[milandro]

I have been saying many times before that I admire Jim Schmidt and that I think he is one of the few true innovators in the saxophone making with his beautiful and revolutionary saxophone (which, if I ever win the lottery I would definitely buy!)

While browsing the internet I discovered this new video of his on how to place your toneholes on a saxophone (if you should ever decide to make your own!)..........

 

[Koen88]

very interesting, thanks for sharing, his saxophone concept is definitely innovative and intelligent design!

 

[BigSaxCo1]

One day I would like to start building my own saxophones.
I'm in no way, shape, or form going to mass produce them for a long time if i try making them, but it would still be nice
to be able to build a few horns every so often.

 

[kavala]

It gives new meaning to the phrase 'roll yer own'.

I know there are differences between US English and the rest of the English
speaking world, but why do they pronounce 'soldered' as 'soddered' ?
I know they can say 'soldiers' okay, so what's the problem with 'solder' ?

 

[milandro]

Only sods can (get) sodder

 

[milandro]

........ but it would still be nice
to be able to build a few horns every so often.

Do not underestimate the enormity of the task even for people such as Jim Schmidt building a single horn can take a very long time ( we are talking months) because it is very different to have machines to do most of the work for you or having to do everything on a one by one basis.

If you see how Selmer (or Keilwerth or Yamaha ) make their saxophone it looks like you can do this relatively quickly but the relatively simple operation of drawing toneholes takes seconds if you have the right machinery and will take you several days if you have to mark them, cut them solder the chimneys one by one as Jim does.

 

[BigSaxCo1]

I would probably work at the pace Jim does, maybe even slower.
I'd be alright with that.

 

[milandro]

Jim Schmidt is a very expert fabricator for his motorcycle stuff
http://www.jsmotorsport.com/products.asp

 

[Face Ache Mike]

I wonder why he marks out the tone holes after forming the sheet into a cone rather than before when its flat? I thought it would have been easier to mark and cut then.

 

[jetmech]

I wonder why he marks out the tone holes after forming the sheet into a cone rather than before when its flat? I thought it would have been easier to mark and cut then.

I don't think you can roll it accurately enough to do that. My guess is it gets formed into the tube oversize then the length is cut based on the final dimensions.

 

[milandro]

I think that he might think that he has a better correspondence of the lines this way. His approach is very much more laborious than the one of a machine drawing the toneholes and the job requires high precision because he will then make the tonehole which will be placed in the proper spot and hard-soldered to the body tube

see how different the factory approach is!

 

[Koen88]

I think you'd weaken the sheet metal by adding holes and by tapering it afterwords the material will bend differently on the places with holes.. and whilst bending you transform the material by stretching to the point it wont bend back (dont know the english term here...) this will result in stress in the material, and with holes added the stress is`nt devided equally.

but this is just my engineering point of view

 

[Isle of Jazz]

I wonder why he marks out the tone holes after forming the sheet into a cone rather than before when its flat? I thought it would have been easier to mark and cut then.

It would be easier but the circles wouldn't stay true to shape when bent into a cone.

 

[Captain Beeflat]

It would be easier but the circles wouldn't stay true to shape when bent into a cone.

Agreed, they would become elliptical....but would this matter? The holes have yet to be drawn into chimneys & levelled. The essential element is surely to start with holes sufficiently small to allow for the material which will form the chimneys....coinciding with the resultant position of the "top" of the tone holes.

 

[milandro]

He won't draw them he will cut round holes and the apply and (hard) solder cylindrical chimneys as older King or Martin saxophones

 

[14470]

Do not underestimate the enormity of the task even for people such as Jim Schmidt building a single horn can take a very long time ( we are talking months) because it is very different to have machines to do most of the work for you or having to do everything on a one by one basis.

If you see how Selmer (or Keilwerth or Yamaha ) make their saxophone it looks like you can do this relatively quickly but the relatively simple operation of drawing toneholes takes seconds if you have the right machinery and will take you several days if you have to mark them, cut them solder the chimneys one by one as Jim does.

Or you can make your own machinery. Peter custom - i.e. hand - made a machine for drawing tone holes.

 

[milandro]

you could indeed but you also need a machine to make some holes in the body ( see the P.Mauriat video) where you then will insert the balls to pull the toneholes.

However many American brands didn't have drawn toneholes so it can be done also for a serial production

 

[14470]

you could indeed but you also need a machine to make some holes in the body ( see the P.Mauriat video) where you then will insert the balls to pull the toneholes.

I don't know whether he does this by hand or has made a machine for that too. The instrumentation is surprisingly simple. Obviously, the remainder has to come from the hands and brain, but the G mezzo (or my tenor) is a testament to how well it works. So indeed possible for a select few to make their own saxophone if they so desire. BTW, I admire Jim Schmidt too, but with the amount of time I have for practicing, I would rather not have to learn new grips.

 

[Gary59]

From the videos, it appears the Keilwerth has a lot more hand working. I noticed tone holes were drawn manually verses by machine on the Selmer video. Good videos! It shows the labor involved. True artisans!

 

[DannyMetalC]

It is a titanic task. So far on mine I have only just finished the body tube (soldered the ball on last night) and I have a long battle ahead cutting toneholes with only rough theoretical equations to guide their placement and size.