Help with a 1931 True-Tone Bari...

The dent in the bell would take less than 2 minutes.

The reinforcing strip along the bow does not look to strong, so I think most of that denting could be removed through the bell and the C tone hole, in under half an hour, without soldering anything. Perfection could be a big job though.

Also, consider that a knock sufficient to put a dent like that in a Baritone is likely to have jarred several posts out of alignment, and possibly bent the body tube.

A sax is a mechanical contraption whose precision has to be high in order to function well.

So is a motor vehicle.

It is impossible to evaluate the sax's mechanical condition from photos, but to be realistic, you should assume that it may be similar to that of a well-used, unrestored, 1931 motor vehicle. In intonation, evenness of response, mechanical design, etc, one could also realistically compare it to those features of a 1931 motor vbehicle... Oil leaks, breaking axles, smoking exhaust, clanking differentials, blowing head gaskets, warping cylinder head, ....

Saxes are not magically different from other precision mechanical contraptions. Restoration (and actual improvement to reliable mechanical function)can be very, very time consuming, hence expensive.

On the other hand, you could be very lucky.

well, it all depends on the sax itself we can't evaluate anything over pictures.

But normally a large dent will displace metal from it's original position. So that dent in the bow possibly moved some of hte bell and lower stack toneholes and make them uneven.

But it honestly doesn't look THAT bad, the Lower C tonehole may have bent a little bit. But it really just looks in pretty good condition. Not really cosmetically but assuming all the rods and screws aren't bent or corroded stuck.

I would take it to a well recognized tech in your area and have it evaluated before you do anything. It can either range from crazy expensive to just not horrible but still under it's retail value. I wouldn't waste your time with it if you coudln't sell it for more hten it cost to buy and repair that sax.

Cerot said:

Hmm, so the dent in the bow wont drastically alter the sound? My repair tech mentioned in regards to another sax that large dents often warp tone holes, resulting in huge leaks. Also, looking at saxpics.com, there should be a "fin" that attaches the reinforcing strip on the bottom, does anyone know where to get one?

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Some models of sax do indeed have a tendency to warble around low B,C,C#. If this is inherent in the design, rather than daces by a leak, then the most likely fix is to reduce the bore cross-section at the bend, even by simply dropping a mouthpiece cap or cork into the sax. And this is exactly what your dent does. Because of the odd effects of having a sharp bend in a sax, it is most likely that a sax plays BETTER with a dent in the bow, and probably a larger dent than you actually have.

BTW, dents here are far easier (using magnet system, "MDRS") to remove if that reinforcing strip is unsoldered. These strips are tricky to re-solder, so leave the strip off, and use one of the plastic self-adhesive strips, that are a recent solution. I think they are available via Badger State Repair & Supply, 204 West Centralia, Elkhorn, WI 531231, 262-723-4062