[AltoLemur]

I recently bought an A990u of eBay for £1300 inc P&P. SN - 00210305.

It came from Sofia, Bulgaria and has quite a few blemishes, especially round post joints, pad arm connections etc. The worst thing was that it stunk of some extremely stong aftershave/deodorant, which I guess was used to cover some mustiness from being in the case for quite a while.

I stripped the sax down and washed all the parts in soapy water, but the smell still persisted and still hangs round a little a couple of months later even after using a brand new case and airing it out.

I took it to the local woodwind tech and he gave it the all clear as being generally mechanically sound, but that it would need some tlc to rid it of leaks and creaks.

I replaced all the buffer corks, got rid of the leaks, serviced the octave mech & left pinky keys and used a buffer to clean most of the blemishes.

The sax sounds great and plays smooth as silk :bounce:

Unfortunately, during the cleaning it became apparent that the acidity of the tarnish/grime had eaten some holes into the laquer and, where there were lots of small scratches, the buffing affected it there too.

The sax is gold plated so I'd like to put some protection back on there, any ideas?

 

[Dave Dolson]

I see no one replied, so I'll say . . . something. Are you sure it is gold-plate? I think that may be rare on a Yanagisawa. Most plated horns are not originally lacquered. The little "u" in the model number is also curious to me (not that I am an expert on Yanagisawas). The "u" usually means UNlacquered (like Yamaha models) and that would also be a rarity among Yanagisawas - I think.

So, is it gold-plate; is it lacquered; and was it originally an UNlacquered horn (usually reserved for unlacquered bare-brass-not gold-plated- horns)? I'm guessing that it was an original lacquered brass horn. I suspect you should probably clean it up as best you can and leave it alone.

Could I be totally wrong? Probably, and I'm sure several would delight in pointing that out to me. As far as putting protection back on the finish, I'll leave that to the techs around here. DAVE

 

[KeithL]

Yanis play great. I love my B992 and I have a friend that has both S992 and A992 but I've also seen several that have lacquer issues. My buddy sent his first 992 alto back due to acid bleed after about 10 months and the lacquer on his soprano shows more wear than it should considering it's age.

 

[AltoLemur]

Thanks for the reply Dave.

I am led to understand, from another post on the forum, that the u (actually a Greek mu) was appended to the 990 series when they made some changes to tone hole position among other things and before they decided to go the whole hog and increase the series number to 991.

Clues as to the fact that there is another layer on the brass can be seen on the worn down surface of the palm keys and in an area under the curve of the bell opening where it must have rubbed against the stand. Now I may be having my eyes tricked by the difference between laquer on and laquer off, but I did a test on the crook. I shined the raw metal tenon part up with emery cloth and the colour, while nice and yellow, is nothing like the rest of the neck part and that colour scheme runs throughout the horn.

Maybe I'm just being finickety.

Edit: I guess it could be the older equivalent of the A991GP.

 

[AltoLemur]

Keith,

A quick check at www.saxquest.com shows that my seriel munber falls in the 1996-7 area.

I was also told that the previous owner gigged a lot with it, so I'm quite pleased it isn't even more worn.

What's acid bleed? Is that something to do with the silver solder tarnishing at the edge of joints?

 

[hgiles]

Yes, the 990u is the successor to the 990 and the predecessor to the 991. It is not an indication of it being unlacquered, though they did produce some unlacquered horns, most of which seem to be in the U.K. My 990u tenor came original in black lacquer.

You got a good horn. I really like Yanagisawas -- especially the 880s onward. You could justnenjoy it as is or strip all the lacquer (like i did)

 

[martinm5862]

I see no one replied, so I'll say . . . something. Are you sure it is gold-plate? I think that may be rare on a Yanagisawa. Most plated horns are not originally lacquered. The little "u" in the model number is also curious to me (not that I am an expert on Yanagisawas). The "u" usually means UNlacquered (like Yamaha models) and that would also be a rarity among Yanagisawas - I think.

So, is it gold-plate; is it lacquered; and was it originally an UNlacquered horn (usually reserved for unlacquered bare-brass-not gold-plated- horns)? I'm guessing that it was an original lacquered brass horn. I suspect you should probably clean it up as best you can and leave it alone.

Could I be totally wrong? Probably, and I'm sure several would delight in pointing that out to me. As far as putting protection back on the finish, I'll leave that to the techs around here. DAVE

Your correct. I have an A 990u. It is a lacquered horn. The u donates l slight mechanical change, I believe in the left hand cluster. It is logical to assume the u stands for unlacquered. The horn is about 15 years old and I am the second owner. It's very well lacquered and shows no wear.

 

[martinm5862]

Yes, the 990u is the successor to the 990 and the predecessor to the 991. It is not an indication of it being unlacquered, though they did produce some unlacquered horns, most of which seem to be in the U.K. My 990u tenor came original in black lacquer.

You got a good horn. I really like Yanagisawas -- especially the 880s onward. You could justnenjoy it as is or strip all the lacquer (like i did)

I have an A990u in gold lacquer. Why and how did you strip it?

 

[Dave Dolson]

Hmm, so the "u" is for something else. Interesting.

Now I guess we need to know if the saxophone is really gold-plated (or merely a gold COLOR, as are brass instruments). One clue would be the presence of silver underneath the outer layer of finish . . . as I understand it, gold-plated horns are plated over a layer of silver so the gold plate will "stick". If you can see silver through worn spots, maybe it IS gold-plate. I'm still guessing it isn't GP, though.

As far as Yanagisawa's lacquer-quality, I agree with the posts about it showing wear earlier than it should. I currently own three Yanagisawa sopranos and I've owned two Yanagisawa altos in the past. The sopranos have shown extraordinary wear on the lacquer - sure doesn't affect the way they play though. Yanagisawa does make a fine saxophone. DAVE

 

[ManEast]

Hmm, so the "u" is for something else. Interesting.

Now I guess we need to know if the saxophone is really gold-plated (or merely a gold COLOR, as are brass instruments). One clue would be the presence of silver underneath the outer layer of finish . . . as I understand it, gold-plated horns are plated over a layer of silver so the gold plate will "stick". If you can see silver through worn spots, maybe it IS gold-plate. I'm still guessing it isn't G.P DAVE

Hi
Dave is bang on the money here. I have not seen a Gold plate 990u...but if this was, you would see the Silver plate under the Gold,
on the parts of the horn where the gold has worn away.

One very,very nice alto !

 

[hgiles]

I have an A990u in gold lacquer. Why and how did you strip it?

As i said, my horn was black lacquer. Black lacquer looks awful when it wears and it has an 80s look to it. Remember Burt Reynolds, Smokey and the Bandit?

I took off all the keywork and applied Jassco paint stripper. Lather, rinse, repeat. Done.

 

[AltoLemur]

I did do some research into the gold plating process as I also thought that there may be a layer of bonding metal visisble.
Modern gold plating on brass usually uses platinum, not silver, to make the bond and the layer is so thin that, when the gold solution is electroplated, the effect is not so much a distinctive layer but a blending of the metals so that there is very little distinction. Some older or budget plating may use cheeper metals than platinum in thicker layers, which, I suppose, could show as a distinct colour between the gold and brass.

This is also the effect that appeared on a friend's gold plated watch where there was some wear on the strap, showing the original metal in places, but no layer between it and the gold on top.

Still, if it does tuen out to be an illusion and it is just the laquer, I may get out the stripper [rolleyes]

 

[saxphil]

I have an A990u.
The "u" is a designation for, a model in transition.
It does not designate unlacquered.

Some changes were made (tone hole placement being one), late in the run of the 990 model,
and prior to the release of the 991, ergo 990u.

I have a lacquer issue on my A990u.
Over the last several years, certain pocketed areas of the lacquer on mine has slowly disintegrated.
Minute, pin hole bubble rashes, rough to the touch, have appeared in various places on the horn.

I have commented on it before in other Yani threads, as have others with similar lacquer issues on their horns.
I contacted Hidesaku, a Yani employee and forum member, about it at the time, in '07.
He admitted that Yanagisawa had changed their lacquer formula and that the problem had been resolved.

Mine's a late '95, so, in and around that time there were lacquer issues with some Yanagisawas.

 

[runzoff]

I bought a sax that had some pretty strong cologne smell from the previous owner.
Have the horn ultrasonically cleaned and get a new case or the smell will linger forever.
I also left the sax out of any case for a period of time to "air out".
The above steps did diminish the smell about 85%.

 

[Dr G]

I did do some research into the gold plating process as I also thought that there may be a layer of bonding metal visisble.
Modern gold plating on brass usually uses platinum, not silver, to make the bond...

What is your source of that information? I suspect it may be from the jewelry community rather than for plating large surface areas.

 

[KeithL]

Keith,

A quick check at www.saxquest.com shows that my seriel munber falls in the 1996-7 area.

I was also told that the previous owner gigged a lot with it, so I'm quite pleased it isn't even more worn.

What's acid bleed? Is that something to do with the silver solder tarnishing at the edge of joints?

Typically the "bleed" starts from around the body posts or ribbing and ones I've seen look almost like something is running down the horn under the lacquer. They may have changed their lacquer but I've seen instruments later than 2000-2001 that still have issues.

 

[Kelpie]

I have an A901 that was bought new in 2008 (s/n 00284992) that has lacquer wear and acid bleed. It plays nice, though.

 

[tonsmink]

having read through this thread , i hope this is not inappropriate that i am about to ask
i have purchased what has been advertised as a YANAGISAWA A990u ELIMONA , from the pictures the 990 looks right but i am unable to establish much else during searches online . i expect it to arrive via courier later this week
can anyone out there tell me more about this particular model please .?

 

[Manitou]

check out http://thesax.info/makesandmodelslist/ - if you haven't already