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This is reprinted with permission from the NAPBIRT bi-monthly magazine called "TechniCom".
It was written by an individual looked up to by everyone in the business who knew him and a
close friend of Arthur Benade, the late George Jameson (1924 - 1996). [the only editing done was
to correct some spelling errors]
"As I was becoming evangelistic about how to level sax sockets with minimum removal of metal
(another article), some observations began to gather themselves into a topic. Some of what
follows was gleaned in conversations with Erv Leatherman, the woodwind tester with whom I
first worked at Conn. His experience dated back to 1902. As late as the 1944 revision of the
Erick Brand manual (the latest one I have), filing sax tone holes is not mentioned. However, 1
did buy a tone hole file from Brand in 1948. Filing holes was covered at the Conn school, also in
1948. This date is not pivotal since tone hole leveling as a repair procedure probably started in
the 1930's. Prior to some time in the '30's, repair was largely performed in the horn factories.
Aside - (The Conn factory was still accepting general repairs on all makes into the 1950's. The
Conn school was started to provide usable repair personnel to Conn dealers in the post-war
boom). There were, to be sure, a small number of repairmen - usually in larger cities. In smaller
venues, some repair was done by the local jeweler or somebody in a music or appliance store.
Conn had fairly sizeable retail and repair facilities in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and
perhaps other cities. Prior to about 1933, Selmer was centered in New York city. Erick Brand
worked in the repair shop and became its foreman. All shipments came from France to New
York. After being serviced and picked over by the local professionals, these went to the rest of
the country. Buffet procedure was similar - first stop Carl Fischer in New York (and at one time
Cundy Bettony in Boston), then Goldbeck in Chicago, then elsewhere. Supplies and parts could
be gotten from the factories. The main independent supplier was Harry Schwartz of New York
(Micro). Saul Fromkin could probably supply more details about the situation in this era. In the
I920's both Conn and Buescher sold "do-it-yourself" pads. (Sorry to blast a couple legends that
have grown up about these pads). The Conn Resopad and the Buescher snap pad were available
only in the sizes of each maker's pad cups, and were designed to be put in the cup without cement
and played as installed by the owner of the instrument. Seeing the other pads available in this era
gives us a clue as to the low priority placed on leveling tone holes as a repair procedure. They
contained a rather thick, soft pressed felt, and usually no cardboard back. The covering was
stitched on, and often there was a stitch in the center of the pad. If they were approximately
leveled, they worked. In the I920's, leak lights weren't used at Conn. The padders got stuff level
by eye. Closer checking was done by observing the crease or holding the horn up to an external
light and looking down the inside. The method worked but required skill. The tester was the only
inspector on the assembly line. He played the instrument. (Perhaps the leak light was not in
existence in this era). Fromkin could probably supply more details about the situation in this era.
We can surmise that saxes were padded this way pretty well back to Adolph's time. How did they
play? Damn well! Take a look at some of the "fireworks" solos written back to the middle of the
19th century. These were performed in public by good professional bands. From a later era,
World War I and after, I have records of solo and ensemble performances - some by Rudy
Wiedoft (including Saxophobia) playing with extreme fluency on a Holton C-Melody with "sofa
pillow" pads. In this era, double tonguing was fairly standard, and playing above range with
technique rather than squeals was common. We can assume that toneholes left the factory
reasonably level. Most horns were plated, and hadn't been through the buffing room. Smash-ups
probably came back to the maker's factory for repair. As one can see by the physical condition of
many of the "attic" horns, people often took care of their instruments-even students. The school
band explosion took place in the 1920's. Conn had a number of "Harold Hills" on the
road-starting bands and selling horns. Economic conditions were favorable to this growth.
Acoustically, the sax remained about the same from the time of its invention through the 1920's-a
tribute to the quality of Adolph Sax's work, in the 1930's, a comprehensive change started,
possibly related to the emergence of large dance bands with large brass sections. To get more
noise from the sax sections, the typical sound became brighter. Mouthpiece baffles became
higher and chambers smaller. Lacquered horns (inherently brighter than plated ones) took over at
the professional level. To cope with the necessary increase in air-tightness now required, pads
became firmer and grew large resonators, and pad leveling standards became more meticulous.
With the end of the Depression, and World War II over, sax changes expanded to cover amateur
and student playing levels. Lacquer finishes were in, plated sandblast finishes were out.
Repairmen being now more plentiful, a great many good instruments were sacrificed to this
trend. Plating was stripped, sandblast cut down, and horns lacquered-to their serious
degradation. A number of "butcher shops" made good money spoiling decent instruments, and I
suppose it still goes on. Screwing up tone holes is associated with buffing bodies, to say nothing
of other careless repair, rough handling, and factory discrepancies. Level toneholes are basic to
providing the degree of air-tightness needed with today's equipment. The amount of turbulence
generated by high baffle mouthpieces and pad resonators demands a considerable degree of
airtightness to allow the horn to play respectably. Altered neck tapers (spoiling tube resonance
alignments and some response), which are needed to help tuning with the skimpy mouthpieces,
and the gross key openings requisite to coping partially with the degree of turbulence in the entire
air column, all join in the mandate for level tone holes. Thus, leveling tone holes, once
accomplished to a satisfactory degree as routine manufacturing procedure, is now an important
technique in our saxophone work-either to correct indifferent factory work or to overcome the
ravages of subsequent buffing and/or other body damage."
Editor's Note: The above article is the second of a collection of the final works of George
Jameson to be printed, posthumously, in the TechniCom.
If this post is difficult to read, I have attached a pdf file of the same article.
It was written by an individual looked up to by everyone in the business who knew him and a
close friend of Arthur Benade, the late George Jameson (1924 - 1996). [the only editing done was
to correct some spelling errors]
"As I was becoming evangelistic about how to level sax sockets with minimum removal of metal
(another article), some observations began to gather themselves into a topic. Some of what
follows was gleaned in conversations with Erv Leatherman, the woodwind tester with whom I
first worked at Conn. His experience dated back to 1902. As late as the 1944 revision of the
Erick Brand manual (the latest one I have), filing sax tone holes is not mentioned. However, 1
did buy a tone hole file from Brand in 1948. Filing holes was covered at the Conn school, also in
1948. This date is not pivotal since tone hole leveling as a repair procedure probably started in
the 1930's. Prior to some time in the '30's, repair was largely performed in the horn factories.
Aside - (The Conn factory was still accepting general repairs on all makes into the 1950's. The
Conn school was started to provide usable repair personnel to Conn dealers in the post-war
boom). There were, to be sure, a small number of repairmen - usually in larger cities. In smaller
venues, some repair was done by the local jeweler or somebody in a music or appliance store.
Conn had fairly sizeable retail and repair facilities in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and
perhaps other cities. Prior to about 1933, Selmer was centered in New York city. Erick Brand
worked in the repair shop and became its foreman. All shipments came from France to New
York. After being serviced and picked over by the local professionals, these went to the rest of
the country. Buffet procedure was similar - first stop Carl Fischer in New York (and at one time
Cundy Bettony in Boston), then Goldbeck in Chicago, then elsewhere. Supplies and parts could
be gotten from the factories. The main independent supplier was Harry Schwartz of New York
(Micro). Saul Fromkin could probably supply more details about the situation in this era. In the
I920's both Conn and Buescher sold "do-it-yourself" pads. (Sorry to blast a couple legends that
have grown up about these pads). The Conn Resopad and the Buescher snap pad were available
only in the sizes of each maker's pad cups, and were designed to be put in the cup without cement
and played as installed by the owner of the instrument. Seeing the other pads available in this era
gives us a clue as to the low priority placed on leveling tone holes as a repair procedure. They
contained a rather thick, soft pressed felt, and usually no cardboard back. The covering was
stitched on, and often there was a stitch in the center of the pad. If they were approximately
leveled, they worked. In the I920's, leak lights weren't used at Conn. The padders got stuff level
by eye. Closer checking was done by observing the crease or holding the horn up to an external
light and looking down the inside. The method worked but required skill. The tester was the only
inspector on the assembly line. He played the instrument. (Perhaps the leak light was not in
existence in this era). Fromkin could probably supply more details about the situation in this era.
We can surmise that saxes were padded this way pretty well back to Adolph's time. How did they
play? Damn well! Take a look at some of the "fireworks" solos written back to the middle of the
19th century. These were performed in public by good professional bands. From a later era,
World War I and after, I have records of solo and ensemble performances - some by Rudy
Wiedoft (including Saxophobia) playing with extreme fluency on a Holton C-Melody with "sofa
pillow" pads. In this era, double tonguing was fairly standard, and playing above range with
technique rather than squeals was common. We can assume that toneholes left the factory
reasonably level. Most horns were plated, and hadn't been through the buffing room. Smash-ups
probably came back to the maker's factory for repair. As one can see by the physical condition of
many of the "attic" horns, people often took care of their instruments-even students. The school
band explosion took place in the 1920's. Conn had a number of "Harold Hills" on the
road-starting bands and selling horns. Economic conditions were favorable to this growth.
Acoustically, the sax remained about the same from the time of its invention through the 1920's-a
tribute to the quality of Adolph Sax's work, in the 1930's, a comprehensive change started,
possibly related to the emergence of large dance bands with large brass sections. To get more
noise from the sax sections, the typical sound became brighter. Mouthpiece baffles became
higher and chambers smaller. Lacquered horns (inherently brighter than plated ones) took over at
the professional level. To cope with the necessary increase in air-tightness now required, pads
became firmer and grew large resonators, and pad leveling standards became more meticulous.
With the end of the Depression, and World War II over, sax changes expanded to cover amateur
and student playing levels. Lacquer finishes were in, plated sandblast finishes were out.
Repairmen being now more plentiful, a great many good instruments were sacrificed to this
trend. Plating was stripped, sandblast cut down, and horns lacquered-to their serious
degradation. A number of "butcher shops" made good money spoiling decent instruments, and I
suppose it still goes on. Screwing up tone holes is associated with buffing bodies, to say nothing
of other careless repair, rough handling, and factory discrepancies. Level toneholes are basic to
providing the degree of air-tightness needed with today's equipment. The amount of turbulence
generated by high baffle mouthpieces and pad resonators demands a considerable degree of
airtightness to allow the horn to play respectably. Altered neck tapers (spoiling tube resonance
alignments and some response), which are needed to help tuning with the skimpy mouthpieces,
and the gross key openings requisite to coping partially with the degree of turbulence in the entire
air column, all join in the mandate for level tone holes. Thus, leveling tone holes, once
accomplished to a satisfactory degree as routine manufacturing procedure, is now an important
technique in our saxophone work-either to correct indifferent factory work or to overcome the
ravages of subsequent buffing and/or other body damage."
Editor's Note: The above article is the second of a collection of the final works of George
Jameson to be printed, posthumously, in the TechniCom.
If this post is difficult to read, I have attached a pdf file of the same article.
