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Forum » Welcome to Saxophone.org! » Hello, I'm a newbie soprano player


by saxxything78
(14 posts)
19 years ago

Hello, I'm a newbie soprano player

Hi. My name is Jim Polwort, and I am new to this forum. I'm an experienced tenor player (back in my high school years - way too long ago), and currently play just for fun. I just bought a Bandnow soprano sax from Music123. Got it on 2/15. It's basically a no frills sax, with decent looks. The brand name is too close to "band-aid", which maybe someone in their marketing dept. will rename in the future. So far, the lower registers are a bit hard to reach, and the upper octave register is a bit sharp. This is a big change from a tenor. I've got a Selmer S80 C* mouthpiece ordered. I'm experiementing with different strengths of Vandoren reeds. I played with a 2.5, and I bought a 3.0. I'm going to swap out the 3.0, and get a 2.0. The case is rather plain and too lightweight. Perhaps a softer reed and better mouthpiece will make this sax shine. For the price, and for my recreational use, I hope to enjoy this sax for what it's worth. I welcome any other responses to this sax.

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  2. by sax_maniac
    (984 posts)
    19 years ago

    Re: Hello, I'm a newbie soprano player

    I don't know what kind of mouthpiece ships with the Band Now sopranos, but sopranos all around are much less forgiving than tenor when it comes to pad leaks, mouthpiece selection, intonation, etc. I played alto exclusively for over 20 years before getting into soprano and it took me several months to get a good feel for sop. Due to the significantly different embouchre, I would imagine someone used to tenor would have an even harder time. Get a leak light (use rope lighting) and check your horn for pad leaks. Chances are it's not sealing perfect from top to bottom and like I said, soprano is very unforgiving. I've found that softer reeds on soprano tend to run sharper. It may take a while to find a set up that gets you where you want to be. Be patient, and Good Luck!

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