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:
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• |
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 |
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• |
Lyrist |
1560 |
±1926 |
19.0 |
12.2 |
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• |
Conn new wonder |
M222922 |
1928 |
18.0 |
10.6 |
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• |
Adolphe Sax jr. |
8906/329 |
1928 – 1933 |
19.1 |
15.2 |
instrument assembled by Selmer |
• |
Conn lady face |
M265744 |
1935 |
18.1 |
12.2 |
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• |
Buescher Aristocrat |
291897 |
1940 |
18.5 |
12.2 |
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• |
Buescher 400 |
359498 |
after 1955 |
19.3 |
14.2 |
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• |
Selmer Mark 6 |
210464 |
1975 |
18.6 |
11.4 |
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• |
Selmer SA80-II |
385443 |
1986 |
18.9 |
14.1 |
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• |
Selmer SA80-III |
563091 |
1997 |
19.3 |
15.7 |
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• |
Yanagisawa 901 |
219618 |
1998 |
19.7 |
15.9 |
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• |
Keilwerth SX90-R |
119903 |
1998 |
19.0 |
12.2 |
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• |
Yamaha 62 |
D73674 |
2016 |
19.1 |
15.1 |
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profiles of the tenors |
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(in full on a 1:10 grid.) |
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profiles of the tenors |
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(again and compared to the average main conicity of 20th century instruments [in green].) |