BORE PROFILEStenors



The original bore of the tenor saxophone, as in the Adolphe Sax 15676, was narrower than we know it today. Only the Gautrot-Marquet follows this example. Already in the 1865 tenor 30637, just before the 1866 patent, Sax had changed the bore to its present dimensions. Tenors almost always show a sword profile, which provides a reduced conicity from the lower bow downwards. Chronologically, from top to bottom:

     • Adolphe Sax sr. 15676 1856 20.5 16.0 tessiture to low B
     • Adolphe Sax sr. 30637 1865 18.3 11.7 tessiture to low B
     • Gautrot-Marquet uncertain 20.3 10.6 tessiture to low B
     • Buffet Crampon 1295 1872 18.9 14.1 tessiture to low B
     • Gaubert à Lille ±1880 19.2 16.3 tessiture to low B, probably a Feuillet stencil
     • Adolphe Sax jr. 18173 1912 19.2 15.5
     • Lyrist 1560 ±1926 19.0 12.2
     • Conn new wonder M222922 1928 18.0 10.6
     • Adolphe Sax jr. 8906/329 1928 – 1933 19.1 15.2 instrument assembled by Selmer
     • Conn  lady face M265744 1935 18.1 12.2
     • Buescher Aristocrat 291897 1940 18.5 12.2
     • Buescher 400 359498 after 1955 19.3 14.2
     • Selmer Mark 6 210464 1975 18.6 11.4
     • Selmer SA80-II 385443 1986 18.9 14.1
     • Selmer SA80-III 563091 1997 19.3 15.7
     • Yanagisawa 901 219618 1998 19.7 15.9
     • Keilwerth SX90-R 119903 1998 19.0 12.2
     • Yamaha 62 D73674 2016 19.1 15.1


profiles of the tenors show profiles
(in full on a 1:10 grid.)

profiles of the tenors show profiles
(again and compared to the average main conicity of 20th century instruments [in green].)