Klarinet Archive - Posting 001040.txt from 1999/07

From: Fred Jacobowitz <fredj@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: [kl] sax problems
Date: Tue, 27 Jul 1999 02:16:55 -0400

Dan,
The woble is either of two things. Most likely it is a VERY small
leak, and probably in one of the lowest pads. The other thing it could be
is a less-than-perfect reed/mouthpiece combo. I have gotten the wobble for
both reasons. I don't know why you'd want the pads doped. It's alot of
extra cost for no reason. Any competent repair person should be able to
drop a leak light down the instrument and find the leak(s).
That said, BUY THE VII. I think they are GREAT horns and it is a
crying shame that they got such a bad reputation. The real story is that
when Selmer finally decided to cater to the classical players (a BIG
mistake) instead of their jazz/pop base of support, they brought out the
VII. It was a tad darker than the VI, had more evenly-spaced finger pads
(which were more comfortable for people playing awkward classical
passages) and tuned much more accurately than the VI. So jazzers didn't
know WHAT to think. They were uncomfortable with the new finger layout,
the tuning seemed all off to them and they couldn't bend the pitches as
much. They deserted it in droves to buy the Yamaha, which was a VI clone.
And Selmer hasn't really recovered its marketshare.

Fred Jacobowitz
Clarinet/Sax Instructor, Peabody Preparatory

On Mon, 26 Jul 1999, Daniel Paprocki wrote:

> Here's a change of topic. Since almost all clarinetists play sax and the
> sax lists out there are dead or near death, I thought I'd present this
> problem.
> I'm about to purchase a used (like new) Selmer VII (yes you heard right
> the dreaded VII) alto sax. I love the sound, it tunes well, my hands
> (large) fit well, and the price is very good. It has one problem - the low
> C#, C, and B (not Bb) sometimes develop a slow warble in the sound. This
> comes and goes depending on reed and who knows what. I've been playing sax
> for a long time, have a great mouthpiece (Rousseau 4r) and reeds (Oliveri
> 3). I've played other saxes in the last couple years (Yamaha 52, Keilworth,
> Selmer VI) and haven't had that problem. I've had it checked for leaks with
> my repair person and it's tight. My next step is to have the pads doped. I
> have done the trick of dropping the end plug in the bell and that does solve
> the problem but sometimes makes the C# stuffy. Why is this happening and
> how do I fix this?
> --
> Daniel A. Paprocki
> Instructor of Clarinet & Saxophone
> Angelo State University
> San Angelo, Texas
>
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