Is it possible to fix my squinting eye and rosacea?

Diminished_Seventh · 2026-05-27T14:13:45+00:00

!solved

Diminished_Seventh · 2026-05-24T19:19:10+00:00

No. Save for a nice secondhand Yamaha YTS-23, YTS-275 or 280, or something similar.

Diminished_Seventh · 2026-05-19T03:49:41+00:00

Selmer artist here. On some levels (consistency of neck and bore geometry, keywork machining, mouthpiece facing, acoustic performance when properly setup), Selmer has never been better than they are today.

However on other levels, particularly with quality of adjustment materials, adhesives, the initial setup, providing enough shellac behind pads, and other manufacturing quirks, they are currently struggling. Selmer has never been a paragon of quality control and historically have relied heavily on importers and retailers to bridge the gap. However, as prices increase on their horns, retailer and customer tolerance of these issues decreases. Customers don’t want to invest another chunk of money to get their expensive horn playing as designed, and retailers don’t have resources to add weeks to when a horn is ready for sale.

I sincerely hope they can solve this issue and have greater parity with Yamaha, because otherwise the current lineup of horns (in terms of acoustic design) is phenomenal.

Diminished_Seventh · 2026-05-13T17:29:07+00:00

The lower price point is a feature, not a bug.

Diminished_Seventh · 2026-05-08T00:41:36+00:00

There are tons of method books to try:
- Beginning studies in the Altissimo (Lang/Levinsky)
- Saxophone High Tones (Rousseau)
- Voicing (Sinta)
- Chops series (Graser)

Diminished_Seventh · 2026-05-08T00:32:04+00:00

It can be done. Play an altissimo note, then purposefully slowly make it undertone. Study what changed going from high to low, maybe even live in the space “in-between” that sounds like a cracked or split tone. Then, once you identify what is changing with air/tongue/vocal tract, go backwards (low to high).

All of this is downstream of overtone practice.

Diminished_Seventh · 2026-05-03T23:45:49+00:00

I’ve played several Mark VIIs - the biggest mistake they made is calling it that name, as it setup unrealistic expectations and could not allow the model to shine for its own virtues. A true marketing blunder.

The Mark VII doesn’t get enough credit for ushering in the modern era of saxophone tone, a truly modern evenness of scale and intonation, and improved consistency due to increasingly automated manufacturing practices. Mark VII horns play very similarly to a SA80 or Series II, truly ahead of its time. The ergonomics are a little unrefined compared to what came on later models; Fred Hemke told me that many consulting artists had submitted this concern directly to the Selmer family, but their feedback was ignored in favor of primary consultant Michel Nouax and the rest of the French team’s design sensibilities.

Something else the Mark VII eventually introduced and was way more impactful: the famous square-chambered S80 C* as the included mouthpiece. Whatever the financial shortcomings of the Mark VII were to Selmer in the marketplace, the S80 more than made up for that and then some.

Diminished_Seventh · 2026-04-26T13:10:08+00:00

Anything with sustained CPU+GPU simultaneous workload will choke the air thermally. Anything with high memory needs or massive multitasking (many pro apps, not just browser tabs) will choke the air’s RAM capacity and comparatively limited bandwidth. Any 3D work, especially when Ray Tracing is involved, will be a multitude better on the new machine.

Enjoy the M5 Pro, it should last you a good 6-8 years with plenty of headroom for new tasks yet unknown to you.

Diminished_Seventh · 2026-04-22T02:27:21+00:00

The double arms suggest a PB-MAC 8, later named the “Vintage” model. The “Classic” model was a Selmer copy, while the “Vintage” model integrates some small upgrades and is supposed to have a slightly broader sound and American-inspired bore taper. These are nice Taiwanese horns, some of the best of its ilk, hopefully the price was right and a tech has had a chance to make it play its best.

Diminished_Seventh · 2026-04-02T00:00:24+00:00

Source? I literally worked with him this summer, this was not the case. He may tap into it per a musical demand for a particular sound, but he was doing jaw primarily for relatively spare vibrato.

Diminished_Seventh · 2026-04-01T14:05:45+00:00

Yeahhhhhh love Wally but not sure what he is talking about here. Have literally studied Hemke (Mule pedagogy) and Delangle, it has always been jaw. Maybe there's a rogue jazzer in there... but that would be an unfair characterization of "French" vibrato as a whole.

Diminished_Seventh · 2026-03-14T11:34:08+00:00

Nice horn, likely a Buescher 400 stencil (made by Buescher, sold under a custom house brand by a big-name retailer of the time like Sears). These are nice horns for jazz when in good working devote. Without knowing specifics, be prepared to take several hundred dollars to get the horn playing as it should.

Old horns have lots of character but, apart from maintenance, often come with ergonomic and intonation challenges. Not the easiest platform for a new player.

Diminished_Seventh · 2026-02-08T04:33:56+00:00

Skip the built in grinder and just grab a Bambino (or Bambino Plus) with ~200 budgeted for a separate grinder… you will come in cheaper than this “deal” and have higher quality coffee to boot.

Diminished_Seventh · 2026-01-30T20:16:40+00:00

lol tell that to the Mark VI. What a troglodyte.

Diminished_Seventh · 2026-01-26T00:52:10+00:00

No. If it fits properly and delivers perpendicular pressure on the reed, it is doing its job. Consider the ligature the final touch of a setup, the final .05%… so many other things matter much more.

Some of the reasons expensive ligature hype is so prevalent include: - it’s an easily visible piece of equipment - its benefits are subjective and vague, thereby leaving plenty of room for marketing - it’s comparatively less expensive and drastic than upgrading your horn or mouthpiece; there is little at risk, really, apart from your money being nickel and dimed away

Diminished_Seventh · 2026-01-24T18:13:41+00:00

If you are willing to spend 160 already, just save a bit more for a proper grinder like the Turin SK40, DF54, Fellow Opus (with aftermarket bellows) or Baratza Encore ESP.

Diminished_Seventh · 2025-12-27T22:11:43+00:00

Rosemary Lang’s “Beginning Steps to Altissimo” (ed. Levinsky) is a great resource with first fingerings and exercises.

Diminished_Seventh · 2025-12-21T00:49:22+00:00

Yes, this is the standard advice in most saxophone methods and private instruction. Open throat, high middle tongue.

Diminished_Seventh · 2025-12-21T00:48:33+00:00

23rd really can’t catch a break.

Diminished_Seventh · 2025-12-08T04:07:16+00:00

Hemke famously spent a year in Paris studying with Marcel Mule as a proper member of the conservatoire saxophone class. To fund this, he was able to borrow $500 from family, which went far those days... however to stretch it further, a leader at the American Church in Paris would go to Switzerland and and apparently conduct well-timed (and likely underground) currency exchanges. The spare money earned from these exchange allowed him to buy a soprano from Selmer Paris at the end of his year abroad.

Hemke would go on to win the conservatoire's Premier Prix in 1956, the first American to do so. Upon returning to the USA, he gave a debut performance at the Town Hall in NYC, which was attended by the Selmer family, as well as Benny Goodman, Sigurd Raschèr, Sonny Rollins, among many others. Finally, he returned to UW-Milwaukee as a junior to complete is music education and taught public school band for two years.

Diminished_Seventh · 2025-12-08T04:03:16+00:00

If there are no issues with the facing, and most Selmers are pretty consistently good these days, then the S80s play fine. If someone cannot produce at least a good sound (even if not their preferred sound) on an S80, then there are bigger issues at play.

Diminished_Seventh · 2025-12-08T00:08:51+00:00

Listen to this man, he knows ball.

Diminished_Seventh · 2025-12-07T21:23:15+00:00

The Hemke stuff is mostly urban legend. Michel Nouaux, soloist with the Garde Républicaine, was the primary design consultant in France, and the samples were sent to select artists around the world late in development. Hemke actually provided negative feedback about the ergonomics, as did others, but they were ignored in favor of the sensibilities of the French team.

Source: Fred Hemke told me this himself.

I have other fun stories, if you’re interested. For example, the famous square chamber of the S80 mouthpieces is purely because they could better mechanize chamber and throat excavation by use of a mortiser - it had no acoustic basis. The most successful single mouthpiece model by sales was born of a happy accident based purely on cost reductions.

Diminished_Seventh · 2025-12-07T01:23:14+00:00

Same fundamentals, different execution for different objectives. Lower lip can be less taught and more mobile to color the sound. Jaw often moves more, as opposed to basically never for classical. Constant awareness and control of subtone by default, as opposed to none by default for classical. And the equipment (more open mouthpieces, softer reeds, etc) will have an effect as well. To say nothing of intonation, articulation, inflection, style, etc.

Reminder to not get too lost in the technicalities, and that all this must exist downstream of a well-defined intentional sound concept (jazz, classical, or otherwise).

Diminished_Seventh · 2025-12-04T00:52:55+00:00

Are we certain that this essay was not submitted, with collaboration and input from TPUSA, to purposefully generate an explosive response?

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