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Cleaning the lower octave vent

2200 Views 11 Replies 6 Participants Last post by  datsaxman, 
saxmsy
Do I need to remove the octave key first in order to clean the lower octave vent (tone hole) on the body? I have the G2 G#2 issue on my Selmer SAII Alto and this looks like a pretty common issue for Selmer horn due to the smaller size of octave vent opening. Before sending my horn to technician to drill out the vent hole, I want to clean the vent first to see if any improvement. After searching the topic on the forum, I learn that I should use pipe cleaner to clean the vent but I find it almost impossible to reach the octave vent hole from outside. Therefore I am wondering if I need to remove the key first in order to access the vent hole? I am very reluctant to do so because of my shallow experience. Any suggestion? Thanks!
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T
Yes, you might need to, depending on how much the pad raises up. Some just barely rise up enough to clear the vent, so it might be very difficult to stick something down into the vent.

Try this, though - with the neck not installed, press the octave key and the "G" key (ring finger, left hand) - lower vent pad should rise, maybe - but then, wtih your other hand try GENTLY to raise the pad up higher. Depending on the details of the mechanism, it may be that you can GENTLY lift the pad higher than it goes on its own.

The key word here is GENTLY!!!!
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