{"id":7285,"date":"2009-04-28T14:12:47","date_gmt":"2009-04-28T21:12:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bassic-sax.info\/blog\/?p=7285"},"modified":"2009-08-06T10:09:44","modified_gmt":"2009-08-06T17:09:44","slug":"correcting-low-end-warbles-with-a-cork","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bassic-sax.info\/blog\/2009\/correcting-low-end-warbles-with-a-cork\/","title":{"rendered":"Correcting Low End Warbles With A Cork"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"wine-corks\"<\/a>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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A couple of weeks ago\u00a0Randy Emerick<\/a>, 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,<\/a> about a problem a player was having with his Mark VI tenor.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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]<\/p>\n

\"mouthpiece-cap\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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…<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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.<\/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>\n<\/div>\n
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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 …<\/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":[646,615,651,53,225],"class_list":["post-7285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-saxophone","tag-on-line-resources","tag-saxophone","tag-saxophone-repairs","tag-woodwind-forum","tag-work-arounds"],"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