineer, and professor of Mechanical Engineering at McGill University in Montreal.<\/p>\n

On the Zen Composites website, they describe the necks as follows:<\/p>\n

Custom-made high-quality saxophone necks, made of top quality carbon fiber and water-resistant epoxy resin coated with ultraviolet-light-resistant polyurethane, are designed by musician\/engineer Antoine Lefebvre and Zen Composites. For any wind instrument, composite materials may replace copper to produce stiffer, lighter and shock resistant bodies, which may be particularly attractive for large brass winds and saxophones. A fabrication process based on machineable wax for the development of prototypes or water-soluble mandrel material casted in CNC machined mold for production runs allows the fabrication of arbitrary shaped tubes with precise inner dimensions and smooth finish, which are requirements for proper operation of wind instruments. The determination of the geometry is calculated with acoustical simulation tools and may be tailored to the specific needs of existing or new instruments to greatly improve intonation and response. Prototypes of carbon fiber composite alto saxophone necks have been successfully built and blown.<\/p>\n

Alto saxophone neck: 750$<\/p>\n

Tenor saxophone neck: 850$<\/p>\n

The geometry of the neck of the saxophone greatly influences the tuning of an instrument and must, therefore, be adapted to each specific model of instrument. Any order must specify the instrument brand. Intonation of the instrument can be modified through small modifications.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is an interesting concept. Harry Hartmann has been using carbon fiber for some of his reeds for years. I quite like the alto Carbon Fiberreed I’m using. I know I’ll be buying more.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

      Carbon Fiberreed by Harry Hartmann<\/h6>\n

Now the question is, could this concept of carbon fiber necks be taken a step further, and could the material be used to build the body of the saxophone? Sure, why not? Zen Composites already makes ukuleles in carbon fiber<\/a>, why not saxophones? It just takes a whole lot of R&D.<\/p>\n

\n
…this is just my blog<\/em>. <\/span> My \u201creal\u201d <\/b> website is<\/span> www.bassic-sax.info.<\/a> If you\u2019re looking for <\/span> sax info<\/strong>,<\/span> you should check it out too.<\/span>There\u2019s lots<\/em> there! <\/span><\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Although the saxophone hasn’t changed a great deal since Adolphe Sax invented it in the 1840s\u2014it is after all still a conical bore that uses …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[41,74,258,154,182,644,363,239,654,322,643,31],"class_list":["post-29013","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-saxophone","tag-accessories","tag-adolph-sax","tag-fiberreed","tag-grafton","tag-modern-saxophones","tag-photos","tag-replacement-neck","tag-synthetic-reeds","tag-technology","tag-vibratosax","tag-vintage-horns","tag-vintage-sax"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t