Everything you always wanted to know about (deQuelery) Saxophone necks

How do you make a saxophone neck?

deQuelery makes use of a technique called ‘metal spinning’; this allows us to make a cone shape tube, pulled out of a sheet of metal. As this cone shaped tube does not have any seams, we don’t need to solder anything,resulting in pure sound (with soldering, the air-stream is somewhat disturbed, causing turbulence). Most vendors of saxophones make necks out of a metal plate, which they need to solder into a tube. Another disadvantage is that soldering causes homogeneity differences in the material. The deQuelery neck therefore is a cone shaped tube out of one piece. To prevent the tube from collapsing during bending, the neck is filled with a special filler material before bending it into shape. This also results in a more consistent thickness of the metal. This proces needs to be carried out with great precision, since the shape of the cone, the material used and the thickness of the material are all critical factors in creating harmonics and (therefore) sound. Our design has been patented.

Why is a neck so important?

The neck plays an important part in the chain of musician-mouthpiece(-reed)-instrument; blowing on the reed, and subsequently shaping the the airflow through the mouth piece into the instrument determines the sound. However there is lots more going on; all ‘notes’ of the saxophone are projected along the neck at fixed positions; every note has it’s own resonance position. As a result, intonation problems or a lack of balance in your instrument could be fixed by making adjustments in the neck. Geometry, material and finish (in that order) determine the sound.

For which saxophones?

In general we can make necks for all altos and tenors.
The specific bends and angles at which the mouth piece is placed and the position of the neck joining the body are more or less fixed, but we can make some adjustments in the ergonomics when this is required. After all, your posture and the position of the larynx play an important role in shaping your sound. Using different materials is of great influence as well. Have a look at our Artists page; a lot of Selmer-spelers already choose to play with a deQuelery neck.

You do not have to always buy another instrument to change your sound!

What difference does materials make?

There are repair technicians and musicians that think using various different materials does not make a difference in sound, based on scientific studies. A more musical approach to this statement seems to be more appropriate; by using the scientific data of the saxophone to experiment, using different materials do cause the sound to change. Did Adolphe Sax really create a perfect instrument of which all of the sound characteristics were to stay the same over the years? He just started using brass because all of the other instruments were made of brass. Now we know that copper, bronze and other materials are quite popular. Lets not forget that over the years, there have not been that many developments for the saxophone. Partly because the well known vendors stated they had created a signature sound, and everyone wanted to have that sound. All the musicians wanted to copy that sound, instead of looking to develop their own. Fortunately, this is changing; many musicians are starting to listen instead of looking. They are not searching for the same instrument, but for a certain sound. We at the deQuelery think by using less science, but by using our experience and our ears, lots of developments are really just around the corner for the saxophone. This is how new developments are discovered; by experimenting and ‘playing’ around. An example of such a discovery is our well known ligature called the Spiro; a revolutionary ligature that has found its way to amateur and professional players alike.

Our patented necks are available in red copper, bronze, brass (silver plated, gold plated, nickel plated, aged) for alto eand tenor. All with their own characteristics due to differences in resonance, reflection and harmonics spectrum. You are always welcome to try yourself.

What is a deQuelery sound bridge?

Existing necks can be enhanced by using the deQuelery sound bridge; more info HERE. Another innovation of deQuelery that improves your overall sound. Relatively simple to apply, but it makes quite a difference! Many musicians are enjoying our patented sound bridge by now.

Do I always have to choose a new neck?

Entirely up to you! We can change or adapt your existing neck. Here is an example of a Mark VI Tenor after market neck we recently restored; klick HERE to read more.