[danerida]

So I turned up for a gig on Sunday night and as I took my tenor out of my car, the strap hook let go of the top ring (Selmer Flight case) and the horn went crashing to the ground from shoulder height.

At first glance the case looked like it had withstood the fall well with only a scuff mark on the bow section. I took the horn inside and had a look at the bow, because that's where the majority of the impact seemed to have happened and nothing! Went to play it......holy crap.......all of the left hand cluster keys were sticking. Held the horn up and had a look. The body section at the left thumb rest was BENT!!!!!!! about 5 degrees toward the bell. It is F*&%^$*&^$*ked. (Sorry, I need to vent). I am devastated.

Anyway, after calling around for a ages we managed to get a (school) YTS 23 for me to do the gig. Not really the same as my series III.

I took it to my repair man and he said he can fix it. I have doubts about whether it will ever be the same, but I trust him.

Luckily it's insured, coz the repairs are going to cost a fortune!

Thanks for listening.
Dan

 

[Turnaround]

Bummer!!

I once dropped my soprano and it got bent in the middle. They straightened it up and probably fixed some tone holes but it plays fine, just like it used to. My alto also once took a spill down a small fight of stairs.:shock: :x Bent the bell and some stacks pretty bad. That got fixed and I still get people telling me that its one of the best Selmer SA-80 I they have ever played. Be happy that its not made of wood.

 

[tjontheroad]

Bummer dude

I opened my alto case yesterday when I got home from a show. The low B pad fell out. Ahhhh CRAP! So you're not alone

 

[Guest]

I took it to my repair man and he said he can fix it. I have doubts about whether it will ever be the same, but I trust him.

Dan

Man that sucks ! But if your tech is any good, he'll fix it up just fine !
It still hurts though, like getting the first scratch on your new car !

 

[hakukani]

Bummer. I have bad luck with stands. My tenor fell off at home, and my alto at a gig.

I'm sure your tech will fix it. It might even be better than new (except cosmetically).

 

[gary]

FWIW, I dropped my tenor head-over-heels down a flight of concrete stairs and it had not the slightest damage to it. It was in a WJ case. Something to think about.

I watched a bus back over a guy's trombone as we were loading up for a tour. Now that was bad. (Sorry but...and funny too! :twisted: )

 

[saxxsymbol]

stands

hakukana have you tried the saxrax stands. best stands their are. super secure for your horns. very stable stand. especially the adjustable one with four legs.
expensive, but not as much as one repair bill. the best i've ever seen. i hook two together when i use alto and tenor and now they have a combo stand all in one. just google saxrax. paul coats is the rep in the usa. e-mail : [email protected]

 

[Rackety Sax]

...I watched a bus back over a guy's trombone as we were loading up for a tour. Now that was bad. (Sorry but...and funny too! :twisted: )

Yeah, but you haven't really laughed until you've seen someone sit on a trumpet they left on their chair during a break.

 

[hakukani]

hakukana have you tried the saxrax stands. best stands their are. super secure for your horns. very stable stand. especially the adjustable one with four legs.
expensive, but not as much as one repair bill. the best i've ever seen. i hook two together when i use alto and tenor and now they have a combo stand all in one. just google saxrax. paul coats is the rep in the usa. e-mail : [email protected]

Well, the one with the alto was in 1980. That stand is long gone...

The second one happened at home. I forgot to take my glasses off, and tripped over a stand leg into my tenor. My own stupid fault, not the stand.

I'm using a hercules bari/tenor stand now. I felt that the saxrax stand takes up too much stage real estate for the R&B gigs I'm doing.

 

[Jonathan C.]

When I was in Middle School, I was in the the best Tenor player in my band. (Not saying much, I was the only one in the top band) and we played for a big group of teachers down in Austin. We were doing a prep. concert, like our dress rehersal before we ever left school. And the Tuba player nocked over the school Tenor, it was on my chair. And my director was so mad, I guess it could have been worse. THought the Titanic had smaller leaks than that Tenor.

 

[danerida]

Thanks for all the kind words guys.

It was in a WJ case. Something to think about.

It's between the WJ and a berkeley, either way the selmer flight case is going.

Cheers,
Dan

 

[brassnaked]

FWIW:
2 months ago I dropped my Borgani from waist heigth and it crashed to the carpeted concrete floor. It bent the lip of the bell all the way back and pushed the bell and bow against the body. Amazingly, the upper stack seemed to work just fine, it seemed to be confined to just the lower stack and pinky cluster. Anyway, took it to Hammer Woodwinds and it plays better now than it did before! Can't explain it...

 

[ratracer]

Major bummer!! Makes me cringe just thinking about it.

What a demonstration of the physics principal of a body in motion tending to remain in motion unless acted upon by an outside force. The case stopped and looked fine. Unfortunately, the horn didn't know to gently stop with the case when it hit the ground and it just wanted to keep going. This gives me nightmares. Really hope the tech can come through!

 

[Swampcabbage]

I had a similar thing happen (strap come undone) in a J. Winter case and everything appears to be working fine.

I got a new strap for it that ain't gonna unhinge this time.

 

[Honeyboy]

I had my new YTS 61 Yamaha for about a week back in 1979 when I went over to my buddy's house and we were doing some songs for a gig coming up. We were screwing around and he started playing "Tea for Two" on his piano. I started to do my faux tap dance routine and my new horn came off the neckstrap hook and crashed to his tile floor! Totally unplayable! with a huge dent on the bell, messing up the lower notes. I was devastated!:shock: Luckily, my repairman (and a few later ones) were able to get it back into working condition.The scar on the bell is there to remind me of my foolishness and carelessness. Until this very day, I never depend on the neckstrap to hold it but always have my left hand on the bell.

 

[JL]

I took it to my repair man and he said he can fix it. I have doubts about whether it will ever be the same, but I trust him.

Luckily it's insured, coz the repairs are going to cost a fortune!

Dan

Dan, no worries about getting it fixed. Any decent tech can put that horn right back into perfect condition. Several years ago I dropped my MKVI with exactly the same result as yours. I was sure it was destroyed. Took it into my tech, and 2 days later it was just fine. Brass is relatively soft, and the bad news is it will bend if dropped. The good news is, it can be bent back easily enough.

Thank your lucky stars you've got insurance on it.

 

[Pgraves]

right back into perfect condition... Brass is relatively soft, and the bad news is it will bend if dropped... The good news is, it can be bent back easily enough.

That being the case and I agree this is true, why place a premium on things like "never had any major repairs", or "neck never pulled down" if a competent repair man can restore to as good or better that new condition.
I have a MK VI alto (163xxx) that is as close to new as it gets. When I unpacked it, much to my surprise, the neck had been pulled down, and was unrepaired. Apparently the guy who owned it basically never played it and the one time he did he pulled down the neck. Lee Kramka in San Francisco fixed it. Aside from the lacquer damage, shape wise it is now perfect. Yet I know that if I were to resell it ( not planning ) some collector would fret over the fact that it was once repaired.
I think guys start having sterner standards set for their horns than they do for girlfriends and wives.

 

[JL]

why place a premium on things like "never had any major repairs", or "neck never pulled down" if a competent repair man can restore to as good or better that new condition.....

I think guys start having sterner standards set for their horns than they do for girlfriends and wives.

Very good question. Collectors are looking at it differently than players. If you're a collector, pristine, original condition is everything. Probably a repair that leaves no visible or lasting evidence wouldn't matter much even to a collector, though. I guess you could argue that once the metal has been stressed, it is somehow weakened, but I don't think that's really true for any damage short of major crushing. For a player, the playing condition is the main thing.

By the way, Lee is the guy I go to. He's one of the best out there!

 

[SteveMarz]

flite case

Those Selmer flight cases SUCK !!! Cheap materials and minimal protection.

Invest in a Walt Johnson sax case. My horn took a fall just like yours, but the Walt case protected it perfectly.

- SM

 

[Dave]

While walking out of the back door during the winter I slipped and sled down 2 steps riding the sax case slung over the shoulder. I was okay and everything looked normal until I opened the tenor case at church. The bell was flattened to about3 inches. $250 later it was good as new and it was the sx90r black nichle finish. I was lucky with the fall, the tenor saved my back, and the sax was fixed. But that feeling when you open the case,,,,,ouch!!!!

Dave