[bobber]

Was not sure where to post this thread.

I have YTS , I just want to know if this is a bad habit
Evey time, I finish playing my horn do the basic cleaning on it
Remove all the finger prints, Dry the horn out.

Question is
I also run a piece of wax paper under pads ever time, is this bad?
I was told by a old time sax player to do this and have every time I play it.
I just was wondering is running the wax paper under the pad really need? It take a few minutes to do.

The horn is in true MINT condition. I never play it with rings on and if the horn is not on my neck it is in the case. The same guy told me. If possible leave the case open for 10 minutes to let the horn dry complete. I try to do that as well if possible.

thanks
bob

 

[Enviroguy]

Opinions vary greatly on this subject. I tell those I work with to just wipe their instrument down now and then with Lemon Pledge. It cleans, shines and protects the finish without damaging it. As far as the pads go, I personally just use a good pad-saver swab and I never touch the pads themselves unless they start sticking. If you regularly keep your sax in a rack and don't have the habit of leaving it packed in the case wet, you probably won't have too much trouble. I use only the "Hollywood Winds" brand pad-savers and not the "HW" or similar fuzzy ones that only seem to spread lint.

Others on this forum will have better advice than mine. But my saxes stay nice looking and I usually get several years out of my pads.

 

[kingsax]

Like Enviroguy says above opinions will vary greatly, all i can say is after i've played the thing i put it on the stand and either leave it out until i play it tomorrow or let it dry for a bit then shove in the "HW" pad saver and chuck it back in the case, i never have problems with sticking pads so never see the need to put anything on them, by waxing them every time you play i guess you could create quite an unwanted build-up after a while.
I also never clean the sax as such, but thats just my laziness i guess...

Regarding the pad saver make sure you go for the "HW" as the cheaper ones can leave can leave bits of "fuzz" on the inside and around the tone holes, which is bad news.

 

[Face Ache Mike]

I just cleaned mine yesterday. I removed the oxidation with a very soft paper towel then rubbed all over with a polish impregnated cloth. The joints were all oiled first with very light machine oil and finally I stuffed my HW pad saver in.

Whats the concensus of HW (in particular) pad savers? I got one for Xmas so felt obliged to use it but my old one that I got with my first sax, six years ago, is still going strong. I`ve no idea what make it is but it doesnt shed any hairs or fluff or anything. Every once in a while I`d chuck it in the washing machine and tumble drier to fluffify it again thats all.

 

[daigle65]

How can wax paper help? It doesn't absorb anything.
In 30 years of sax playing, this is the first time I hear of this.

 

[JL]

How can wax paper help? It doesn't absorb anything.
In 30 years of sax playing, this is the first time I hear of this.

I think it would help to keep the pads clean so they don't stick. However, I wouldn't spend the time on every pad, only on ones that tend to stick, if any. The G# pad tends to stick on a lot of saxes.

To the OP, nothing you are doing will hurt the horn. But you may be going overboard to wipe it down every time you play it and clean all the pads every time. That's probably not necessary, but it doesn't hurt anything either.

I don't care for those pad saver things that you shove in the horn and leave there. Again, no harm done (although it might prevent the horn from drying totally), but I prefer to just use a pull-through swab and leave the bore of the horn clear.

 

[daigle65]

I think it would help to keep the pads clean so they don't stick. ......

Hummm...try mopping up a spill with wax paper and see how that goes :bluewink:

Now that I think about it, the wax paper could serve to protect the pad by leaving a thin layer of wax on the leather. I would only do this on a dry pad because otherwise you're preventing it from drying out which could make it rot.

 

[madhag]

i swab my sax, and use a dollar bill (washed and clean) to run over only the closed pads. i never have a sticky key issue. the dollar bill is cloth anyway and absorbs the moisture from the pads. then i leave the case open and let air our for an hour or so, then shut the case. i can't use a stand since my cat will knock it over.
i wipe it down occasionally with a super soft cloth. i have an old horn, so it doesn't matter. if i have a shiney new horn i'd wipe it much more often, especially the areas where my hands touch. lesson learned, when i was a teenager the lacquer wore off my new trumpet fast where my hands held it.

 

[JL]

Hummm...try mopping up a spill with wax paper and see how that goes :bluewink:

Now that I think about it, the wax paper could serve to protect the pad by leaving a thin layer of wax on the leather. I would only do this on a dry pad because otherwise you're preventing it from drying out which could make it rot.

There's a difference between cleaning a pad and drying it.

I'm talking about running the wax paper under the pad, closing the pad, then pulling the wax paper out, cleaning the pad and tone hole rim in the process. I generally use a zig zag paper for this. Or even a dollar bill. I wouldn't think wax paper would leave a wax film on the pad. I don't think that's the idea. If it does, then I'd be less inclined to use wax paper, but it seems like it would work well if it doesn't leave any film.

 

[Bubba06]

Regarding the pad saver thingy-ma-bobber:

I was reading in one of the books I've got, (I can't find it right now), where they condemned the HW Padsavers. The idea was, if you leave the pad saver in the horn, it's just taking that spit and leaving it in the bottom of your horn, which if you leave them long enough results in sticky Eb pads.

Personally, I have one for my tenor that I use as a SWAB. A few times in and out, then I take it out and let the horn dry. I really only do this like once a week.

-Bubba-

 

[Dave Dolson]

I NEVER swab my saxophones. The one time I did because of an upper-octave vent clogging with moisture, it broke out the upper-octave vent and I had to have it re-soldered. Please don't offer me advice about this - it was thoroughly discussed in another thread.

As far as sticking pads, it will happen eventually to almost everyone. I use Yamaha's pad-papers (like zigzags except they are treated). I also have eye-glass cleaning papers for occasional use. Yamaha's product works as good as anything I've found over the years. If you are going to use paper money, use at least a $100 bill, especially on a gig . . . DAVE

 

[Enviroguy]

Regarding the pad saver thingy-ma-bobber:

I was reading in one of the books I've got, (I can't find it right now), where they condemned the HW Padsavers. The idea was, if you leave the pad saver in the horn, it's just taking that spit and leaving it in the bottom of your horn, which if you leave them long enough results in sticky Eb pads.

Personally, I have one for my tenor that I use as a SWAB. A few times in and out, then I take it out and let the horn dry. I really only do this like once a week.

-Bubba-

This is one of the reasons I really like the Hollywood Winds pad-saver. It's made out of string instead of fuss like the HW. So supposedly it wicks the moisture away from the pads toward the center. It also has a micro-fiber cloth attached to the end that does a good job as a swab. And the knob on the end is real wood and designed to be an end-plug so it protects the little levers that stick up past the neck on Bueschers while in the case. Plus, it's a lot easier to push in and pull out of the sax than the HW. I have these in all my saxes while in the case.

I don't know if they are really any better or worse than any other brand. But I like them and I don't have pad problems on the bodies of my saxes.

Here's a link so you can see what I'm talking about:

http://saxophone.com/thehollywoodwindspaddryerandpaddryer.aspx

 

[Kelpie]

I use a Yamaha Monster Swab on my alto, and a silk swab on my tenor. Both work very well, but the silk doesn't hang on my octave vent. The monster swab is good, because it has a string on the other end of the swab so you pull it back out thru the bell so it won't hang on the octave vent either. I had a chamois swab hang on the octave vent on my alto, but luckily it just ripped the swab rather than breaking the vent tube.

 

[Dave Dolson]

The swab that broke MY upper octave vent (on a Yanagisawa S901) was silk . . . and made for sopranos. DAVE

 

[Mike F]

The swab that broke MY upper octave vent (on a Yanagisawa S901) was silk . . . and made for sopranos. DAVE

I dry the inside of the sax and neck every time I play (even at the end of a gig, not just at home) and in 25 years have never had a problem. However, I had a student with a Yanagisawa 901 who did exactly the same a you. So, if you have a Y 901, don't use a pull through - the upper octave vent is obviously weak. But what I also do which I think is far more important is to dry all the moisture from the pads every time. That extends the life of the pads considerably IMO.

 

[Jazz Is All]

I dry the inside of the sax and neck every time I play (even at the end of a gig, not just at home) and in 25 years have never had a problem. However, I had a student with a Yanagisawa 901 who did exactly the same a you. So, if you have a Y 901, don't use a pull through - the upper octave vent is obviously weak. But what I also do which I think is far more important is to dry all the moisture from the pads every time. That extends the life of the pads considerably IMO.

I do the same, probably because I'm fastidious and also because I don't want to have to pay for new pads simply due to laziness. Some people think I'm crazy, but the fact is there is a lot of moisture in the sax after a couple of hours of playing and if you just leave it to dry in there it will take its toll on the sax as well as make it and the case stink. After each session I up-end the horn to drain the liquid and then use a soft cloth to wipe out the inside of the bell as far down as I can reach,, after which I dry it with a silk pull through. I also dry the neck with the same pull through. Then I dry the pads that usually get wet by closing them on pieces of Melita coffee filter paper that I have pre-cut io various sizes. It's lint-free and very absorbent so dries them with just a couple of presses which you can see visually on the paper. It doesn't take more than a minute to do this and will extend the life of the pads by years.

The pads that usually need it are the keys in the upper stack, especially the closed ones like the palms and G#, as well as low Eb where all the liquic pools. Every now and then I clean the pads with a Q-tip wet with lighter fluid to remove the scuz that builds up on them, and if a pad ever sticks I use the Yamaha pad papers which work like a charm. On my sax for some reason it is usually B2 that sticks, not G#.