Your saxophone would, when new, have come with a neck that was made to be at a certain height/angle and for nearly all manufacturers, a close to round shape throughout the length of the neck tube.
A neck pull down has occurred when the neck has a lower height/angle than when original.
The causes of a pull down are twofold:
By far, the most common reason is when putting the horn together – first putting the neck on the saxophone and then (without proper support of the neck tube) putting the mouthpiece on the neck. The motion of twisting the mouthpiece onto the neck, especially on a tight neck cork, with most of the torque/pressure naturally being applied in a downward direction is flexing the neck tube itself. The pull down can occur little by little over time or can occur in just one instant of putting a little too much downward torque on the neck, while twisting the mouthpiece on.
This is why we advise everyone to always put the mouthpiece on the neck before you put the neck on the horn.
The second and less common reason is when a player is exerting an unusually high downward pressure onto the mouthpiece with the front teeth while playing.
I should also mention that part of our process of designing and testing our KB Sax necks were to test them for pulldown resistance. To have a pretty decent benchmark for comparison, we actually sacrificed a Mark VI tenor sax neck by measuring how many pounds of pressure it would take to create a verifiable pulldown.
Once we had this benchmark, we made sure all our necks (both in terms of neck models and the various materials we use) surpass the Mark VI standard.
Most players never play with anywhere near that amount of downward pressure being applied with their front teeth. However, a few does – even if just in a moment of extraordinary excitement so having necks exceed the Mark VI benchmark is an advantage.
But don’t despair when a pulldown happens, no matter what’s the reason, you can always take it to a reputable repairman to see if he or she can repair it.
At KB Sax, we also offer saxophone neck repair service.
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