[soruyo]

Hi guys
Do you think a little bent bore on tenor can be a reason to make the horn not to be as good as it should?

It's my case. My tenor is a Custom Z, I bought it used from ebay. Everything is just fine, almost mint condition, but the bore was a little bent. I fixed the problem, but it is still not 100% perfectly straight. I mean, it can hardly be noticed, only me knows. But still have the doubt.... "Can this be causing the horn not to sing as it should???"


Any help is aprecciate it.
Cheers

 

[dubrosa22]

I'd definitely take it to a tech for a checkup.
Not sure about 'bad sound' as such but I bet it has some leaks.

Get a pro. You'll sleep better.

 

[ericdano]

I don't get why you don't take it to someone who could fix it properly.....seems rather stupid

 

[Pete Thomas]

The slightly bent body by itself may not cause any "bad sound" issues, but as dubrosa22 says, the resulting leaks might.

By this I mean that the body could be bent, and if the leaks caused buy the keys being out of whack were fixed, but the body is still bent then there should be no sound problems.

 

[milandro]

There are many people around playing with more or less slightly bent saxophones and there should be no problem into playing the horn if the bent saxophone has been adjusted to have the keys closing anyway, after all, none of the characteristics which determine intonation are changed by a slight body bend.

I have had this corrected every time it was present in a saxophone which I bought for selling or which underwent a complete overhaul, but if you say is not affecting the mechanics and you are the happy owner and are not planning to sell it I would leave it that way at least until in needs an overhaul then it can be done as part of the process.

 

[soruyo]

Thank you guys. I´m a little more relaxed now. I thought the sax bore must be perfectly straight in order to sound at it´s best and at good intonation.

The sax has absolute no leaks, I´ve checked that over and over, I´m sure. and all the mechanics work perfectly, and feels right too. I wanted to ask about this because I´ve had some problems with the low notes, that I can say now they are due the mouthpiece I´m using. I wanted to make sure the problem might not be the sax itself.

Thanks again!

 

[Pete Thomas]

Thank you guys. I´m a little more relaxed now. I thought the sax bore must be perfectly straight in order to sound at it´s best and at good intonation.

The sax has absolute no leaks, I´ve checked that over and over, I´m sure.

That's good. I think there are many bent hors out there that are just fine.

However you say you have checked for leaks, if there has been some trauma to the horn, or even gradual stress causing the bend, there could be leaks for places other than the pads, ie the tenon socket/receiver and possibly the bow/body joint.

 

[hgiles]

The neck, bow, and bell are pretty well bent... a miniscule bend in the body is not going to affect anything provided the pads are still sealing.

 

[Dr G]

The sax has absolute no leaks, I´ve checked that over and over, I´m sure. and all the mechanics work perfectly, and feels right too. I wanted to ask about this because I´ve had some problems with the low notes, that I can say now they are due the mouthpiece I´m using. I wanted to make sure the problem might not be the sax itself.

How is the horn bent? Where? Why are you so sure that no leaks exist? How have you checked?

It is entirely possible to have leaks that are not revealed by a leak light.

 

[milandro]

this is a quote from on of the best and best known technicians frequenting SOTW in another similar thread (there are many on the subject!)

Straightening bent saxes is routine stuff for all technicians.

The straightening is usually quick and easy but the action of bending (and straightening) may result in general mis-alignment of posts, hence jamming of keys, keys a sloppy fit between posts (hence sloppy key cup alignment over tone holes), and pads poorly seating because of new alignment with tone holes.

How well the sax goes depends on the adjustment of the mechanism, not the straightness of the sax. (After all, anything bigger than a soprano has at least 2 huge bends in it as part of original design.) It is entirely possible to get a slightly bent sax into a very well adjusted state.

A concave bend in an area that involves long rods, especially with tall posts, will push the posts apart. The keys may still operate very well. However if the body is straightened, the tops of these posts will be separated, resulting in a sloppy mounting of the keys involved, affecting pad seating, linkage reliability, and increasing pad wear.

If a sax is significantly banana-bent, then one side of the sax body will be slightly stretched. The straightening operation may well stretch the OTHER SIDE rather than shrink the already stretched side. The resulting elongation of the instrument could slightly affect intonation, but this is probably more theoretical rather than noticeable.

Also, some significant bends will stretch the metal around tone holes. This stretching may well remain after any straightening operation. The result is slightly oval tone holes, which may also slightly affect intonation. If the tone holes are affected in this way, then considerable work (such as repadding and tone hole levelling) may be necessary to get pads to seal again.

It is possible in your case that a technician(and or player) has made a decision to live with the bend rather than possibly introduce more problems by straightening the sax.

 

[soruyo]

How is the horn bent? Where? Why are you so sure that no leaks exist? How have you checked?

It is entirely possible to have leaks that are not revealed by a leak light.

The horn was bent towars the bell, from the middle of the bore to the top. I already made it straight, almost perfect, but not as factory you know. After doing so, I made all the necesarry adjustments on the post, made a repad job, etc, in order to have all the mechanics working well. I´ve checked for leaks over an over in a very dark room, and can´t find one.

I have no way to check for the tennon or bow....that would be something I would like to do, but don´t know how.

Thank you!

 

[soruyo]

Thank you very much Pete.....do you know how I can check for those leaks you mention? tenon socket and bow/body joint? other than using a leak light?

 

[captain blowhard]

That's a pretty common bend on tenor. My Selmer SA80 has always had a slight banana bend like you describe but seems to play fine. I've seen a lot worse than mine . . .

 

[JL]

The horn was bent towars the bell, from the middle of the bore to the top. I already made it straight, almost perfect, but not as factory you know. After doing so, I made all the necesarry adjustments on the post, made a repad job, etc, in order to have all the mechanics working well. I´ve checked for leaks over an over in a very dark room, and can´t find one.

I have no way to check for the tennon or bow....that would be something I would like to do, but don´t know how.

Are you a tech with lots of experience? If not, you may still be missing something. I'd take the horn to a reputable tech and have it looked over. Especially since you imply in the OP that your horn isn't playing as well as it should, in spite of whatever work you've done on it. In such a case I'd take it in to a tech even without a bend in the body, let alone with that bend!

As Pete mentioned, it's not the bend, but the keys that are thrown slightly out of alignment that could cause a problem.