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Sounds like a chainsaw on steroids
Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2008 3:14 pm
by OldsRecording
you think a bari sax sounds like a chainsaw? Check this out!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXBeu7o9 ... re=related
Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2008 5:12 pm
by Jeffrey Hicks
at the end of the day it is still a saxophone....(see my signature)......
Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2008 9:32 pm
by eupher61
I would LOVE to have a contrabass sax. A bass doesn't work well for me, it's easier for me to make the correlation to bass clef with Eb (no duh!) than with Bb, so a contra would be perfect.
Anyone got $50k laying around to give me?
Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2008 9:48 pm
by djwesp
I saw a very good jazz concert with a TUBAX in it. It sounded a lot like a foreign made dirt bike.
Anyone care to enlighten this tuba player on the exact difference between a tubax and a contrabass sax?
Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2008 10:05 pm
by Dan Schultz
I have a sub contra-bass clarinet sold by Linton (made by ORSI) that I've never been able to toot because no one makes a reed for it. Old man Linton said he had about 40 of these things made and no one would ever take on the project of mass-producing reeds for them. Something about the cane would have to be larger that what is commercially available. The mouthpiece is just a dab smaller than one of those 'doggie' footballs. The reed needs to be a full one inch wide... 3/16 wider than a conventional bari sax or bass clarinet reed. This thing looks like a Polish bari sax.
Bloke.... know where I can find a reed? The Sax Gourmet couldn't help.
Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2008 10:22 pm
by JHardisk
My dangerously low IQ just lowered a few points... Thanks
Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2008 10:27 pm
by brianggilbert
We are all dumber for having heard it....thank you...
Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 2:11 pm
by OldsRecording
djwesp wrote:I saw a very good jazz concert with a TUBAX in it. It sounded a lot like a foreign made dirt bike.
Anyone care to enlighten this tuba player on the exact difference between a tubax and a contrabass sax?
I believe a Tubax is somewhat of a narrow-bore contrabass that's a little less unwieldy than a regular contrabass. My question, is a foreign-made dirt bike a better sound than a chainsaw on steroids?
Re: Sounds like a chainsaw on steroids
Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 2:58 pm
by windshieldbug
OldsRecording wrote:you think a bari sax sounds like a chainsaw? Check this out!
I must ask you, sir, not to insult the sound of a chainsaw!
Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 4:50 pm
by eupher61
TubaTinker wrote:
Bloke.... know where I can find a reed? The Sax Gourmet couldn't help.
I ain't Bloke, and any money couldn't get me to play him on TV, but here's an idea. A lot of casual bass sax players use a bari mouthpiece...would a contrbass clarinet mouthpiece fit?
Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 9:08 pm
by djwesp
OldsRecording wrote:
My question, is a foreign-made dirt bike a better sound than a chainsaw on steroids?
I don't know if that really matters, since neither are close to anything aurally appealing to me.

Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 10:47 pm
by windshieldbug
TubaTinker wrote:Bloke.... know where I can find a reed?

Posted: Sat Jan 26, 2008 3:15 am
by poomshanka
For my money, the mighty Tubax will cut down more trees...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lArYscd6SOw
In context with another group just tearing it up...
http://www.daveamason.com/tubax/in_the_speed_mode.mp3
Yes, reeds from Home Depot...
...D
Sax vs engine?
Posted: Sat Jan 26, 2008 8:34 am
by Sally Larsen
Posted: Sat Jan 26, 2008 10:32 am
by iiipopes
TubaTinker wrote:I have a sub contra-bass clarinet sold by Linton (made by ORSI) that I've never been able to toot because no one makes a reed for it. Old man Linton said he had about 40 of these things made and no one would ever take on the project of mass-producing reeds for them. Something about the cane would have to be larger that what is commercially available. The mouthpiece is just a dab smaller than one of those 'doggie' footballs. The reed needs to be a full one inch wide... 3/16 wider than a conventional bari sax or bass clarinet reed. This thing looks like a Polish bari sax.
Bloke.... know where I can find a reed? The Sax Gourmet couldn't help.
Just a thought -- contact the companies who make synthetic reeds and see if they have stock wide enough to either make some for you or send you some stock to carve up a couple. And the synthetic should last longer than natural cane.
Posted: Sat Jan 26, 2008 2:51 pm
by Dan Schultz
eupher61 wrote:TubaTinker wrote:
Bloke.... know where I can find a reed? The Sax Gourmet couldn't help.
I ain't Bloke, and any money couldn't get me to play him on TV, but here's an idea. A lot of casual bass sax players use a bari mouthpiece...would a contrbass clarinet mouthpiece fit?
No one's been able to make it work on this one! There have been some experiments to adapt other woodwind mouthpieces to this horn, but all have been failures. Here's why...

Here are some pictures of the horn:

I say that nothing has worked, but that's probably just because it hasn't been worth messing with too much since there were only a handful of these horns made. Mr. Linton indicated that there may have been around 40 originally made. I know of only two survivors.
Posted: Sat Jan 26, 2008 3:28 pm
by OldsRecording
bloke wrote:I have several boxes of contra-alto contrabass cl. reeds, but I doubt that - if I were to go measure them - they would be 1" wide.
Would it be possible to get blank cane stock (or just a whole chunk of cane) and carve your own reeds?
Posted: Sat Jan 26, 2008 4:36 pm
by eupher61
Dan, that's a contrabass clarinet mouthpiece? HOLY CRAPOLA!
Looks more like a bass sax mouthpiece, though, given the cork and the "female" design of the tenon.
get out your knife, dude, you got some scrapin' to do.
Posted: Sat Jan 26, 2008 4:43 pm
by windshieldbug
Ever try 2 smaller reeds, side by side!?
Posted: Sat Jan 26, 2008 11:32 pm
by Dan Schultz
OldsRecording wrote:bloke wrote:I have several boxes of contra-alto contrabass cl. reeds, but I doubt that - if I were to go measure them - they would be 1" wide.
Would it be possible to get blank cane stock (or just a whole chunk of cane) and carve your own reeds?
The biggest problem, as I understand it,... is that the wider the finished reed, the larger the diameter of the parent cane has to be. In order to make a reed one inch wide, the piece of cane would need to be roughly 2 1/2" in diameter.... beyond the range of commercially-available cane. I received that information from LaVoz.... who originally experimented with making these reeds. Plastic seems to be the way to go. But.... that takes some serious development, too.