A Soprano project - A stupid idea?

[-TH]

I'm considering of buying a soprano saxophone. Money is an important issue. So I got an idea of purchasing a cheap vintage soprano (Buescher True-Tone comes in to my mind) which needs an overhaul and I want to overhaul it myself and at the same time learn how to overhaul saxes. I don't know if it's a stupid idea. I have only a little experince working with saxes. What are the risks? I know that you can get a Buescher soprano for 300-400 USD + expenses of an overhaul. Am I digging my own grave here? ;-) What are the risks that the project fails and finally I have an unplayable soprano and an empty wallet..?

-TH

[ralph lh]

There are a couple of issues here to my mind.

One, do you want to learn/play at the repair thing? If so, get a cheap horn and work on it. You'll learn a lot in the process that may be useful on future horns. Keeping in mind the amount of money that you spend on the horn, repair tools and then the parts, some of which you may have to re-purchase to get the repair right, you may or may not end up with a good playing horn at the end. It seems to me that if learning to fix a horn is the objective, then go do it.

If your main objective is to have a good playing horn as the end result, I'd stay away from a project like this until you have more experience with the process. There are lots of web-based resources to learn about repair before jumping in. Since money is an issue for you, maybe this is the way to go for now.

What are the risks of having an unplayable horn? That would depend on your skills and abilities as you progress through the project and how diligent you are at getting things right. Remember, what needs to be fixed on a cheap horn may require specialized equipment and techniques that take years to learn/develop.

If it was me and I wanted to learn repair, this would be a good way to go about it, though. I'd want to be careful what condition the horn is in when I bought it - wouldn't want a bent one, for example.

[Dave Dolson]

-TH: I'd go for an even cheaper alto or C-Melody. I am not a repair person but from everything I've seen and heard, altos and C-Mels are easier with which to work than are sopranos, mainly because of the smaller mechanisms and parts on the soprano.

Regardless, I doubt that your do-it-yourself attempt would harm any instrument and if you really want a player, you could possibly turn over your disaster to a repair-tech who could then do it right (assuming you don't).

Bueschers are among the best saxophones ever made. I don't know if they are a good choice for a beginner, but in the end, you should have a great horn. DAVE

[Gandalfe]

I'm not sure how the education system works in Europe, but in the United States we have instument repair schools that aren't immensely expensive nor too crowded. I have toyed with the idea of going to the vocational technical (vo-tech) version because the costs can be significantly less.

Another option is to work with an established tech as an apprentice. A month ago I walked into my favorite tech’s shop and found two high school (gymnasium auf Deutsch?) students toiling away. I watched their work for a little while noted that the tech had picked very conscientious types.

Enjoy.

[DanF]

-TH, If you are are you are interested in repairing/restoring saxes do what I did. I bought an old Bundy for abour 60 bucks, totally screwed it up and then bought Steve Goodsen's video on sax repair. I learned alot from watching that about 6 times. I was surprised how well things have gone since then. Or you could do as Gandalfe said and take some serious schooling. There are no schools in my area within 100 miles which would have made things easier. But if you're determined and in a remote area (saxwise) "Practice makes perfect". Good luck.

[-TH]

Thanks for your great answers!

Currently I have decent professional tenor and alto saxophones but sometimes there's a need for soprano (for example I have a studio session coming this summer and I'm forced to borrow/rent a soprano for that session..)

My original idea was to get a decent soprano cheap. I know that the highly praised Antigua sopranos are cheap but I guess I'll have to have my first vintage horn ;-) Soprano isn't probably the wisest choice to start "going vintage" (a good intonation is hard enough to get even on a new soprano, I guess). I think that I could replace new pads, corks and springs but everything more difficult than that.. well.. that's uncertain.

-TH

[super20dan]

repading a saxophone is MUCH harder than it seems. bueschers are amoung the hardest saxes to work on also. especally the early ones.

[shmuelyosef]

I agree...sopranos are hard and Bueschers are harder...
If you watch eBay, you can get a late model soprano for as little as $500 that is likely to be close to OK. I've seen Keilwerth stencils and YSS-423s for less than that even from knowledgable folks with good feedback