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Hi
Some of your might remember that I'm mainly a clarinet repairer but also repair saxophones.
Yesterday someone (a very good local player) calls me that he has a gig in two hours and his saxophone (very old Martin tenor) doesn't play right. He brings his sax, plays it, and he sounds great. I try the sax and it feels like one the better tenors I've played. He told me a week ago at a gig the sax was great, and the next or a couple of days later he played again and something just didn't feel right. Suddenly everything felt more resistant and much less sound (not as loud maybe?). The problem is mainly in the second octave, especially from around G and up. He thought (but wasn't absolutely sure) that from C# and up to palm notes there is no problems.
This tenor was recently overhauled (about a month ago) by some very good repairer in USA. I checked it and it really looked like a very good overhaul. I found one really tiny leak in the upper right stak pad which only helped slightly with some notes. I also found a leak in second right side key (the one just above the Bb) and he felt an improvement but he still felt it is not exactly right. The sax was definitely 100% leak free from the pads. I checked the neck itself and it doesn't leak. I thought maybe something in the connection of the neck but this would be strange as the high notes sound fine (he thought). Since the tone holes are soldered maybe one was leaking, but naything a light showed. He also said he bought four new boxes of reeds and checked to make sure it isn't the reed (because he first noticed the problem with a new reed).
So the leak I fixed helped a lot, but he thought it is not completely right. So I didn't have any more ideas, and he had to go to the gig anyway.....
So... any ideas?!
Thanks!
Nitai
Some of your might remember that I'm mainly a clarinet repairer but also repair saxophones.
Yesterday someone (a very good local player) calls me that he has a gig in two hours and his saxophone (very old Martin tenor) doesn't play right. He brings his sax, plays it, and he sounds great. I try the sax and it feels like one the better tenors I've played. He told me a week ago at a gig the sax was great, and the next or a couple of days later he played again and something just didn't feel right. Suddenly everything felt more resistant and much less sound (not as loud maybe?). The problem is mainly in the second octave, especially from around G and up. He thought (but wasn't absolutely sure) that from C# and up to palm notes there is no problems.
This tenor was recently overhauled (about a month ago) by some very good repairer in USA. I checked it and it really looked like a very good overhaul. I found one really tiny leak in the upper right stak pad which only helped slightly with some notes. I also found a leak in second right side key (the one just above the Bb) and he felt an improvement but he still felt it is not exactly right. The sax was definitely 100% leak free from the pads. I checked the neck itself and it doesn't leak. I thought maybe something in the connection of the neck but this would be strange as the high notes sound fine (he thought). Since the tone holes are soldered maybe one was leaking, but naything a light showed. He also said he bought four new boxes of reeds and checked to make sure it isn't the reed (because he first noticed the problem with a new reed).
So the leak I fixed helped a lot, but he thought it is not completely right. So I didn't have any more ideas, and he had to go to the gig anyway.....
So... any ideas?!
Thanks!
Nitai