Fight Aging! Develop Routines!

[1saxman]

Man. I decided to take my Martin tenor to a gig Saturday night instead of the Mk VI. I did this because it was 'that' kind of gig, and I was already taking the Martin bari. Sometimes I like to delude myself that someone will actually be there that will notice the Martins and come up and say something. Anyway, there was only one small problem; I forgot that I had removed the ugly piece of clear tubing that my well-meaning repairman had stuck on the G# bridge, meaning to replace it with some cork, which I forgot to do. When I took the horn out and looked it over before leaving for the gig, all the keys worked, so I just transferred my stuff from the other case and left. I played most of the gig before I realized something was wrong! Actually, this is a serious problem, but you can play with the really bad leak this causes. After all, all pads close as long as you don't touch the LH pinky keys or use the 1+1 Bb. I have the habit of leaving my LH pinky on the table keys (mainly the G#) when I'm playing in sharp keys, and I like to play with the bell keys closed a lot, which gives an interesting resonance throughout the horn. Well, none of that works with this problem, but somehow in my ignorance I just played through it, just thinking I needed to clean and oil the horn and make some adjustments. Of course, I fixed it the next day, but I should have done what aircraft mechanics do; when a plane is not cleared for flight, they use a red tag or ribbon so anyone can see that it's broken or something's missing. That's what I mean by 'develop routines'. Get in the habit of sending messages like this to yourself so you don't do something really stupid and drive three hours to a gig with a horn that won't play because you forgot to fix it. When a horn is 'down' from now on, I'm going to 'red-tag' the case handle so I see it every time I pass the horns, and eventually will get to it.

[wrb]

This will only work if you can remember why the tags were put there to begin with? Did I answer your question*

whatever my name is@

[1saxman]

Yeah, the old 'string-on-the-finger routine' - let's see - why did I put that on there? Well, hopefully I'll at least remember to not grab a tagged case and run with it.

[gary]

Get in the habit of sending messages like this to yourself so you don't do something really stupid and drive three hours to a gig with a horn that won't play because you forgot to fix it.
Or....you could get in the habit of playing your horn, with the mpc and reeds (notice plural) that you intend to play on the gig, before you pack up. :?

You could still have something not red-tagged that needs attending to before the gig (unfastened spring, whatever). Spoken not as a critic but as one who has been there.

[1saxman]

Well, I usually do that, and pick out the best reed to start on and at least one back-up. This time, though, I was in a hurry. Yes, after gigging for over 40 years, I know all the tricks. There's not much I can't fix on the job. A detached spring would be instantly noticable during warm-up and easily fixed. I even carry magnifying glasses and a screwdriver set in my gear bag. I could have even fixed the problem on The Martin on the gig, but by the time I realized what was going on, it was nearly over. A couple of pieces of duct tape (always available on a band job) cut with the little scissors on my pen knife would have had it sealed good enough in about five minutes. Some guys just leave it at that until the next overhaul. BTW, adding a smiley-face doesn't cancel out a smart-ast comment. :lol:

[gary]

BTW, adding a smiley-face doesn't cancel out a smart-ast comment.I believe I said :"Spoken not as a critic but as one who has been there." My intention was to be helpful.