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C Melody Saxophone Forum / Mouthpieces Reeds and Ligatures / bass sax: bar. M.P.

Back 20 Messages

jazzbug1
User ID: 0735934 Sep 19th 3:23 PM
I play the bass sax every so often. I use an original Woodwind Co. bass mouthpiece on my early 20s Conn. I have seen other players use a baritone mouthpiece. In US, the foremost player is Vince Giordano, who uses what looks like a modern Link Super Master tone. These players sound fine, but the sound is somewhat lacking in "fatness" due to the smaller chamber diameter. I assume the advantage is being able to play longer phrases. I tried several baritone MPs on my bass and had a very weak sound with intonation problems. Vince told me Adrian Rollini used a baritone MP. His sound was great, but I assume his MP was a typical Baritone of the day, with a large chamber. Anyone out there with experience on this topic?

Captain Beeflat
User ID: 1738604 Sep 26th 4:07 AM
Very impressive Wade. Presumably you buy "Silvo" in industrial quantities. Also impressed with your handbrake's ability hold your truck on such a slope. :-)

WW2
User ID: 8973393 Sep 26th 11:52 AM
Surprisingly, I only had to polish the big sax about once a year. I kept 3M Silver Strips in the gig bag (I should have bought a hard case, but that is another story). These 3M strips seem to really work well at keeping the silver from tarnishing.

The "handbrake" is actually a foot activated level that holds well enough to keep the truck from moving when in gear and the 5.4L V8 is running. Sometimes I forget to release the brake, but it does hold well on the slopes! Thanks for the laugh Bb. 8-)

jazzbug1
User ID: 0735934 Sep 27th 11:45 AM
Bass saxes. My guess is no more than 10,00 built. Just a guess. I suspect many went into WWII scrap metal drives, as no one played those monsters except to get a laugh in the dying days of Vaudeville. Charlie Ventura played one in the late 40s into the 60s. Red Nichols used one in his 1950s version of the five pennies. I still use mine for a urinal.

alan (uk)
User ID: 0651814 Sep 27th 1:25 PM
jb1, interesting place to put the comma ( "10,00" ) - was that 10,000 ? Scary that so many of them probably ended up dropping bombs on Germany.

Although it's possibly stretching credibility a bit far, a plane made from bits of them, for WWII, could have been responsible for dropping those nasty 'nukiler' bombs on Japan.

Poetic justice then, maybe, that Japan was the first oriental manufacturer to start killing off American musical instrument production - courtesy of a few old melted-down American bass saxes !

Hmmm - I just love circular thinking... Pity circular breathing isn't so easy !
8-))

jazzbug1
User ID: 0735934 Oct 3rd 10:19 AM
Sorry--- Missed a Zero. Whoops- another war airplane reference. Perhaps there are bass saxophones in use by terrorists in Iraq: rocket launchers.

alan (uk)
User ID: 0651814 Oct 3rd 2:01 PM
Aaahhh - the bass saxophone - the original WMD (Weapon of Mass Destruction...)

Castaway
User ID: 9182423 Oct 3rd 5:16 PM
Charlie Ventura played the bass sax along with the tenor. He was excellent on both, by the way. The bass sax is an unusual horn, to say the least. It has limited use. But then so does a nuclear bomb. (Figure that one out).

jazzbug1
User ID: 0735934 Oct 4th 7:05 AM
This morning, I checked on the big horn. There was a bass turd in the bottom of the case.

Mal-2k8
User ID: 9335603 Feb 2nd 5:47 PM
Bass saxes and nuclear bombs -- both require precision to make, neither one requires that much precision to use. And both have had roughly equal numbers of gigs since the 1940's. :)

I thought one of the reasons the French put out so many high-quality instruments made of brass in the 50's and 60's is that the metal was literally there for the taking, in the form of shell casings that could be found just about anywhere along the northern beaches. Japan was not invaded (once, let alone repeatedly) and therefore wouldn't have these reserves. It is still a country relatively poor in metal resources. But all that knowledge and all those factories had to pump out SOMETHING once the production of Zeroes stopped -- and it ended up being cars, electronics, and (to a lesser extent) musical instruments.

You need only look for parallels to see the Chinese instruments will not always suck (and some of them already don't). Taiwan was initially known for cheap crap, but their quality increased substantially, and Taiwanese instruments are fairly respectable. The South Koreans went through the same thing -- I have a Korean electric guitar, and just look at 80's Hyundais (exploding engines) vs. modern Hyundais.

There will probably always be Chinese crap, just because the country is so huge (as are the number of people who will buy crap), but there will be a continued movement toward quality products, as they realize there is more money to be made that way.

For the record, I have a Dolnet (French) bari and Buffet clarinet, a Yamaha (Japanese) tenor and keyboard, a Jupiter (Taiwanese) alto, a Dean (Korean-made) electic guitar, and Gemeinhart (American) flute and piccolo. You can't judge the quality of an instrument just from its country of origin.

Back 20 Messages

jazzbug1 User ID: 0735934	Sep 19th 3:23 PM I play the bass sax every so often. I use an original Woodwind Co. bass mouthpiece on my early 20s Conn. I have seen other players use a baritone mouthpiece. In US, the foremost player is Vince Giordano, who uses what looks like a modern Link Super Master tone. These players sound fine, but the sound is somewhat lacking in "fatness" due to the smaller chamber diameter. I assume the advantage is being able to play longer phrases. I tried several baritone MPs on my bass and had a very weak sound with intonation problems. Vince told me Adrian Rollini used a baritone MP. His sound was great, but I assume his MP was a typical Baritone of the day, with a large chamber. Anyone out there with experience on this topic?
Captain Beeflat User ID: 1738604	Sep 26th 4:07 AM Very impressive Wade. Presumably you buy "Silvo" in industrial quantities. Also impressed with your handbrake's ability hold your truck on such a slope. :-)
WW2 User ID: 8973393	Sep 26th 11:52 AM Surprisingly, I only had to polish the big sax about once a year. I kept 3M Silver Strips in the gig bag (I should have bought a hard case, but that is another story). These 3M strips seem to really work well at keeping the silver from tarnishing. The "handbrake" is actually a foot activated level that holds well enough to keep the truck from moving when in gear and the 5.4L V8 is running. Sometimes I forget to release the brake, but it does hold well on the slopes! Thanks for the laugh Bb. 8-)
jazzbug1 User ID: 0735934	Sep 27th 11:45 AM Bass saxes. My guess is no more than 10,00 built. Just a guess. I suspect many went into WWII scrap metal drives, as no one played those monsters except to get a laugh in the dying days of Vaudeville. Charlie Ventura played one in the late 40s into the 60s. Red Nichols used one in his 1950s version of the five pennies. I still use mine for a urinal.
alan (uk) User ID: 0651814	Sep 27th 1:25 PM jb1, interesting place to put the comma ( "10,00" ) - was that 10,000 ? Scary that so many of them probably ended up dropping bombs on Germany. Although it's possibly stretching credibility a bit far, a plane made from bits of them, for WWII, could have been responsible for dropping those nasty 'nukiler' bombs on Japan. Poetic justice then, maybe, that Japan was the first oriental manufacturer to start killing off American musical instrument production - courtesy of a few old melted-down American bass saxes ! Hmmm - I just love circular thinking... Pity circular breathing isn't so easy ! 8-))
jazzbug1 User ID: 0735934	Oct 3rd 10:19 AM Sorry--- Missed a Zero. Whoops- another war airplane reference. Perhaps there are bass saxophones in use by terrorists in Iraq: rocket launchers.
alan (uk) User ID: 0651814	Oct 3rd 2:01 PM Aaahhh - the bass saxophone - the original WMD (Weapon of Mass Destruction...)
Castaway User ID: 9182423	Oct 3rd 5:16 PM Charlie Ventura played the bass sax along with the tenor. He was excellent on both, by the way. The bass sax is an unusual horn, to say the least. It has limited use. But then so does a nuclear bomb. (Figure that one out).
jazzbug1 User ID: 0735934	Oct 4th 7:05 AM This morning, I checked on the big horn. There was a bass turd in the bottom of the case.
Mal-2k8 User ID: 9335603	Feb 2nd 5:47 PM Bass saxes and nuclear bombs -- both require precision to make, neither one requires that much precision to use. And both have had roughly equal numbers of gigs since the 1940's. :) I thought one of the reasons the French put out so many high-quality instruments made of brass in the 50's and 60's is that the metal was literally there for the taking, in the form of shell casings that could be found just about anywhere along the northern beaches. Japan was not invaded (once, let alone repeatedly) and therefore wouldn't have these reserves. It is still a country relatively poor in metal resources. But all that knowledge and all those factories had to pump out SOMETHING once the production of Zeroes stopped -- and it ended up being cars, electronics, and (to a lesser extent) musical instruments. You need only look for parallels to see the Chinese instruments will not always suck (and some of them already don't). Taiwan was initially known for cheap crap, but their quality increased substantially, and Taiwanese instruments are fairly respectable. The South Koreans went through the same thing -- I have a Korean electric guitar, and just look at 80's Hyundais (exploding engines) vs. modern Hyundais. There will probably always be Chinese crap, just because the country is so huge (as are the number of people who will buy crap), but there will be a continued movement toward quality products, as they realize there is more money to be made that way. For the record, I have a Dolnet (French) bari and Buffet clarinet, a Yamaha (Japanese) tenor and keyboard, a Jupiter (Taiwanese) alto, a Dean (Korean-made) electic guitar, and Gemeinhart (American) flute and piccolo. You can't judge the quality of an instrument just from its country of origin.