[Rob88]

Hi I was wondering if anyone could help me.
Basically my tenor sax is struggling to play notes from f down to d, this is without the octavive key in use. The notes seem to try and pitch up the octavive or waver making a horrible sound. The crook looks fine with no need to bend it. I had a look at the pads and it seems that maybe they are not pressing firm to the holes. As you can probably tell I'm no techy and although I have some common sense I have had no luck fixing the problem, although that said I have learnt that when the f key is depressed that in turn depresses the one above and the c key all of which look a little gappy. I fiddled with the screws abit but yeilded little improvement.

Before you tell me to take it straight to the shop I have to inform you that I am currently in Sri-Lanka in a rather rural location, people tell me there may be a place I could go but I only would like to do that as a last resort. So any DIY tips would be greatly appreciated.

thanks

Rob

 

[milandro]

check if the octave key (top and or side ) are staying open , this can happen because of a faulty spring or because you turn the neck too much to the (left or right ) side

 

[hornfixer]

Do you have a leak light?
Welcome to the forum.

 

[kavala]

check if the octave key (top and or side ) are staying open , this can happen because of a faulty spring or because you turn the neck too much to the (left or right ) side

Good advice.
Also the neck mechanism gets a bit bent sometimes because a newbie puts pressure on
on it when inserting the neck into the body.

As you don't have a tech, if you find the problem, you may have to just bend it back
yourself. But carefully.

 

[Gordon (NZ)]

Any of the above.

You mention inaccuracies in how the pads close. To function well, the pads must close evenly around the tone holes with an accuracy of better than 0.01 mm (0.00") If you can see gaps, then your problems are large.

If you do not have a tech handy, then your first acquisition, for diagnosis, has to be a leak light. Search this forum for suggestions, including making your own. I simply use a 4.8 volt, 0.7 amp torch bulb, at the end of a lead, connected to a power supply. Even torch batteries would do.

Then use what mechanical initiative you hopefully have - heating keys to re-adjust pad alignment, &/or bending keys, &/or adjusting the thickness of linkage silencing materials - to deal with all your leaks.