[rleitch]

I have a tenor sax with a slightly crushed neck receiver and a broken tightening screw. Does this sound like a simple repair or something trickier. I'm asking because I have to decide whether to go for a quick fix with a decent tech or to wait for the real deal guy in my town to have some free time.

Thanks in advance,

Rory

 

[Chu-Jerry]

I have a tenor sax with a slightly crushed neck receiver and a broken tightening screw. Does this sound like a simple repair or something trickier. I'm asking because I have to decide whether to go for a quick fix with a decent tech or to wait for the real deal guy in my town to have some free time.

Thanks in advance,

Rory

Simple for someone experienced doing such repairs. Really depends on how badly "crushed". You did say, "slightly."
If it's really bad then it might be better to replace the receiver as it would probably end up stretched after straightening and would no longer have a good seal. The neck tenon could be expanded to make up for it then, but the price starts going up for all this added work.

 

[rleitch]

Really depends on how badly "crushed". You did say, "slightly."

This slightly

 

[JerryJamz2]

That's not so bad. I've seen worse. Easily saved. Should be a relatively quick and straight-forward fix for a tech with experience and the proper tools. Best of luck in your choice of techs. Decisions...decisions.. :?

 

[rleitch]

That's not so bad. I've seen worse. Easily saved. Should be a relatively quick and straight-forward fix for a tech with experience and the proper tools. Best of luck in your choice of techs. Decisions...decisions.. :?

Great news--I can't wait to play this sax. Are the tightening screws hard to replace? The original got broken off inside the...tightener thingy (sorry for the hyper-technological language).

Rory

 

[simso]

Wish they were all that easy, maybe 30 minutes work and thats drilling out the busted screw and retapping. Got asked to quote on a trumpet today, the guy got his muffle stuck, so he used a little bit more force than necessary twisted the whole bell section a good 45 degrees,split the skin both sides, concetienard the body and left a 15mm tear from the brace support, in both directions. I was feeling in a generous mood, and told him 110 bucks to unbuckle straighten burnish repair braise the tears closed ect, and it was too much for him, the old Ill get back to you. Go figure

 

[JerryJamz2]

Great news--I can't wait to play this sax. Are the tightening screws hard to replace? The original got broken off inside the...tightener thingy (sorry for the hyper-technological language).

Rory

Depending on how "stuck" it is, (the end of the screw where it broke is going to be bent/damaged slightly) there are a variety of tools and methods to remove it. That's the easy part of this repair for a tech with appropriate tools to remove it w/o doing damage to the surrounding screwblock or internal threads.

 

[Gordon (NZ)]

Attempting to drill a hole into the original end of the stump very easily winds out that stump. 2 minutes at most.

"maybe 30 minutes work and thats drilling out the busted screw and retapping. "

Retapping!!!??? Why!

Hopefully the technician will have a replacement of the right thread, or one he can thread to the right thread (say from 10-32 to 8-32)

More time will be taken in re-aligning the parts the screw goes through.

 

[simso]

Thanks gordon, Im only new to the repair game but learning curve is steep, Ive recieved in the last couple of weeks two sax's were the screw has busted in its post, after drilling the body of the screw and then using an easy out tap to remove, I clean the threads up by running the correct size tap back through the post, nothing worse than leaving the corrosion in there, when I put the new turn key in I use zinc chromate to lube the threads and minmise binding

 

[JerryJamz2]

Simso,

Ferree's makes a broken screw removing tool which is relatively inexpensive and will save you lots of time and effort when dealing with this situation, which will be often. Kraus sells a set of left-handed micro-drill/easy-out combos which work well when the Ferree's tool will not. Every technician should have these tools IMO. It is very difficult to ruin threads with these tools if you are careful and use common sense.

Btw - next time you run into a broken screw in the housing try removing the threads by turning the broken screw section clockwise and also counter-clockwise with a screw removing tool. Sometimes they back/screw out, and sometimes they push/screw out the other side. If this doesn't work, do the same on the other side of the screw. 95% of the time you can avoid going to extreme measures of removal, but not always. Usually replacing the screw with a new one will work out any corrosion and clean the threads inside the screw housing. 98% of the time, if the interior threads are not damaged while trying to remove the old screw, the new one easily screws into place.

 

[simso]

Thanks I appreciate the info, my base training was as a jet engine mechanic earlier in life and I was always taught that if you break a bolt or screw ect, always when you remove it run a tap through just to make sure its clean, old habits are hard to get rid of. I have left handed easy outs and fluted easy outs where you drive it through the whole unit and wind it either direction.

Side note erics mdrs stuff arrived today, 2" and 1.5" Im assuming in relys heavily on a large internal mass to do the bulk of the work. I say this because I only have up to 1" balls for brass work and I dropped one of these into a sax just to see what would happen and not much really did. So Ill go out and chase somes larger ball bearings tommorrow.

 

[hansmartini]

You need the bigger ones. Buy them from Eric unless you can get them free.
Hans

 

[rleitch]

Hey all,

Don't let me interrupt (seriously, I love when these technical discussions get going, even if I have no idea what you guys are talking about).

I've decided to be wise and err on the side of patience: the sax is going to Mariuz (the real deal guy)!

Thanks again,
Rory

 

[JerryJamz2]

I agree with Hans. The use of a steel sphere as close to the tubing diameter you use will give superior results, especially at the end when you are doing the final finish.
btw - Keep an eye on your watch if you have an analog watch. The magnetism will stop the inner workings, time will "freeze", and you're going to be late for something.

 

[Gordon (NZ)]

I've often wondered why it hasn't wrecked the magnetism in that tiny motor inside my watch. Good advice. I've been late because of it, and nobody believed my excuse.

 

[Gordon (NZ)]

"The use of a steel sphere as close to the tubing diameter you use will give superior results"

Definitely. 1" won't do much.

 

[simso]

Yes Ive dropped eric another email requesting the larger balls, I went to purchase them locally here in australia and surprise surprise they have to order them in from the states, so I told them not to worry about it and am waiting for eric to get back to me
Thanks

 

[JerryJamz2]

I've decided to be wise and err on the side of patience: the sax is going to Mariuz (the real deal guy)!

Thanks again,
Rory

Might that be Mariuz Kowalski in Halifax Nova Scotia??

 

[rleitch]

Might that be Mariuz Kowalski in Halifax Nova Scotia??

The one and only! I gather his real forte is flutes, but he does superb work on saxes too. The good news is he said the repair will be an hour at the most; the bad news is he took one look at my new sax and said the pads were set too low. We'll see...

[email protected]

Cheers,
Rory

 

[JerryJamz2]

He sells a line of swedging pliers and also a line of specialized flute pliers. All are very nice tools. Nice gentlemen. Matter of fact, I need to call him about a pair of pliers. Thanks for the reminder.