[skeller047]

I mentioned in another thread the easy saxophone swabs I make, and said I should post a tutorial, so here it is. This is basically the method that my clarinet teacher showed me 50 years ago, it's easy and relatively cheap (especially if you have more than one horn). The only instrument this swab would not be suitable for is the oboe or English horn, as they are too small at the top for anything but a fine silk swab.

You need the following materials: Chamois, shoelaces, some solder and some shrink wrap tubing.

Cut a long triangle of the chamois such that the bottom is about the inner circumference of the bell. For a soprano, the chamois should be about as long as the horn; for an alto or tenor, it should be about as long as the straight part of the horn.

Cut a piece of shoelace that is an appropriate length, long enough so that you can easily get the entire swab through the horn.

Tie the shoelace to the small end of the chamois using a sheet bend (Google it if my pictures below aren't clear).

Cut several piece of solder an inch or two long, and attach them to the end of the lace with a piece of shrink tubing.

That's it. The swab will last many years, and is washable.

Here is a pictorial showing the entire process, and the swab in action.

https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/106441131766931914090/albums/5669801382816226497?hl=en

Let me know if you have any questions.

 

[maddenma]

According to Google+

"We were unable to fetch any photos at this time. Please try again."

 

[saxphil]

I bought a super suede micro fibre sports jacket from Goodwill for $5

- cut it up into appropriate sizes for tenor and alto
- sew two layers together, using a sewing machine
- sew a long bootlace the full length of the swab extending it to an appropriate length
- sew three or four small lead fishing sinkers into the end of the lace

Made two for tenor, two for alto and a few smaller ones for necks unweighted

 

[GT]

They're in place now. Thanks, Steve!

 

[saxmusicguy]

Thanks for sharing.

 

[windman53]

Nice, Thanks for sharing

 

[maddenma]

Interesting. I'm still getting the "no dice" from Google+.

Do you have to be signed on to Google+ to look at these?

 

[saxmusicguy]

Do you have to be signed on to Google+ to look at these?

No. Perhaps delete all your cookies and clear your browser cache, then try again.

 

[skeller047]

Interesting. I'm still getting the "no dice" from Google+.

Do you have to be signed on to Google+ to look at these?

I set this folder to "Public" in Google+, so anyone SHOULD be able to see it. That is one of my favorite words, "should"... Let me know if you still have problems, I'll find another place to put the pics (they are too big to upload here directly...)

 

[trice]

Steve, nice swab. Thx.

 

[Jazztenor87]

According to Google+

"We were unable to fetch any photos at this time. Please try again."

I've discovered a problem with Google services (picasa, google+) links from the Tapatalk iPhone app. When transferring to Safari, it adds extra information to the URL, causing it not to work ("http://https//......." vs. "http://..."). This has happened on my iPhone with every Picasa-hosted web album posted on here, but other hosting services work fine.

Moderators, maybe someone should report this to Tapatalk, Google, or Apple?