Make your neck play better!

I've spent a lot of time designing necks for saxophones. The neck is the heart of the sound, and is the absolute most critical component in how your horn plays. If you've got the coin available, and we manufacture one to fit your horn, you should stop reading this now and order one of my Saxgourmet necks. If you don't meet the above referenced qualifications, here's some things you can do to your existing neck that I guarantee will change your sax life:

Before we start this process, let me warn you that if you don't understand how to do any of the procedures described, don't attempt them. You will ruin your neck. It's on you to decide if you have a comfort level that permits these actions. Now, take the octave key off the neck, and let's get started.....

First, insert the neck (without the octave key) into the body of the horn, and with a light finger pressure, rotate it 360 degrees. Feel the resistance carefully. If it's more resistant somewhere, your tenon or your receiver (or both) are out of round. The fix is easy. Lubricate the neck and receiver liberally with Steve's Bourbon Street Key Oil, and take a VERY small amount of ultra fine lapping compound and apply it evenly to the neck tenon. If you don't have lapping compound available, get some polishing compound from an auto parts store. It's essentially the same stuff. Now, rotate the neck, using a light pressure, for a few minutes, so the compound cuts down the high spots. Remove the neck and wipe it off. The shiny spots that are visible are where the high spots were. Continue this process until the resistance of the neck in the receiver is totally even all the way around. You may need to wipe it off and re-lubricate from time to time. The high spots we're removing cause leaks. They've got to go. When you're done, clean the neck tenon and the receiver completely.

Now, you have to make a decision: are we going to replace the pips? You'll get far better response and improve intonation significantly if you remove the neck (and body) pip and replace them with Saxgourmet Power Pips. The downside is that y0u're most likely going to damage the lacquer or plating as you remove the old pips and solder in the new ones. If you decide to go ahead, and have the necessary soldering chops, it's a straight swap out. We sell Power Pips for pretty much every horn out there.
They're not "one size fits all".

If you're going to keep the existing pips, drill out the one on the neck to a #38 drill size, and the one on the body to a #42 drill size. If you don't know what this means, then you have no business doing it. Now, take an appropriate sized tap and "thread" the pips. This will eliminate the "whisper" often heard in the second octave.

Take a metal expander and enlarge the opening in the neck (mouthpiece end) about 5% for the first inch of length. I typically open up Mk VI tenor necks to around .505, for example. Now, take a coarse metal tap, and thread this area. This will virtually eliminate the burble often heard around low C and low B. Expanding the neck at this point decreases resistance. Take a fine jeweler's file and taper the ring at the end of the neck to create a venturi, and polish this area with #600 emery paper. Better yet, buy a Saxgourmet Neck Enhancer.

Before you put the octave key back on your neck, replace the pad with a cork clarinet pad. They never cut, and they don't bounce and flutter.

It's important that the neck fit the horn tightly and evenly. The neck tenon may need to be expanded or re-rounded. The equipment needed to do this is very expensive and only used occasionally, so take your horn to someone who owns the equipment and has the skills necessary to do this for you. If they don't have BOTH a neck expander (I prefer the "can opener" type) AND a neck tenon shrinker with multiple collets, put your horn back in the case and find someone who does. You can't do the job right with an expander alone.