Benny Golson, saxophone player, composer and arranger: ” The saXholder is what I’ve been waiting for. No more pressure on my neck. No more messed up shirt collars. No more sweated saxophone straps”
 
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Chico Freeman, saxophone player, composer and producer with saXholder:
 
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Bob Sheppard, saxophone player: “This amazing engineered saXholder device works better than any harness I have tried. The horn feels like it’s floating, very comfortable, natural and easy to use. Besides making the saxophone feel light as a feather, the saXholder has other positive side effects, including better posture and diaphragm breathing.”
 


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Sexy Sax Man Sergio Flores, saxophone player, over 40’000’000 clics on YouTube, with saXholder: “I think I as soon as I tried it I fell in love with it!… my neck is totally free! ..It’s brilliant!”
 

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George Garzone, saxophone player and jazz educator, Berklee College of Music: “For me, the saXholder takes away all the pressure of the saxophone on my body. This is a phenomenon!”
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Pete Thomas, music producer and saxophone player, on tamingthesaxophone.com:

I mentioned above that the important thing to help your poor old neck is the area of the strap in contact with your neck. Well, with the saxholder, nothing comes in contact with your neck. In fact this is not really a strap, it’s more of a, well, sax holder. As you can see there are two “handles” which hang over your shoulders so the weight which would have been on your neck with a conventional strap, is on your shoulders, possibly a much safer situation for your long term health. Bit that’s not all, only part of the weight is displaced on to your shoulders because there is a pad lower down which rests against your stomach, so much of the weight is also distributed down there. “Is that a good thing?” I hear you ask. I shall answer that in a little while.

I first saw the Saxholder at this year’s Musikmesse trade show in the saxophone hall. I had already met the inventor, Silvin Jancic, when he showed me his mouthpiece silencer the previous year. The saxholder looked intriguing and as soon as I tried it on I breathed a sigh of relief as I felt the weight no longer on my shoulders (I have a very heavy bronze and solid silver tenor saxophone to walk around with at those shows). However, the lower pad (the “abdominal rest”) very quickly started to drift to the left as it slid across my stomach. (And before you start commenting, it was nothing to do with the size of my stomach, it was just a bit too slippery). I mentioned this to Silvin, who said that he would work on that. Well, I’m happy to say the Saxholder he subsequently sent me has had that issue addressed, and it stays put right there in the middle of your stomach.

So what do I think now that it actually works properly for me? Well, it’s not often I get excited about a saxophone accessory, but I have to say that this is something that totally and utterly astonishes me with it’s innovative answer to saxophone players’ neck problems. I will probably use this as my main (almost said ” neckstrap” then) saxophone holder.

Do you need different sizes?

No, it’s adjustable. The shoulder handles are made from aluminium and can bent to fit comfortably, the angle between the shoulder handles can be adjusted, and the abdominal rest can be positioned by extending the telescopic slider. You can also adjust the length of the cord to suit your instrument. I found that with the default length it was perfect for alto, tenor and baritone, but I would need it just very slightly shorter for my soprano (if I used a strap on a soprano which I don’t) or for my Buescher bass (which has a very high straphook ring). Having said that, it felt so comfortable on the bass I was inspired to walk around playing the bass, something I hadn’t been previously been inclined to do due to its heaviness.

The Stomach/Abdomen Thing

This is the real innovation. I can imagine people in the past have tried to solve the wight on the neck problem by hanging a saxophone on the shoulders, but that doesn’t work by itself as there is too much weight on the shoulders. The pad resting on your stomach takes a lot of this weight off. Is it a good thing to transfer it somewhere else though? In my opinion the answer is a resounding YES! Not only is the weight transferred to somewhere that has no bones or spinal column to interfere with, I think this can actually help by encouraging proper abdominal/diaphragm breathing b as it actually encourages you to keep your stomach firm, even if you are well endowed in that area.

Is It Unisex?

Many ladies complain that traditional saxophone harnesses are especially uncomfortable or unflattering because of the way they hang over or around the breast area. The saxholder has no such issues, so is ideal for ladies.

It seems Too Good to be True! What’s the catch?

Well, maybe the fact that the hook is a plain hook instead of a doglead type catch is the only real catch (pun intended). Having said that the hook is a nice strong metal one (steel by the look of it) with a plastic cover that has a small protrusion to make it less likely for the saxophone to jump out, it’s also longer than many hooks which will also help prevent such disasters. I would also like to see a larger abdomen rest which would spread the weight more, this would be especially usefule for baritone and bass. Other than that, my only tiny criticism is that it looks rather utilitarian, perhaps in the future there will be a deluxe version with leather upholstery and walnut trimmings.

Finally, I will be very interested to see how this stands up to further testing. My initial thoughts are very positive, but it is the kind of thing that needs assessment over a period of time. I have currently had a few neck problems, and I would be very interested to see what a medical specialist thinks of this (and the Cebulla), I will update this article when I get some feedback on that. This is a very elegant piece of kit which I thoroughly recommend. Even if you don’t have any neck problems, I wouldn’t mind betting that this will go a long way to making sure you don’t get any in the future.
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What the medical expert says:

Osteopath Chris Galloway was most impressed with the saxholder, saying that it alleviated pressure on the sternocleidomastoid muscle in the neck (which can restrict rotation) and the brachial plexus.
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