Yanagisawa AKZ Alto Sax Necks

Yanagisawa AKZ Alto Sax Necks

Yanagisawa makes the highest quality professional saxophones on the market today! They are a specialty manufacture meaning that they ONLY make professional handmade saxophones. Along with their original model necks, Yanagisawa has released the Yanagisawa AKZ Alto Sax Necks to offer players even more flexibility and customization to their horn’s performance. These models share the design of the WO Series necks but have a different weight distribution to impact the performance response.

Yanagisawa AKZ / KZ Necks
The Yanagisawa AKZ Necks are really the “KZ” necks as the “A” is assumed as they are for alto sax. So you can see them referred to both ways. The difference in these models is the weight, weight distribution & the entry to the neck bore.

While they are based on the WO Series neck tube and share the underslung octave mechanism, the Yanagisawa AKZ necks have weight shifted to be more towards the back of the tube rather than along the entire length of the tube. The idea is simple: less weight at the front of the neck (mouthpiece side) will give less resistance and quicker response and more weight at the back of the neck to improve vibration transfer to the body tube.

The KZ Series Necks are also slightly lighter in weight than the WO Series underslung counterparts, coming in at about 10 grams lighter. This is actually pretty drastic as the stock WO10 neck weighs 107 grams whereas the AKZ1 neck weighs 97 grams. That’s just shy of a 10% decrease.

Lastly, the Yanagisawa AKZ Necks have a different design to the ring at the front of the neck. The stock Yanagisawa necks are a very traditional, rounded resign whereas the KZ Series necks have a chamfered / beveled design. This allows for a little less resistance and will provide a quicker response.

Materials
The Yanagisawa KZ Alto Sax Necks are available in the USA in 3 options. All of these models are currently only available in lacquered finish without any additional engraving.

• • • Brass (AKZ1)
    • Bronze (AKZ2)
    • Solid Silver (AKZ3)

Material Comparison
Using brass is the “baseline” for comparison:

Bronze will tend to give a thicker tonal core that has more focus and warmth throughout the range. However, bronze will also add a slight resistance that will be most noticeable in the upper range of the instrument. Many players find that this resistance is small and usually become comfortable with it in very short time.

The Solid Silver gives enhanced resonance and response while not directly making the sound darker or brighter than brass. Instead, most players will find that the solid silver neck models will more enhance the performance characteristics that are native of the player and especially the mouthpiece.