What's in your sax case?

JPSaxMan · What's in your sax case?

We all keep extra things in our case besides our sax & neck (boy you guys better carry those things!). What do you keep in yours? Here's mine; in my tenor case I keep;

NeoTech SaxPack which holds my neck, S80 C* & Rovner, two tubes of cork grease and a LaVoz reed holder

Hankie Swab

Woodwind Polishing Cloth

Selmer Paris Cloth

Box of Vandoren's (right now there's one reed left in the box Sad

...gonna get a new box of Vandoren ZZ 3's :D )

BG France Large Sax Neck Strap

Selmer Paris Cap & Lig that came with S80 (just in case)

That's it for the tenor. I usually carry altissimo charts in the large pocket on top of the case and if it's going in school I put the back-pack straps in the smaller pocket on top (keep in mind I have a Selmer Trek-Lite case Shocked

). When I get my Dukoff I probably will get another mouthpiece pouch for it.

For the alto I keep;

Box of Vandoren ZZ 3's

Some placemat to use for 'polishing'

Mouthpiece, Rovner lig, and cap

Selmer Paris swab (came with the LaVoix, better suited for the alto)

Selmer neckstrap (came with the LaVoix, better suited for alto Rolling Eyes

)

That's it for alto. Don't have a Pad Guard or anything of the sort...pads are almost shot anyway on my Armstrong.

And for bari I keep;

Neotech Sax Harness (a bari player's best friend :D )

Box of Vandoren ZZ 3's (almost )

Lig and cap

Yamaha Polishing Cloth

Spare Rico's

That's all of it. Phew Shocked

. I'm interested to hear bout the rest of ya's!

CMelodyMan

Alto: LaVoz reed holder with Rico #3 and3.5 and #5 reeds, a Selmer S90 piece with a stock metal lig, a Rovner-like lig I borrowed from my private lesson teacher, and a mp cap. A tube of cork grease, a screwdriver set, key oil, a mouthpiece brush, a cloth sax swab, a neck-cleaner, a tuner, a neckstrap, and sometimes a metronome.

C Melody: 3 tenor pieces I borrowed from my school, one King, one Selmer Goldentone, one nameless; two stock metal ligs, cork grease, penetrating oil, key oil, a mini-screwdriver set, sheet cork, some rope? I don't know why I have it in there, a piece of leather, I don't know why I have that in there too, a spare saxophone neck screw, contact cement, toothpicks, Q-Tips, a gluestick, and a sock for storing my sax's neck.

JPSaxMan

Holy cow

Get a Neotech Sax Pack...protects the neck better than the sock and stores your mouthpiece and other valuables. And get a TriPac while your at it to minimize clutter which is what you seem to have Shocked

CMelodyMan

It's not really very cluttered. I have it organized....kinda. Laughing

Thomas

Excellent topic choice, JP!

This is what I usually keep in my case:

Sax & Neck (haha, duh...)
Selmer S90 180 mouthpiece (for classical)
Vandoren V16 A4 mouthpiece (for jazz)
Rovner ligature + mp cap (I use this for classical and jazz)
Plastic tooth cover (I spent about an hour cutting up a football mouthpiece to make it)
Pill vial (for reed soaking water)
Pill vial (for holding tooth cover)
10-pack Vandoren blue box reeds (strength - 3.5)
10-pack Vandoren V16 reeds (strength - 3)
Reedgard 4-pack reed holder
Cork grease
All-in-one metronome/tuner/guitar tuner/ref. pitch generator (brand is "Solutions", I believe)
Body swab
Neck/mouthpiece swab
finish cloth
screwdriver set
brush (for cleaning the small spaces)

I think that's it. I'll check my sax case later today (I'm writing this at like 12:30 am) and tell you if I missed anything.

CMelodyMan

Do you think your homemade tooth cover works better than a store-bought mouthpiece patch?

JPSaxMan

Actually Thomas I started the topic Confused

JazZz

Alto Case:

Neck Bag (the standard case holder gave my neck a nice dent)
Alexandar D.C. #3 reeds
Vandoren Java #2.5 reeds
Neotech neckstrap
Ponzol #3 tenor reeds
Blue Juice Valve Oil (all my instruments stuff ends up in my alto case
Confused

)
Random unlabeled cork grease
Screwdriver set
Otto Link 5 tone edge mouthpiece
Selmer C* mouthpiece

Tenor Case:

Ponzol #3 reeds
Cheapo neckstrap
sax stand
music stand
Yamaha mouthpiece
rovner dark ligature

My cases are both very messy...I should really organize all my cases out.

JPSaxMan

Get Neotech; TriPac and SaxPac go a long way! Cool

MySaxMax · in my case...

what's a sock or whatever that you keep your neck in? I don't think I have one of those... I kinda tossed aside a lot of things that came with my sax when I first got it... what the are essential things to have for your sax? all I have in my case are:

my sax

my neck

five reeds

a double sided reed case and one plastic reed case

a mouthpiece and ligature

mouthpiece spit swabber

cork grease

and neckstrap

MySaxMax · JazZz

JazZz, how do you keep your sax stand and music stand in your case? That seems like a lot, wow.

CMelodyMan

I just use a regular sock(a long sock.) I use it to protcet the neck from being scratched.

JPSaxMan

Seriously, get a Neotech SaxPac...it will do a lot more good for your neck than a sock!

I think my list (not to sound arrogant or anything) is the ideal sax case (the tenor one I mean). Everything you need just about (I need to get one of those emergency kits) to get you through the days.

Definetely get a swab. When you don't swab your horn you're just letting all of your fluid to pool up at the bow and over time, guess what? That could erode like crazy Evil or Very Mad

. Although my director never swabed his Super Action 80 ( Shocked

) it still plays pretty good for a horn that's 20+ years old. But don't let that example sway you! If you want your horn to last, swab it! Then a Pad Guard would be essential. The LaVoz brand I use is quite all right for my horn but some don't like LaVoz so get another brand (crap, can't think of any of them). Pads will last you a lot longer with one.

I think that's about it. Exclamation

Bleeding_Gums_Murphy

I use a sock too.

Box of Alexander D.C.'s
Mi-T-Mist
Hodge Silk Swab
Neotech Neckstrap
Some cheap polishing cloth I got at the local music store
LaVoz reed thing
Some crap Rico 5's

... and that's it.

tenorsaxman

TENOR CASE:I usually keep about 6 tenor reeds, 4 clarinet reeds in my case. I also obviously keep my tenor sax body,neck and mpiece. I alternate between a padless neckstrap that unhooks easy so I can switch between tenor, Alto and bass clarinet, as well as a Neotech strap. I also keep my Bundy crapped up clarinet in there when I have to double,and cork grease.
ALTO CASE: I just have an alto body,neck and mpiece. I need to put some reeds in.Also a neck swab.
FLUTE CASE: My gemeinhardt 2SP flute body, foot and head joints. Also have a padsaver and screwdriver
BUNDY CLARINET CASE: really old (50 year old) corkgrease. a 50 year old Selmer Bundy Plastic clarinet(when not doubling) w/ a Goldentone mpiece and lyre
METAL CLARINET CASE: A metal clarinet, Bundy mpiece and a lyre
BASS CLARINET CASE: bass clarinet body,bell and neck. Yamaha mpiece peg to hold bass clarinet w/out use of neckstrap and some reeds.
TROMBONE CASE: a few bottles of slide oil, cleaning swab, 12c mpiece and a Bach trombone.
Sorry this is so long Exclamation

JPSaxMan

Heck, yours is short and sweet compared to mine Cool

Thomas

Wow, this grew quickly...

Right, sorry about that, Joel. Like my post says, it was 12:30 am, and I was a little dislexic at the time.

Dave,

Actually, the plastic tooth cover I was talking about goes over my teeth, not on the mouthpiece. I did indeed buy a mouthpiece cover from a store, and it works okay. I'll explain what I was talking about in detail:

As reed players, we often experience discomfort in our lower lip when playing for long periods of time. This is due to the fact that your bottom teeth are actually digging into the flesh of your lower lip! Shocked

In my case, it actually caused some bleeding at one point!

My teacher has found a genius solution to that problem. He made a covering for his bottom teeth out of cigarette paper and crazy glue. Not the most hygienic thing one could do, but hey, he's one of the best classical saxophonists in North America, so I don't question him.

However, I have found a much better way to do this. If you go to any local sporting goods store, they will more than likely have moldable plastic football mouthpieces. The directions say to immerse them in boiling water for about ten seconds, and then quickly mold them around your teeth. I thought, hey, this could be useful for me too! So I went and bought one (they're around $2). It took about half an hour of precise cutting and molding, but I finally hit upon something good enough to use in my playing.

I have had it for about a year now, and it was definitely worth all that fruitless work I did. It took some getting used to, but it worked wonders on my playing. I can now play for hours straight without feeling any discomfort at all. I recommend that everyone here give this a try. You will not regret it. Smile

CMelodyMan

Who's your BD?

JPSaxMan

Or you could just change your embouchure :D

I used to get an irritation on my lower lip patch (on the skin) after I played due to the reed fibers. Well that ended (on sax) when I went to the 'ooo' embouchure because I was no longer resting the reed on that skin, I was resting it on my lip. Hehe...just an idea Twisted Evil

Thomas

What does BD mean, Dave?

JPSaxMan

Band Director

JazZz · Re: JazZz

Thomas

Ah, right. My band directors last year were Craig Brenan and Randy Witte. Randy left this year to go back to university, and we're getting a replacement teacher who's name I don't know yet...

Thomas

Oh, and I was talking about my private lessons teacher in that last post. His name is William Street.

musicalprodigy

In my sax case i have;: a sax, of course! neckstrap, rico #3 reeds, a mpc patch, and a pad saver.

FoulShooter101

Box of Vandurens
Box of Rico Jazz Selects
2 Neckstraps
1 4-reed holder
Hankerchief
Silk Swab
Polishing Cloth
Cork Grease
Instruction Manual

Bariman

Just from memory, in my old bari case:

-One of those SaxPak things Joel was talking about, which holds my 'playing' reed, my rovner lig and cap, and my link, along of course with my neck.
-A neckstrap and Harness
-Random pieces of cloth for cleaning.
-Swab that I should use more.
-RJS 2.5's and 3.5's, I think they have around 4 left in each.
-My stock lig (from the Link)
-Neck cleaner dealy.
-Coupla beer bottle caps from various gigs (can't remember exactly which)

Etc.

After I finish the new case, I might have room for a bari stand and *maybe* a foldable music stand.

Bariman

JPSaxMan

What kind of a stand do you have? I'm thinking of getting an LA Sax stand. Very Happy

Bariman

Bingo, the LA Sax. It works ok for me, but is made for Low A's, so I think you'll be pleased. On a low Bb, you have to angle the legs steeply to get the bow of the sax to touch the rest, so it is slightly unstable, but like I said, a Yami will have no problem. Very beefy and strong.

Bariman

BuffaloBariSax

I normally play a Yamaha YBS-52 that our school owns. In that case, I have my sax, neckpiece, mouthpiece, reed case w/ three reeds (Rico 3 1/2, La Voz 3 1/2, Hemke 4), my music lyre, and my flip folder with music. During marching season, it holds my marching charts and paper folder (when music is first handed out). It also sometimes holds sheet music copies (district try out pieces). But it's being cleaned right now, so I don't have it.

What I am playing right now is an old Conn that only goes down to low Bb. It has that, neck, 2 mouthpieces (I stuck my normal one in there before my sax went to get cleaned), three neckstraps (my normal one and two extras that were already in there), a tube of cork grease (smells good), two boxes of La Voz reeds, cleaning cloth, saxophone swab, and probably some other stuff. I'm scared to dig through it in case something is alive in there.

JPSaxMan

I love the Yamaha 52 I play on...absolutely LOVE it Cool

JPSaxMan

My list has changed a bit

For tenor:

-TriPac that holds an Dukoff D6 and Otto 6 and the neck

-BG France Large Sax Neckstrap

-Selmer Soloist D with the Rovner Dark lig and cap on it

-LaVoz reed holder with a jazz and classical reed on either side

-Tube of Selmer cork grease

-Variety of clear and black Runyon mouthpiece patches

-Hankie-swab

-Two polishing cloths

-Two boxes of reeds (one for jazz and one for classical)

-Maybe a bottle of Selmer no-stick powder

For alto:

-Conn Precision piece with Rovner Dark lig and cap on it

-Bari Gold 85 piece with Rovner Dark lig and cap on it

-Variety of clear and black Runyon mouthpiece patches

-Neckstrap

-Swab

-Polishing cloth (for what little polishing needs to be done)

-Two boxes of reeds

Bari:

-Yamaha 5C piece with cap and lig on it

-Neotech bari harness

-Two polishing cloths

-A couple of Rico Royal 3's

Mr. Green

jules

One Conn Conqueror...
One Dukoff D9 with Eddie Daniels Lig
Cork Grease
a very manky pad saver
Duster
silk cloth
a box of Vandoren V16s
A few Vandoren ZZs
One Brillhart Levelaire that I've just picked up and am testing out..
Charlie As gig dust & patches
A BG bootlace-style neck strap
A bottle openner (ahem)
A small plastic chili (actually can't even remember why!)
A map of the London Underground!

kirbay

2 reeds, mouthpiece, strap lol :P

Thomas

jules

JPSaxMan

...good one Jules

I agree with Thomas...be more prepared man. I might even wanna consider getting a synthetic reed of right size (and sound) for when my cane reed breaks 10 seconds before my solo! Shocked

What's in your sax case?

in my case...

JazZz

Re: JazZz