A wind instrument with improved tonal characteristics by positioning an octave hole, an octave key mechanism, and/or a water key on a surface of the wind instrument that is not a tone-rich region. The wind instrument may be a woodwind instrument such as a saxophone or a brass instrument such as a trumpet. The octave hole may be placed on a concave portion of a curve in the wind instrument. The octave hole may be covered by an octave key mechanism that opens the octave hole using the same fingering that would open an octave key in a typical wind instrument. The water key may be placed on a portion of the body of the wind instrument that is not a tone-rich region of the wind instrument.