Putting an ELITE Saxophone Neck on “Student” Horn

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KB Sax Necks

There’s a guy who makes saxophone necks by hand in New York City. His name is Kim Bock, he’s from Denmark and his custom made necks are played by some of the top saxophonists in the world.

I visited his workshop in 2020 and made a video about the whole fascinating process. At the time he was only making tenor saxophone necks, but now Kim has expanded to make alto necks as well and today, I have the full collection of these to try out and demonstrate for you.

I may want to purchase one for myself so this video will be a nice way to find the best match. Please let me know in the comments which one of these necks you would choose and why.

Getting The Most Out Of Your Equipment

It’s really important to understand that these necks are designed and intended for professional saxophone players who are already playing on the best possible equipment and are looking to eek out every last possible advantage you can get from the equipment on its own.

The price of one of these for alto is currently $1,295 and $1,595 for tenor models. Each one is made to order for a precise fit on the saxophone it’s going to be paired with, and many hours of work goes into each one.

What I’m Playing In These Examples

I’m going to be playing them on this BetterSax Classic saxophone, which costs nearly half the price of one of these necks, which I know is a bit ironic. But I also want to illustrate the very important concept that your sound is 95% the work you put in practicing, and the last 5% or less is in the gear, and most of that is going to be your mouthpiece and reed.

The mouthpiece I’m playing is a BetterSax Burnin’ seven tip opening and the reed is a BetterSax Jazz Cut 2.5. First let’s hear the BetterSax Classic with its original neck. I’ve put time stamps in the video above so you can jump around between the different models.

Vanguard C-69 Brass Neck

There are two different KB Sax neck types I’m going to play for you, and each one comes in a variety of materials. First we have the Vanguard model which comes in two varieties of brass. The Vanguard C-69 is up first.

Vanguard C-69 Brass

Vanguard M-61 Brass Neck

All of the necks I have here have a lacquer finish applied to them, and you can order them without lacquer or plated with silver or gold as you like. I really like the response of those brass necks. They have a pure and very focused sound.

Vanguard M-61 Brass

Hand Hammered KB Necks

One of the hallmarks of the KB Sax line of necks is the hand hammered variety. I’ve been playing on a hand hammered bronze Vanguard neck for a few years now and I really love it. The hand hammering seems to add a sizzle to the sound making it more lively and adding another layer of complexity. They also look really cool.

Vanguard Hand Hammered Copper Neck

Let’s hear the Vanguard Hand Hammered neck, made out of copper.

Vanguard Hand Hammered Copper

Vanguard Hand Hammered Bronze Neck

And now the Vanguard hand hammered neck made from bronze.

Vanguard Hand Hammered Bronze

Vanguard Hand Hammered Solid Silver Neck

And here we have the Vanguard hand hammered neck in solid silver.

Vanguard Hand Hammered Solid Silver

Differences in KB Sax Necks

On the KB Sax website, there is a ton of really good information about the differences between these necks in terms of tonal characteristics and how they respond.

Definitely check that out even if it’s just to get a better understanding of how we can think of the different variables like resistance, tonal color, projection, spread, dynamic range, and others.

Player Versus Listener Perspective

It’s also really important to point out here that there are two different perspectives whenever we are testing out gear. The perspective of the player who has the thing resonating in their head, combined with the sound in the room, and that of the listener.

In this video you can only get the perspective through a microphone and that is really a third perspective that will also be slightly different. So to truly appreciate the very subtle differences between any bits of gear, whether that’s necks or horns or mouthpieces, you have to play them.

KB by Kim Bock Hand Hammered Brass Neck

Let’s move on to the second neck design which is called KB by Kim Bock. I’ve got the hand hammered brass version for you here.

KB Hand Hammered Brass

KB by Kim Bock Hand Hammered Copper Neck

Next up is the KB hand hammered copper.

KB Hand Hammered Copper

KB by Kim Bock Hand Hammered Dual Alloy Neck

And the last neck today is a special hand hammered dual alloy brass and copper KB neck.

KB Hand Hammered Dual Alloy

How to Choose What Is Right For You

So in testing these, if I wanted to choose one out of the eight it wouldn’t be easy. This is a very common dilemma when looking to get new gear. Here’s my approach.

Firstly, everything we are trying here is great. All these necks would be a nice Improvement, and I’d be happy with any one of them. So there are no wrong choices. So in that situation I tend to rely on my gut feeling, which one of these really spoke to me and felt special for whatever reason when I was playing it.

I have a preference for the Vanguard models, so that narrows the choice down a bit. While I really like the plain brass models, there’s something about the hand hammered ones that I really like, so I’m going to further narrow down my selection to one of these three.

Once we get down to different materials, that’s where the differences are really subtle. I’d be happy with any one of these three, so what I’ll probably do is play each one of these for a few days and see which one comes out on top in my gut feeling.

Conclusion

If you’ve got any questions about these necks please visit kbsax.com and ask Kim directly. It’s great that we still have people like Kim Bock making beautiful things by hand. If you want something very special, rare, and unique for your saxophone, I strongly recommend checking these out.

Now go watch this video I made in Kim’s New York shop, where he shows us the process of making these necks step by step. It’s so cool.

 

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