Abstract:
A novel neck for a musical instrument with a bent neck includes an elongated brace contacting a neck tube only at two points. An octave key is also provided for the neck. The octave key is pivotably supported on the brace and contacts the neck tube only at one point. The neck is designed to reduce the dampening effect of a brace and octave key by providing only a small contact surface area on the neck tube.

Description:
RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    None 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    A. Field of Invention 
         [0003]    The present invention pertains to an improved neck for a saxophone, and other similar musical instruments. 
         [0004]    B. Description of the Prior Art 
         [0005]    Woodwind instruments generally are known to have a main body defining a column of air. As is well known in the art, sound waves are produced within the column of air and the musical characteristics of the sounds, including pitch, volume and other characteristics, are modulated by changing the acoustic characteristics of the column. Keys are provided on the main body for playing various notes. 
         [0006]    A neck is attached to the top of the main body. The neck includes a curved hollow tube made of a metallic material on which additional elements are mounted, such as a brace and an octave key. A mouthpiece with a reed is attached to one end of the tube. The other end of the tube, usually called the neck tenon is shaped and sized so that it can be telescopically inserted into the main body of the instrument. 
         [0007]    When a musician blows through the mouthpiece, the reed oscillates and produces vibrations, which are then propagated through the cavity, in the mouthpiece into the tube of the neck, and then through the instrument body. Importantly, any significant mass contacting the tube of the neck interferes with the neck&#39;s ability to propagate the reed vibrations to the instrument body efficiently. 
         [0008]    Typically, the neck of the instrument is often bent in order for the instrument&#39;s mouthpiece to be placed at a convenient location for use by the musician. Because the neck is bent already, it is prone to deflection and deformation. For this reason, the neck is provided with the neck brace discussed above that holds the neck in its correct position and reduces deflection and deformation of the neck. This brace is typically soldered to the outer surface of the tube and contacts a significant portion of this outer surface. While the brace strengthens the neck, it has been shown that the brace also dampens the vibration of the neck tube and hence it reduces its efficiency and results in a deadening in the sound of the instrument. 
         [0009]    Finally, most neck instruments have an octave key attached to the neck tube. This key is used to selectively open or close a vent in the neck. The vent is arranged and constructed to allow the musician to play high notes in the range of the saxophone by manipulating the octave key. This octave key is also attached directly to the neck tube causing a further dampening of the vibration of the neck. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0010]    A musical instrument constructed in accordance with this invention includes a neck brace that is set off from a vibrating neck tube and an octave key isolated from the neck tube and attached directly to the neck brace. One end of the neck brace is attached to the solid neck tenon and the other end contacts the neck collar of the neck tube. This allows the neck tube to vibrate freely and more resonantly than any prior neck brace and octave key attachment. 
         [0011]    The neck brace includes two saddle shaped support projections attached to said neck tenon and said neck collar. The octave key includes a rocker lever which is attached to said support projections and an octave key button which covers the octave pip. Preferably, the surface of contact between the neck brace and the underside of the neck tube is a very small area. 
         [0012]    Preferably the rocker lever is shaped to be captured between the two support projections but offset from the neck tube. 
         [0013]    Preferably, the neck brace is shaped to be fitted longitudinally over the neck tube with said brace offset from the neck tube. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES 
         [0014]      FIG. 1  shows a side elevational view of a typical saxophone neck tube without a neck brace or octave key; 
           [0015]      FIG. 2  shows a side elevational view of the saxophone neck tube of  FIG. 1  with a neck brace and an octave key; 
           [0016]      FIG. 3  shows an orthogonal view of another known prior art alto saxophone neck; 
           [0017]      FIG. 4  shows a side elevational view of a neck constructed in accordance with this invention; 
           [0018]      FIG. 5  shows an orthogonal view of the neck of  FIG. 4 ; and 
           [0019]      FIG. 6  shows a bottom view of the neck of  FIGS. 4 and 5  and constructed in accordance with this invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0020]      FIG. 1  shows a portion of a typical prior art neck  100  for an alto saxophone (not shown), it being understood that the invention may be used for other instruments as well. The neck  100  consists of a neck tube  110  having at one end a neck cork  106  that is used to mount a mouthpiece (not shown). A neck tenon  102  is disposed at the other end of the neck tube  110  and is used to attach the neck  100  to the main body of the saxophone. More specifically, the main body includes an elongated tubular body (not shown) having an opening at one end. The neck tenon  102  is telescopically inserted into this opening (not shown). The neck tenon  102  is delimited by an annular stop or neck collar  104 . 
         [0021]    Neck tube  110  is also provided with an octave pip  103  consisting of a vent hole in neck tube  110 . 
         [0022]    As shown in  FIG. 2 , the neck  100  further includes a brace  112  for strengthening tube  110 , and prevent it from deformation while the instrument is being played. The neck  100  is also typically provided with an octave key  108  that can be selectively used to selectively open and close the octave pip  103 , as discussed above. Both the brace  112  and the octave key  108  extend over and are in intimate contact with a substantial portion of the outer surface of tube  110  and therefore their mass causes a significant dampening of the natural resonance of the tube  110 . In other words, a dampening of the vibration of the neck tube  110  results from the brace and the octave key. 
         [0023]    The octave key  108  is also provided and it consists of a button  108  that covers octave pip  103  and an octave key lever  108 A is fastened either directly to the neck tube  110  or indirectly to the neck tube  110  through neck brace  112 . 
         [0024]    As can be seen in  FIG. 2 , this octave key also dampens the resonance of neck  100  in fact. While other saxophones have necks with braces with other shapes, all of them, to the inventor&#39;s knowledge, contact and come in intimate contact with a large portion of the outer surface area of the neck tube and therefore they all dampen its resonance. For example,  FIG. 3  shows another prior art example of a neck  114  for an alto saxophone. This neck  114  has a similar structure and operates the same way as neck  100  in  FIGS. 1 and 2 . The neck  114  includes a neck tube  110  with a neck cork  106  for holding a mouthpiece (not shown), and a neck tenon  102 . A neck brace  118  serves the same strengthening purpose as neck brace  112  on prior art neck  100 . An octave key  116  is attached to the neck pivot  117  which is in-turn soldered or glued on neck tube  110 . Octave key  116  includes octave key button  116 A that selectively covers octave pip  103 . As seen in  FIG. 3 , in this case, the octave key lever  116  wraps around the neck  114  and has a fairly convoluted shape that is different to manufacturer and it is subject to damage or warping while the instrument is played, or is being taken out of, or returned to its storage box. Moreover, once again, since both the neck brace  118  and octave key  116  (via pivot  117 ) are fastened directly to the neck tube  110 , the resonance of the neck tube  110  is dampened by these members. 
         [0025]    The present invention provides a novel neck  200  having a different and unique structure. The neck is shown in  FIGS. 4-6 .  FIG. 4  shows a side elevational view of neck  200 , having a conventional tube  110 , neck cork  106 , neck tenon  102 , collar  104  and octave pip  103  and other features and elements essentially identical to the ones shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2 . As shown in  FIGS. 4-6 , neck  200  further includes neck brace  120  and an octave key  124 . Neck brace  120  has a generally H-shape and is formed of two longitudinal or elongated members  128 ,  130 . The lower ends of these members  128 A,  130 A are attached to the collar  104 . The opposite ends  128 B,  130 B are attached to a boss  122 . As can be seen from the figures, and especially  FIG. 4 , the brace  120  is preferably somewhat arcuate in shape (although it could be straight as well) but its radius of curvature is much larger then the radius of the tube  110  especially between the two points where brace  120  is attached to the tube  110 , e.g., collar  104  and boss  122 . In this manner the brace  120  acts as a strut to strengthen the tube  110  and prevent its distortion and collapse. Preferably the brace  120  is made of brass and is attached to the collar  104  and boss  122  by silver-soldering, with an appropriate adhesive or other well known means. Preferably boss  122  is made of brass. 
         [0026]    The two members  128 ,  130  are joined at their midsection by a pivot screw  134  that is used to pivotably mount the octave key  124 . Once joined, the two members and the pivot screw can be described as being formed of two saddle-shaped projections, one extending toward the mouthpiece, and the other extending toward the collar. The two projections are not identical. The projection extending toward the mouthpiece has two arms that approach each other while the saddle projection toward the collar has arms that extend away from each other. Both brace  120  and octave key  124  would be made of brass, however, many differing materials such as stainless steel, aluminum, and dense plastics could be used. 
         [0027]    The octave key  124  includes a rocker lever  132  pivotably supported on the brace  110  by pivot screw  134 . Preferably the octave key  124  is disposed between the  128 ,  130  so that it is normally protected. The octave key  124  has a cantilevered end  124 A disposed near the collar  104 . The other end of octave key  124  is terminated with a ring  124 D that has a diameter larger then tube  120  and surrounds the tube as shown. Attached to this ring  124 D there is a button  126 . The octave key  124  is sized and constructed so that normally, the button  126  is disposed over and covers the octave pip  103 . However, the player can push  124 A to cause the octave key  124  to pivot clockwise around pivot screw  134  thereby causing the button  126  to lift off from the pip  103 . Spring  132  is attached to octave key  124  and presses against boss  122  to assist in keeping button  126  pressed against octave pip  103 . However, the player can push in  124 A to cause the octave key  124  to pivot clockwise around pivot screw  134  thereby causing the button  126  to lift off from the pip  103 . The key stops moving when the 
         [0000]    adjustable stop  1246  attached to octave key  124  comes in contact with the boss  122 . Adjustable stop  124 B contains a set-screw  124 C which adjusts the distance octave key  124  may travel before hitting boss  122 . 
         [0028]    As is well known in the art, this action causes the instrument to change pitch. When released, the key pivots counterclockwise back to its original position to cause button  126  to close the octave pip  103 . Like the brace  120 , the octave key  120  is made of generally straight narrow elements with large cutout and openings there-between, This insures that both members are light, cheaper to manufacture then standard prior art members. 
         [0029]    Thus, in the prior art, the brace and the octave key both include members that are attached to a sizeable portion of the tube  110  thereby deteriorating the performance of the neck by damping the resonance of the tube  110 . 
         [0030]    In the present invention octave key  124  is not attached directly to tube  110  as it is instead attached to brace  120 . Moreover, brace  120  is attached to tube  110  in only one spot of minimal surface area through boss  122 . The other ends of brace  120 ,  128 A and  130 A, are attached to collar  104  and do not dampen tube  110 . A variation of this invention would be for boss  122  and octave pip  103  to be formed as one piece to further reduce contact with tube  110 . 
         [0031]    The contact area between the combination of brace  120  and octave key  124  are much smaller then the areas of contact on the prior art necks disclosed above. This allows for less dampening of tube  110  and for an octave key made of less material since it does not need a mount to attach to the tube  110  such as is seen in prior art pivot  117 . In this manner the present invention not only provides a brace and octave key that are light but also have only minimal number of contact points. Moreover the contact areas at these contact points are minimized. The brace  120  and octave key  124  of the present invention are much lighter and do not interfere with the vibration of tube  110  since they have less actual contact with the tube. 
         [0032]    To summarize, the novel brace  120  has a number of advantages over the prior art neck brace. Since the brace has such minimal contact area with the neck tube, contacting it in only one place, the neck tube is very free to resonate with minimal dampening caused by the brace Further, because the octave key is completely isolated from the neck tube, the neck tube may vibrate free of the dampening affects caused by the octave key being mounted directly to the neck tube as has been done in the prior art. Also, since the octave key is mounted to the brace, no additional hardware is needed to mount it to the neck as is required by prior art keys allowing for a lighter mechanism. 
         [0033]    Numerous modifications may be made to this invention without departing from its scope as defined in the appended claims. Such modifications may include moving the octave pip  103  to the underside of the neck as can been seen in  FIG. 7 . Even though the octave pip  103  has moved position, and the octave key  124  is split into two levers  124 E and  124 F, the octave key ( 124 E and  124 F) is still mounted entirely onto the neck brace  120  and hence still does not dampen neck tube  110 . For this reason such a modification is still in accordance with the invention.