Pierret Soprano?

[innerear]

Anyone have, or have experience playing, a Pierret Sop. I just bought one on eBay. I have a Super Artiste alto that has a big, rich, sound, and exceptionally good intonation. Along with the side G# and C# - D trill keys, it has one other idiosyncracy -- convex finger pearls, which take a bit of getting used to.

I think the soprano is pre - WWII. It has the "12 Rue Beranger Paris Corps Embouti" engraving. The palm keys are inline, and both they and the LH table keys need to be bent back to their original position. It's missing a pivot screw, a few springs, and some of the rods and screws are pretty badly rusted. Don't know if it's salvagable or not yet but at least I didn't risk that much on it. If anyone has one of these, I'd love to exchange pictures with you.

[innerear]

Nevermind then. At least I now know that I have a very RARE unplayable saxophone. If anyone has any magic tricks for getting rusted rods and screws unstuck, please feel free to go off topic here ....

[spiderjames]

Penetrating oil, heat, more oil, more, heat, and lots of patience. You can unsolder the unthreaded post to get more leverage on the longer hinge rods. The pivot screws I find a bit more tricky. Usually if I add penetrating oil, heat, and then add another dose of penetrating oil. Let it sit over night and repeat. Eventually I can get them unstuck. If I have a stubborn palm or side key I will sometimes unsolder the threaded post and remove it with the key. Once free I can usually work the key off and save the hinge rod. If you are dealing with palm keys that don't have individual posts you may have to resort to cutting through the hinge rod and replacing it. The key would need to be swedged to take up the slack let from cutting through it.

I have been working on a Huller made tenor ,off and on, that had just about every screw on it frozen. i managed to get most unstuck but it took a while. I put it away when i get frustrated and take back out later. So far I've had to replave two hinge rods and several pivot screws that I damaged removing. Luckily so far the keys and posts have all survived. I did have to rethread one post.

There are many members here with much more experience than me that can probably offer more suggestions. Many of whom make their living doing this. they probably know some shortcuts when time isn't on their side.

Search the repair and maintenence section of this forum also. This has probably been discussed at least once.