Saxophone tone hole

An American company based in Elkhart, Indiana named "Martin" manufactured saxophones with straight toneholes that were tapered, i.e. the circumference of the tone-hole chimneys was smaller at the point of contact with the leather pads than where they were soldered to the main body of the instrument.

Instruments with rolled toneholes have been manufactured by companies including Conn (between 1921 and 1947), Keilwerth, Kohlert and SML (Strasser-Marigaux-Lemaire).

Their most notable feature is that the diameter of the pad extends over the rim of the key-cup, thereby giving a slightly wider surface area for the rolled tone-hole to seal onto.

Though designed to fix into key-cups purely by friction, most saxophone repairers glue them in place using shellac or hot melt adhesive.

It is possible, however, to fit standard pads to any saxophone with rolled toneholes (and many people do) without any noticeable disadvantage regarding the quality of sound produced.