A Word About Saxophone Neck Straps

On the saxophone specific side of things the neck strap is often a badly overlooked detail in a new musicians life.  Hanging a fairly heavy instrument around the neck is bad enough, but doing so with a thin, unpadded strap can be downright painful.  For sax players consider having them upgrade to a more substantial neck strap, one that is easily adjustable, but that also has a clip mechanism for attaching to the sax.  

Some brands still sell straps with just the hook on them and while there is nothing really wrong with that style the only dropped saxes I have ever had came as a result of kids having their instrument slip out of the hook. 



For larger saxes like the tenor and bari consider not using a neck strap at all and instead investing in a shoulder harness that focuses the weight of the instrument on the back instead of on the neck.  These can also be used for alto saxes as well, especially when in a marching band setting.