[saftaffe]

Low C# key arm problem

Hello!
I have a problem with the key cup for A and the arm for the low C# on my horn. I play an older Yamaha YTS-62.

The arm from the low C# left hand pinky table, interferes with the pad cup for my left hand stack A.




Video of the problem:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHVSPcBnaOk


Can i bend it slightly downwards (as in down towards the bell, or floor while playing) so it wont go straight over the key cup?

Is there any one else who plays a purple logo Yamaha YTS-62 here on the forum that can tell/show how the C# arm on their horn look when it is pressed?



*Edit* Sorry for the title, I forgot to edit it before I posted, and now it seams I cant change it.

 

[JayeLID]

You can bend it down and away from the A cup, the trick is...if the C# TOUCH PLATE is already properly positioned in the pinky table, it will also move/bend down and then cause interference with the other touch plates of the pinky table.

So what a tech would do is work with 2 pliers: 1 holds the touch plate in its current position, while the other bends the C# armature out of the way of the A cup. This would be a slight 'twist-bend' of that armature.

This MAY require more 'touch' than a do-it-yourself job by someone who is not used to key bending on woodwinds.

It isn't complex, but it is not likely as easy as just bending the key in one place.....

 

[1saxman]

Something has gotten bent and now it has to be fixed. Do not try this yourself. Just curious, is this sax new to you or did something happen to it recently?

 

[saftaffe]

The sax is not new. I’ve had it for about two years. And before me it’s been lying in its case since the early 80s. It had never been played. It had this issue when I got it.

I took it to a tech for new pads and corks etc. I thought that he would fix the issue with the pinky table. But he must have missed it, and I didn’t realize it until I got home and because of a lot of reasons I didn’t want to take the horn back to that tech...
I solved it by adjusting the height of the whole table. By adding some more cork under the G# key. But it brought some other issues with the action of those keys and some lost motion etc.

I’ve lived with it until this week when I left the horn for some service to be done. The service was great and the tech fixed a lot of small issues including the lost motion and action in the left hand table. Wasn’t until I got home I realized the he fixed it by lowering the whole table so that the key arm once again clanks against the key cup.

If I play a chromatic scale from a down to the bottom there is no problem. It only makes a huge problem if I happen the depress the C# before I press A. Then it won’t close properly and yeah, no low C# for me...
Or if I play in a key where I like to keep the C# down almost all the time. Then it also prevents the A from opening.


I need it tomorrow so I don’t have time to take it back to the tech.
I spent several hours with the pliers, it was a lot easier said than done. Once bent free from the key cup, the arm gets in the way of the arm from the low B key. But after many small adjustments, trial and error, got it right.
Problem solved! Thanks a lot

Would still be interesting the hear from some one else who plays an 80s Yts62 how the pinky table looks on their horn.