Modern Bb straight soprano and Bb curved soprano saxophones- they are essentially identical in design except for the curved tube..

The tonal difference seems slight to a listener, but the player hears more reflected sound when playing a curved instrument. The older Conn and Buescher curved sopranos can be wonderful instruments as well, with a warm, sweet tone that is quite a bit less reedy than the modern sopranos. These horns can be professional quality instruments if they are adjusted properly and have a large-chambered mouthpiece.

sound samples (Lunde "Alpine" Sonata excerpt):

mp3 demo Curved Bb Soprano sax 1.6MB

mp3 demo Bb Soprano sax 1.5MB

Thanks to Rod Westerling for the loan of the curved soprano!

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All material © Jay Easton 2001-2006 unless otherwise noted