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Selmer Serie III Octave Vents?

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Hello all, As I have been working with several students at the Armed Forces School of Music, I've noticed that all who use the school's Serie III have had an undertone-like grunt on F#/G/G#2. When they play another horn, the problem goes away. I recall, but can't point to documentation, that the octave vent on the body was too small. Does anyone know what the proper diameter should be? Many Thanks, Tim Owen

The octave key vent and placement should be proportion to the mechanism it is operated by initially. Placement of the octave key in many cases is disputable but I have found it beneficial to work on the key height of the octave key instead of diametric proportions to the saxophone neck or body. Many players suffer from similar problems with their instruments because certain horns are not always adjusted for neck or octave key height, have been altered in the case, or even by the way player puts the neck on the saxophone. Sometimes a small adjustment of distance from the vent is needed but also calls for an adjustment of the mechanism that touches this key. On most horns a different thickness of the plastic guide over this bridge between the body of the saxophone and neck is perfectly fine. The width of the cork under the octave key, next to the thumb rest, is normally in need of adjustment. All of these adjustments help raise or lower the octave key pad, creating a good adjustment for most gurgles or fluctuations in the sound. A mouthpiece of a different length is helpful too. It centers the pitch of the horn to create a better overtone series and has a tendency to lock in the pitch of a fine tuned instrument….. Personally, messing with the existence of an object is morbid. If the craftsman didn’t get it right then don’t try to remedy the mistake. Move on!!!!!!

I had the same problem on my series III. It was mostly my G#s and occasionally Gs. The G# is the last note that uses the body vent, then switches to the neck vent when playing A and above. I had the body vent drilled out slightly and it went away. I strongly suggest you have them do this. It may be hard to let someone do this to your sax, and I certainly WOULD NOT let just anyone do it. Ask the TOP professional sax players in your area (major metropolitan areas preferable) who does their work for them. Then ask the repair person to open it as little as possible & test it out. You can always go back later and have the repair person open it a bit more if it is still unsatisfactory, but you can't put material back on!!! Good luck!

I had the same problem with my G# on my Series II. I took it to a repair person in Tacoma, WA who happened to work on other horns with this problem and got the exact specifications from Selmer. He was able to drill the octave key vent to the proper measurement. I'm not sure where you live, but you could call this repair technician, and he would most likely give you the correct measurement. His name is Chris Arent, he works at Ted Brown in Tacoma, and hi number is 253--272-3211. Good luck! I was certainly happier when I got this adjustment.

Have you tried to clean out the octave vent? A lot of the time there is a build up of "crud" in there that closes the diameter of the vent. Use a pipe cleaner, or something similar. James

I believe the factory spec on this is 0.11 inches. Most second octave vents on SA80 (all series) Selmer altos are at about 0.07. 0.09 usually does the trick to stop the fundamental from sounding on G and G#.

Open the pip on the neck to a #38 drill, the pip on the body to a #42 drill