Saxophone Forum


by permanize
(5 posts)
20 years ago

Question??? low pitch horn

what is the difference between a horn designated as low pitch and a regular horn???

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  1. by sax_maniac
    (984 posts)

    20 years ago

    Re: Question??? low pitch horn

    Low pitch IS a "regular horn" as far as it's design and tuning. There were some "high pitch" horns made up until about the 1930's-ish. "Low pitch" (often identified with the words themselves or a shortened "LP" or "L" near the serial number) is to identify horns made in that timeframe as those horns designed to tune to A=440. Back then, some European tuning conventions used a slightly higher pitch for A - hence "high-pitch", but I'm pretty sure we're all back to A=440 for general purposes. It is possible that a high-pitched horn could be made to play in tune with careful mouthpiece selection, but I would consider it generally not worth the hassle to do so. Stick with low-pitch horns unless you are an obsessive collector and find some intrinsic value in owning one.

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    1. by permanize
      (5 posts)

      20 years ago

      Re: Question??? low pitch horn

      ok thanks. but will horns that are high pitched have a marking on them like Hp, or H or somthing like that.

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      1. by sax_maniac
        (984 posts)

        20 years ago

        Re: Question??? low pitch horn

        Yes. In fact, I don't know of any high pitched horns that DON'T have an "H" or "HP" stamped by the serial number. I suppose it is possible. Horns of that era usually had low or high designated explicitly. There was and still are so many exceptions amongst saxophone manufacturing. The general rule is that if there's no "L" or "H" designation, that it's low-pitched.

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