I can spend all day in the altissimo on alto/tenor, but baritone was always problematic for me. I never spent the time on it. Selmer started offering altissimo register keys on their series III horns, so I decided I'd try making a quick one, by opening the spit key on the bow. Great! This hole is about two inches too far down the tube, but still, it really works. The notes just popped out. Anybody tried using one?
Altissimo Register Key on Baritone
- Thread starter MartinMods
- Start date
Go figure......
Great idea, I'll have to look into that.
Do you mean you added a leverage to make it open with the thumb, or you somehow open it without, while fingering the notes?
My Eppelsheim bass sax has a right-thumb key which activates a cable to an altissimo assist port about a quarter inch from the bottom of the neck cork. But popping the altissimo, something I don't do on other instruments like alto or tenor, is so easy on the bass sax without the assist key. So I rarely use it.
I just wedged it open to test the results. As noted, it is a little too far down the tube for optimal results. Now I'm gonna drill a hole in the optimal spot (calculated and where condensation doesn't collect) and add a simple, one-piece key that is activated next to the normal register key thumb spatula. You just slide over to it when playing altissimo.