Pitting
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Grafton + TH & C alto || Naked Lady 10M || TT soprano || Martin Comm III
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Short of getting a relacquer (modern lacquer is more resilient), there isn't much you can do apart from wipe the horn after playing with a soft dry cloth. You could try a thin coat of pledge or something on those areas, but be careful not to get it in the mechanism or on the pads of course.
Just curious: What brand/make is it? That seems excessive for a 4 year old horn. You could try gently cleaning away the corrosion with a little Simichrome Polish and, as said above, polish with a little pledge or equivalant. That type of polish contains silicone, which will repel moisture( saliva, sweat, etc.)
The brand is Lauren, chinese made I assume but I have read that even the best brands can suffer things like red rot from impure brass. I talked to a pro sax man and he told me that they are a good bang for the buck and "play poorly, like all sopranos".
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I had a "Quest II" soprano that I bought as a "WW&BW" brand horn. The lacquer started coming off after one year. It played pretty well though. I used it on a couple of tours and then got another horn.
FUNNY STORY: This is off the subject, but after the lacquer started coming off on that soprano, I went ahead and dipped the horn in lacquer thinner to remove the rest of it. a good bit of it came off. It made it look like an old Mark VI sop, with the french style palm keys. Later when I was touring with it, after a gig one night, a person came up to me and was saying how great my sound was on it. He offered me $2000 for the soprano right there. I only paid $400 for it brand new! Sadly I couldn't do it because I had to have a soprano for the next gigs and no time to get another one. After the tour, I turned the horn into a lamp that currently sits by my bed.
FUNNY STORY: This is off the subject, but after the lacquer started coming off on that soprano, I went ahead and dipped the horn in lacquer thinner to remove the rest of it. a good bit of it came off. It made it look like an old Mark VI sop, with the french style palm keys. Later when I was touring with it, after a gig one night, a person came up to me and was saying how great my sound was on it. He offered me $2000 for the soprano right there. I only paid $400 for it brand new! Sadly I couldn't do it because I had to have a soprano for the next gigs and no time to get another one. After the tour, I turned the horn into a lamp that currently sits by my bed.
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81 Posts
GEEZ that's one rotting sax. I say chuck the thing. If that is from 4 years, imagine 4 more from now. You will be blowing into dust by then. The corrosion on that is ridiculous. Just chuck the damn thing.
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That is awesome. I would have totally sold it to him, then went to a music shop and bought an even better sop.
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Not much you can do other than sand the spots a bit and apply some clear nail enamel which may slow it down. Some of the early Yanagisawas had that problem. I bought a new Yana straight soprano in 1980 that was new at a dealer and had a lot of rot. Played great however. Keep your horn and just enjoy it.
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??? Thumb pad? Do you mean the black plastic thumb rest?
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