Beginners Info

AquilaSax for New Saxophones

"Good saxophones at a good price, guaranteed!"

1919 Conn C melody Tenor

1935 Conn Alto, pro model

Which one?

Beginners are faced with several problems initially.
1. Which saxophone to choose?
A: There are more than 9 types available but most people start with an Alto, because smaller saxophones are easier to blow but bigger saxes are easier for correct tone. Therefore the middle range is best. C- melody Tenors would also be a good choice as the music is easier to figure. Altos are smaller which may be an advantage for smaller students!

In the end it's the sound which will make the difference. If you like the sound of Charlie Parker, you'd better get an Alto. If Lester Young is your man, then Bb Tenor is best, tho he says he likes the C- melody sound himself!
Kenny G lovers will have to have a soprano! etc.
Baritone saxes are a bit cumbersome for most people and the school band parts are boring but there is less competition for gigs. C melody tenors are great for playing with guitar bands and for church groups, there is nothing simpler.
I used to advise getting a hire horn to start with. After you can play a little , you know what you like and don't like better, but now new saxes are so cheap, it is hardly worth it.
Make sure you test a cheap sax tho, some cheap Chinese imports don't work from brand new and no-one will fix them!

All AquilaSax Saxophones are tested and guaranteed or your money back!

For a fingering chart go to:
http://www.lightandmatter.com/music/
saxfingeringsbasic.pdf

Buying a Vintage C melody saxophone.

Buying an old sax can be problematic, especially for beginners but there is some good news.

The current price is way below a comparable alto or Bb tenor.

Finding a vintage C mel is easiest on the internet. Ebay being the most common place to find them but of course you can’t try before you buy.

Many shop assistants however don’t know much if anything about C mels except the old fables doing the rounds about how they don’t play in tune and some of them are probably high pitch and can’t be used. Those that are ok probably need re-padding which will cost more than the sax is worth, if you can find the pads etc. etc.

These view points are usually expounded by those that would rather sell you an alto and /or don’t know what a C melody is.

Are C melodies poor quality?

C melodies were made mostly by reputable companies and by mastercraftsmen until the early 30s. They were the same people who made the altos and Bb tenors!

I’ve never heard of anyone buying a high pitch sax yet. I believe they may exist but most were sold in Australia?

Do C mels play out of tune?

Most C mels will play as in tune as any sax with the correct mouthpiece and set up.

Many people over the years have tried to get away with using alto or Bb tenor mouthpieces and so the intonation problem has arisen. Wrong pad height will also affect tuning.

Will your new sax need repadding?

Maybe! I bought an early 20s Holton that had original pads and some pads that had been replaced in 1933. It played fine for some months until a couple more of the 85 year old pads died. If you buy one with white pads, they willprobably need replacing but the newer brown ones may be ok. Newer ones with resonators may not need replacing for some time.

Can you buy new pads for them?

Yes! Several companies make new pads and they are not very expensive. I recommend “Music Medic” as their pads (and service) are good and only around $60 per set.

Can I get it professionally repadded?

Yes! There are severalcompanies who specialize in vintage saxes. You can contact them by internet or phone and send it in for a refurbish. This may cost you $400 or more depending on the work needed. I recommend buying a pad set and taking it to your local tech. His labour should not be more than $200.

Should I re pad myself?

If you want to do it yourself there are some things to watch for.(apart from the sharp springs) I once got a sax re padded by a large music co. for $50. I had to get several pads redone as the worker had put too little glue on the pads and some of them had not seated properly. Namely the ones that stay open without finger pressure. It’s a good idea to hold the keys closed while the glue dries so that the pad seats in the right place. Glue? Yes! Traditionally sax pads are seated in melted shellac but a hot glue gun does the job. The biggest problem is getting the corks the right thickness (use a razor blade or scalpel) so that the keys are open the right amount.

Will the cost of the work exceed the value of the sax?

Well that depends on your point of view. If you think a C mel is a useless old piece of junk and you want to re sell it quickly, then refurbishing will not help your profit margin. But if you want a good playing sax at a reasonable rate, the window of opportunity is now open.
You can get a reasonable condition sax for 3-400 dollars. Try a second hand student model Yamaha and see if you can find one of those for twice that.

Can a grungy old sax look good again?

Yes! Most C mels were finished in Silver plate. There are plenty of products to restore silver available. Goddards silver foam works like majic to take away tarnish (from black to silver) in seconds without hard rubbing. (no I don’t get royalties)

The gold laquered versions may be more problematic as the laquer deteriorates in wear spots and looks grungy even when really clean. If you are really lucky, you may get a burnished gold model, gold plated! Very rare and more easy to restore!

Do C mels really sound stuffy and quiet?

Maybe! Why should a horn with the same bore as an alto be quieter than an alto?

Originally they were fitted with large chambered small tipped mouthpieces and padswithout resonators and those two factors combined with the narrow bore tended to reduce the volume available. Since most people played them in lounges, it wasn’t a problem. However, a new metal mouthpiece or hard rubber mpc with a baffle and a set of new pads with metal resonators will have the old horn sounding significantly louder. My Conn has plastic resonators and it is louder than the Holton without res. I recommend keeping it quiet for home practices, placating the neighbours and get a mic for rock performances.

Can I get music for C mels?

No! Well actually the reason why C mels were so popular in the 20s was because you could use piano music or any other C instrument music or Hymnals to play by but the majority of school bands use Eb amd Bb music. Very little is written for C instruments for marching bands. You can use flute music if the band leader will let you!

Jazz however had a good following in the 20s and 30s (Rudy Weidoeft ) and so that era music may be available and now there are some modern jazz players putting out new CDs in C (Scott Robinson, Nathan Haines) but the best use for C mel’s is still church or pop music which is hardly ever transposed into Eb or Bb for sax.

Are C mels OK for beginners?

Old saxes have quirks that modern saxes have fixed so the choice of vintage or not must be personal. Certainly many of the great jazz players began on C mels so if they can do it, so can you. The proviso is that it is in good playing condition with the correct mouthpiece.

Whether to buy a C mel or an alto as a first horn is a different question. C mels are easier to begin with as the music is in Concert pitch and most tunes you want to play are too. Also the bore being the same as an alto means they require no more breath, at least until you get to the lowest notes. However, if you like Charlie Parker best or intend to go marching, you might be better off with an alto. Modern C tenors are now available so the quirks thing is solved.

https://aquilasax.3dcartstores.com/C-tenor-saxophones_c_9-1.html

The next problem is how to play?
A good teacher is good but good teachers are hard to find sometimes. If you have no teacher, there are some things to watch for.

1. Reeds are the crux of the sax. They make the noise, and they can be faulty sometimes. Don't be afraid to replace reeds if the sax sounds bad. They go off and sometimes they can be bad brand new! Soak reed in hot water before playing and remove from mpc and dry before storing. This keeps reed from growing mould. Lasts longer.
2. Watch you don't accidentaly touch the palm keys. You'll get nasty sqeaks or the wrong note!
3. Bite the mouthpiece about the center of the slope. Bare teeth on the top, teeth covered by your lower lip on the reed.(about where the angle of the facing changes) Move your lower jaw around to get the feel of it.
4. It's good practice to breathe in through the mouth as it helps to relax your jaw while playing and enables you to continue when you have a cold. Lower notes usuallly require less pressure and higher notes usually more.
5. Practice Scales.You can vary the scales to make it interesting. ie. play them at different speeds and different rates (fast for a few notes and then slow for a few) and try tonguing double or triple notes each change or every third change.
6 Long tones are the practice which makes the difference between good tone and novice. Start and stop with the tongue.

TUNING the SAX. Tuning is simply accomplished by pushing the mouthpiece further on to the neck cork (to sharpen) or pulling it out further (to flatten the note) You can usually get a complete half note difference either way. Most saxes are not perfectly in tune for every note (no machine is perfect) so check your tuning against a meter and play E, A, and C through the range to get a good overall compromise.

This system is archaic and the Conn company tried to rectify it in the 1920s with a tuning system on the neck (microtuner) but it cost too much to produce and the old cork slide worked . They discontinued the tuner after the war. Pad hieghts can also affect tuning so if you are having real trouble to get note compatibility, you may need a tech to set it up properly.

Old C melody sound example
Sorry for the sad C sax sound sample! This is about as bad as it gets!
I used my recently acquired Holton in poor condition and had to just make something up in a hurry before the studio's next appointment.

So this is my excuse for the song: time pressure and lack of practice. I improvised on the fly. There are some
glitches, which would have been fixed if there were
time. Would have used an entirely different song!
This was the condition of the (unknown) Holton.
Half of the pads were original, 85 years old and the
other half had been replaced in 1933. No resonators!
The octave pad was missing and so I made one from cork
and sticky tape.
The mouthpiece was original with a #2.5 Aquilasax
reed.
The song is in the key of E, a good range for the C mel.
I call it happy day blues!
It's an example of what many people call,
"A stuffy old C Mel"

HARD RUBBER mouthpieces last many years but can develop a nasty salty taste if left in the sun. Try soaking in hot sugar water to balance the ph.