You may be wondering why we devoted a whole episode to saxophone necks? It’s because this part of your instrument is more important than you think.

If there are problems with your saxophone’s neck, not only will your tone and timbre be affected, but also your intonation, ease of blowing, efficiency and more.

For this episode, I spoke with Steve Goodson, founder of SaxGourmet products and his Nation of Music website, which contains tons of articles and information about all the parts of the saxophone, saxophone design, mouthpieces, key clamps and much more.

His SaxGourmet website has listings of Saxophone Makes and Models and Vintage Saxophone Value Guide. 

Steve has been part of the Music Industry since 1963, having performed all over the world from a very young age all the way up to the year 2003, where he stopped for health reasons.

He still teaches students in his New Orleans studio.

Steve started repairing his own horns in 1964, and over the years, he repaired saxophones for people all over the world, including Michael Brecker and Maceo Parker.

During this time he always thought he could improve on the design, and was inspired to create better saxophones.

That’s when he created his own unique line of horns, the SaxGourmet saxophones.

Musicians such as Tom Scott, Charles Neville, Aviva Maloney, James Martin perform on the Saxgourmet horns. 

You can read more about how he created these horns on his site by clicking the link below under Links.

Steve also is the administrator of many Facebook Discussion groups, such as Saxophone Nation and Saxophone Playing Techniques. A partial listing of those groups is on his SaxGourmet website.

Steve was also a regular contributor to the Saxophone Journal magazine.

We talked about:

🎷 Knowing the difference between necks to create a better one for your horn

🎷 How a neck can increase your dynamic range

🎷 Material differences in necks and do they make a difference

🎷 What is pull-down, and what to do about it

🎷 When to get another neck

🎷 and a lot more!

Links/Resources:

Nation of Music: https://www.nationofmusic.com/ 

SaxGourmet: https://www.saxgourmet.com/ 

About SaxGourmet horns: https://www.nationofmusic.com/saxgourmet-company-and-product-history/

Vintage Saxophone Value Guide: https://www.saxgourmet.com/vintage-saxophone-value-guide/

Vintage Saxophone Serial Numbers: https://www.saxgourmet.com/saxophone-serial-numbers/

 

Watch the Video Here:

 

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