[Brian Labbie]

I recently aquired a well worn 50s vintage Cleveland Terminal Tower/Clock tower.
It has a great tone and the action is surprisingly light. The only thing that is a real detractor is the low Bb position on the pinky table. What were they thinking, my 1920s King is way better in that department!

I decided to have a go at modifying the pinky table to make it more friendly.
I think it came out pretty good. I'm no expert tech, so I am sure that many could have done better.
Here's what I came up with.

It works surprisingly well. I just hacked the pinky table from a junker sax and soldered it to the back of the existing Bb key.

Just thought I'd share.

 

[turf3]

So you added the little extension there to make it 3-in-a-row? Excellent. Looks just like some of the Selmer Supers.

 

[Tryptykon]

Good job ! I have a couple Cleve' altos from this period and they are pretty nice players, indeed .

I do have a late 20's Selmer tenor w/ the extended Bb tab which is rare because my Selmer Super RI alto has the standard
LH spatula arrangement which is not too bad, but I'm used to it anyway.

Also have some Martin Handcraft tenors and an alto w/out the extended Bb tabs. So.. I can play 'em either way but it is convenient.

 

[JayeLID]

Good job, where did the donor part come from ? Also, soft-soldered ?

 

[Brian Labbie]

Good job, where did the donor part come from ? Also, soft-soldered ?

I cut it off an old mexi-conn. Yes, it's soft soldered. There was a nice thick piece of cork behind the Bb key, so I removed it and just soldered the extension on. I could play it the way it was, but I am so much faster with the 3 in a row setup.
I figured it is easily reversible, and it's not an immaculate sought after sax, so it was worth a shot!

 

[turf3]

If you match the two parts very carefully (no gaps) and you provide a large mating surface, avoid butt joints, and design the joint for mostly shear or compressive stress rather than peeling strees, soft soldered key mods/repairs can last decades. (I have plenty of evidence for this in my personal instruments). If you rely on a big glob of solder to provide strength, you'll buy yourself a lot of trouble.

 

[Brian Labbie]

If you match the two parts very carefully (no gaps) and you provide a large mating surface, avoid butt joints, and design the joint for mostly shear or compressive stress rather than peeling strees, soft soldered key mods/repairs can last decades. (I have plenty of evidence for this in my personal instruments). If you rely on a big glob of solder to provide strength, you'll buy yourself a lot of trouble.

I cleaned up the areas to be soldered, and made sure that they were both filed flat.
It's a nice wide area. I was actually surprised how strong the bond is.
It will bend the key if you put enough pressure on the extension.
I expect it will last many years.

Initially was considering silver solder, but this seems like the way to go.

 

[JayeLID]

If you match the two parts very carefully (no gaps) and you provide a large mating surface, avoid butt joints, and design the joint for mostly shear or compressive stress rather than peeling strees, soft soldered key mods/repairs can last decades. (I have plenty of evidence for this in my personal instruments). If you rely on a big glob of solder to provide strength, you'll buy yourself a lot of trouble.

Yes, agreed - given in this instance, how the surfaces orient towards one another...no 'usual' forces applied to that touch will likely make that solder joint fail.

So, yeah...impressive DIY job !!!!

Silver solder always stronger and a good tech would probably have gone that route...but for a DIYer it runs the risk of actually heating the key to a degree where other silver-soldered elements of the key start to fall off...and again, in this case, the typical forces are such that it probably isn't necessary to silver....