The new Theo Wanne "Mantra" tenor saxophone features a "new" innovation - a "constant taper" neck/tenon, aka, conical bore tenon. This is a significant acoustical improvement, something an accomplished player will notice as refined tonal focus, improved response, and more stable intonation. I have been playing on conical bore tenons for 30 years, and have been making/selling conical bore tenon replacements for 3. It's about time someone else started thinking. This is an exciting development.
There are those (including established academic experts) who have strongly criticized this idea as being too insignificant and not cost effective - "If it was a good idea, then Yamaha would have done it already." Well, the history of woodwind instruments shows us that for the most part, their development has been the result of many such "small" improvements. As 99% of the input energy is lost to heat and viscous effects, no improvement in getting the most out of that remaining 1% can be considered too insignificant IMO.
http://store.theowanne.com/products/mantra-tenor-saxophone
There are those (including established academic experts) who have strongly criticized this idea as being too insignificant and not cost effective - "If it was a good idea, then Yamaha would have done it already." Well, the history of woodwind instruments shows us that for the most part, their development has been the result of many such "small" improvements. As 99% of the input energy is lost to heat and viscous effects, no improvement in getting the most out of that remaining 1% can be considered too insignificant IMO.
http://store.theowanne.com/products/mantra-tenor-saxophone