My Saxophone is always sharp

Hello, I have a tenor saxophone at home, but it is ALWAYS sharp due to the positioning of the mouthpiece. When I tune myself, I always have to pull the mouthpiece off little by little until it is at the very end, then I am in tune. The problem with this is that the mouthpiece is not completely on the cork at this point, it wobbles, affecting the sound and my embouchure, and even falls off often.

I have had the suggestion of putting paper around the end of my cork and putting my mouthpiece on that and that works well but it is annoying to do every time, and the paper gets all wet and starts to stick to the cork, making it gross and hard to get off.

Does anyone know any non-expensive ways to fix this? I have a very basic mouthpiece, would a better mouthpiece solve this problem, or a better neck/saxophone?

Does anyone know any non-expensive ways to fix this? I have a very basic mouthpiece, would a better mouthpiece solve this problem, or a better neck/saxophone?

It could be the instrument itself and not solely an issue with the mouthpiece/neck.....could also be YOU!

Take it to a technician, and get them to check it out.

It might be your embouchure on the mouthpiece. If you pinch too tight with your mouth it can make the pitch much sharper. If you lower you jaw a bit and relax you generally it becomes more flat. I would suggest experimenting with that. Most of the time, unless it's a poorly made sax, it's going to be your own doing. I suppose it could be the mouthpiece itself too. I would try my first suggestion though.

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Edit: Also temperature and humidity can have a huge affect on pitch.

I do often pinch on the mouthpiece, I could check that out. Is there anyone that could tell me if it's me who's doing it wrong? I'll ask my school teacher but would instrumentalists at Long + McQuade or a local music store be able to help me with my problem?

I didn't know temperature could affect it though, I'll look into that. But I don't think that's the problem seeing as I play in many different places.

The position of the mouthpiece in the neck doesn't make it warmer or sharper, only up or down the pitch

I'd say everything is in the mouthpiece + reed...

Look:

I have 3 mouthpieces for my Tenor Sax:

Guardala Super King (Metal)

Rico Royal C7 (Plastic)

Other cheap brandless mouthpiece (Plastic)

The Guardala Super king has a very high bafle, similar to the No.0 on the 1st pic and suddenly gets down to position No.3 almost at the end of the bafle.....sounds very bright, edgy and powerful in all the sax range, (excellent mouthpiece)

Wide "Tip Opening" so it does sound loud

The Rico Royal C7 has the bafle lower than guardala, I'd say No.2, and sounds much warmer, like the classical sax tone, only if you play in fff you get more edge.

The other cheap one, has a high bafle but only the first 7-9mm, then goes down to the No.3 position creating a clear angle. This one sounds even warmer in pp to fff, (but I don't like that tone on the Tenor).

Now, the reed,

Are you using PlastiCover ?

PlastiCover is it's name because these reeds have a black plastic cover that prevents the saliva penetrates the reed and make them more durable, BUT if saliva don't penetrate the reed don't make it wet and softer, so these plasticover remain hard, and force you to blow more, that make you tone sharper....

Common reeds like Rico, are much better, and of course the thickness, No.2 is fine for me, too tiny also make it very sharp, what number do you use ?

I don't think you're blowing wrong but check that too..

The Neck also affects the sound very much, but is werid to find the problem there in a common sax, take a look at this pic, your neck must look like that:

Woah, thanks for the really in depth response SYS! Just a question though, what's a bafle, the actual space in the mouthpiece after the chamber? I really have to get some better quality stuff :/

The position of the mouthpiece in the neck doesn't make it warmer or sharper, only up or down the pitch

I'd say everything is in the mouthpiece + reed...

:huh: What?

"...position of the mouthpiece in the neck doesn't make it warmer or sharper, only up or down the pitch."

Perhaps we're running into a lingo/language barrier. "Sharper" (i.e. the complaint - his saxophone plays sharp) is the pitch being too high.

I think you're confusing "sharper" with "brighter" ... Impressario is having tuning issues, not sound issues.

....

@ Impressario: instrumentalists at L&M might be able to help diagnose...assuming they're a saxophonist of high calibre AND they have some technician skills. I would recommend bringing your horn to a real repair guy - a serious technician. Someone with the proper skills, training and equipment to assess, diagnose and treat your saxophone.

It could easily be YOU holding/blowing weirdly, it could be a mouthpiece/lig/reed issue, or perhaps something else out of alignment - leaking pads or simply a dud horn - improperly designed.

Either way, it might be a quick test/fix or you might need a complete overhaul. If the tuning is THAT much of an issue (i.e. it's unbearable and impossible to fix anything) it's worth a visit to your local sax-guy.

Yep, absolutely. I'll try and find someone to help because it is quite unbearable.

either you have a serious mismatch of sax-mouthpiece or the sax itself has issues. Does everything play cleanly and in tune by yourself? What kind of sax is this?

I think you're confusing "sharper" with "brighter" ... Impressario is having tuning issues, not sound issues.

Oh

You were talking of high pitch ?

Then everything is in the mouthpiece position, to be presice, the problem is in the cork of the neck,

If the pitch is always high, you need a new fat cork,

If the pitch needs to be lower, the mouthpiece needs to be more far from the sax, (to increse total lenght) if the mouthpiece can not stand correctly because the cork doesn't hold it, you need a new cork.

The size of the mouthpiece chamber may be too small, I definitely suggest you to buy a new mouthpiece, ... if you can't buy a metal like Otto Link, Berh Larsen, at least buy a Rico Royal.

See the attached:

The Red line is a high bafle, bright and edgy sound, (listen here to Gato Barbieri, he used a Berg Larsen model with a very high bafle)

The green line is a bafle with an angle, high in the beginning but low in the rest, that will give you a warm sound most of the times, only if you play very loud you'll get a bit of edge.

The Blue line is a low bafle, warm sound always, the classical "original" tone.

I really recommend the "Guardala Super King" ($200)

If you want a not so bright tone, but something like this ($21)

The sax doesnt happen to be an older sax does it? There is no chance you are playing a "high pitch" instrument, right?