Saxophone Projects I Want to Pursue....

Several times each and every week, I get suggestions about products we should offer and questions like "why don't you build a modern C melody?" or "can't you build a low A tenor?".

Anyone who has visited my prototype shop will assure you that I rarely have a shortage of new projects under development. Most of them never see the light of day, because they either didn't work like I had hoped or because they don't offer a significant improvement or advance over existing saxophones. That's how I learn: I try different stuff. I've always believed that it is equally important to learn what doesn't work as well as what does work. My shop is littered with my failures. We bring to market the successful designs.

A lot of the suggestions and requests that I get have limited market appeal or demand, and that's why I don't pursue them. For example, I don't think we could ever sell enough C melodies with modern keywork and good intonation to justify the development and tooling costs. Here's some things I'm either working on now or want to pursue:

ALL OPEN TONE HOLE SAXOPHONE
Well, not exactly all of them, but most of them! Think about this (and look at your horn): the G#, Eb, and low C# pads all stay closed most of the time. This causes dead spots on the horn, and also affects intonation (you have to change the surrounding tone holes to get the horn to play in tune) so the horn can never really play up to its full potential. There have been several attempts over the years to correct this problem, some good, some not so good. The Leblanc Rationale was brilliant, played great, and solved the problems but the mechanism was far too complex for mere mortals to own.
The Kings with the double G pads and forked Eb key were a good start, but they don't appear to have completely thought through the intonation issues. I've seen some Conns with a similar system to the one used by King, but I don't recall that it worked any better. Martin occasionally added some speaker keys which seemed to help, and the Holton "Rudy Weidoft" model was pretty far down the road on the right track. I plan to keep plugging away on this project.

A MOTHER, MARY, AND JOSEPH COST IS NO OBJECT HORN
This one may happen next year. I've got the design finalized and am about to have a "pre-production" prototype built. Mulitple octave vents (I'm not gonna tell you how many!), high note compensator mechanism, altissimo key, upper stack speaker system, solid silver bell and neck with a high copper content body (it works better if you use different materials in different places) plus features too numerous to mention. I'm not sure if the "traffic will bear" what this is going to cost......

CLASSICAL MUSIC SPECIFIC SAXOPHONE
There are thousands of people studying classical saxophone, and nobody builds a horn specifically for this market, which has very different needs. I think it would be pretty easy to do, and plan to pursue it. There are lots of horns out there that are adapted for classical playing, but so far, nobody has come up with a model that exactly meets the requirements of these players. I've gotten some most excellent advice so far from a couple of very famous classical players, and would appreciate any input as to specific improvements along these lines.

MORE NECKS
The Saxgourmet tenor neck has gotten rave reviews, and I've got prototypes of quite a few new models. This neck business is a serious "black art", and I'm still experimenting. I'm not going to offer necks for the "replacement" market, but only necks which make a significant improvement in the intonation, voice, and response of existing horns.

REEDS
Saxgourmet N'Awlins Cut reeds have a very steady and loyal following now, but they're expensive and limited in availability due to the "one at a time" manufacturing process. I've been acquiring samples of cane from all over the world, and hope to introduce a more moderatly priced reed in the near future. We'll make 'em ourselves rather than contracting this out. We bought some reed machines!