[xax]

I recently got a very nice Eastlake S20 alto that quickly developed the oft reported “sticky” octave vent problem. After much time spent, I have apparently isolated and “solved” the problem. Time will tell but so far, its working the nuts.

I’ve concluded that the problem is down to a sloppy octave linkage particularly the pivot widget. I noticed that due to wear and/or (IMO more likely) poor machining/qc, the upper ball joint at the limit of travel actually created a camlock situation and therefore needed more force than was available in the neck spring in order to start the body octave pad moving. Not being a tech and not wanting to have the entire linkage rebuilt ​similar to what Stephen Howard shows on his site, I decided to try wrapping the ball ends with Teflon in order to minimize the slop and the irregularities in the “sockets”. It worked!

So how does this jive with the cork octave pad? Well I think how that works (or would work on mine at least) is that it makes the effective thickness of the pad greater and therefore when the linkage is setup, the upper end ball joint of the swivel widget travels less which keeps it from twisting all the way to the “lock” position, so to say.

I think this problem may be a case where originally some marginal parts were used and the resulting accumulated error plus wear wreaked havoc. YMMV...

 

[1saxman]

I use the Selmer Paris method where on each end of the 'rocking' bar that fits into a hole, you file down a small flat on the top, then glue a small, thin piece of cork on the flat. Then you carefully sand the cork to fit the corked 'ball' to the hole (socket) with no free play. Selmer also has a flat with cork on the large pin that goes through the center of the rocking bar. Doing this takes out most of the play and lasts for many years.

 

[xax]

I use the Selmer Paris method where on each end of the 'rocking' bar that fits into a hole, you file down a small flat on the top, then glue a small, thin piece of cork on the flat. Then you carefully sand the cork to fit the corked 'ball' to the hole (socket) with no free play. Selmer also has a flat with cork on the large pin that goes through the center of the rocking bar. Doing this takes out most of the play and lasts for many years.

Wow, I had no idea...thought I had discovered something new. If/when this fails, I’ll consider using that method. Thx

 

[Lester71]

The octave key on my S20 tenor started sticking a few months ago and it was driving me nutz. At the time the horn had 6 month old chocolate Roo pads on it. A few folks on here have suggested replacing the pad with a cork seems to do the trick and others have recommended packing the pivot mechanism w/ grease.

I dropped it off with my local repair guy to have a forked F mechanism installed and explained the issue with the pad sticking on the pip. He basically said no problem and explained that during overhauls techs have a tendency to over polish the pip which creates a lot of surface area for pad to bind to the brass. I guess sort of like a suction. Anyway, he did his magic and it hasn't stuck since.

 

[Grumps]

I started a thread on this a couple years back when the body octave pad on my tenor Silversonic needed constant attention. Thanks to the advice I got from the members here, I fixed the problem with a very simple fix:

Replace the body octave pad with a cork pad

Two years after doing this, I haven't had a problem since.

 

[stomias]

Replacing the pad with cork solved the recurring problems I've had with a couple of horns....Never stuck again.....

 

[saxoclese]

I use the Selmer Paris method where on each end of the 'rocking' bar that fits into a hole, you file down a small flat on the top, then glue a small, thin piece of cork on the flat. Then you carefully sand the cork to fit the corked 'ball' to the hole (socket) with no free play. Selmer also has a flat with cork on the large pin that goes through the center of the rocking bar. Doing this takes out most of the play and lasts for many years.

Exactly. In the days before teflon all that techs and manufacturers had to work with was cork and cork grease. I amazes me how well that works in some applications. I have tried the plumbers teflon tape for some applications, and it works but it tends to wear off rather quickly. I have been looking for a "dipping" solution that dries to a thin slippery layer to use on sloppy mechanisms, but haven't found it yet. Most of the ones I have tried go on too thick.

 

[bvandrasik]

After cleaning the pad and pip well, I prop it open with a craft stick after playing to let it dry out. Solved the problem for me.

 

[Grumps]

After cleaning the pad and pip well, I prop it open with a craft stick after playing to let it dry out. Solved the problem for me.

Get a cork pad and you won't have to worry about it.