Sax on the Web Forum banner

Sax maintenance

1K views 26 replies 11 participants last post by  hornfixer 
#1 ·
Do you all have any links to good articles or videos (not expert village junk) on how to:

Properly clean / polish my sax after use
Do basic technician things like adjusting pad height, fix leaks, spring tension, oil etc...?

Thanks
 
#12 ·
There are actually two "octave" vents on the sax. One is on the neck. It is activated by the thumb octave key.

Second vent is on the upper part of the body. It is activated when you play the G2 note. With the thumb octave key depressed and you press the G key with your left hand ring finger, it will open the "body" octave vent and close the "neck" octave vent. You'll see the body octave vent in the "illustrated sax" link previously provided.

Check it out with your sax and see how the mechanisms interact! Quite a complex little mechanism, that sax is! You're just getting started. Have fun!
 
#13 ·
This is rapidly becoming 'it', good selection of links...

But there's nothing like having a good book propped open in front of you, and Stephens 'Haynes' manual is well worth it !
 
#14 ·
I try a lot of the minor things myself. Somtimes I just can't quite figure it out. (My horn is going into the shop today because of an octave mech issue). But I do successfully repair many minor issues and identify my own leaks etc.

BUT: find a tech that will be your FRIEND. Someone that will talk to you and will treat you and your horn nicely. Because your horn WILL need service and you want it back quickly and repaired well. I have two techs - one in Florida and one in California that I like and trust. And they see my horns at least yearly.
 
#16 ·
I'm sure Stephens manual is awesome but I'm a Linux user and we exhaust every free resource first. :)

I'm not going to be disassembling the horn but more wanting to properly maintain it. Learning how to clean mpc an neck, make adjustments, etc. I hope to find enough info to get this beginner going with simple horn maintenance.
 
#17 ·
Coachz - at under $30 (I assume you're from the US ?), with some good online deals to be found, it's almost a freebie anyway :bluewink:

I'm all for free resources (and Stephen gives away a lot of free info on his website anyway), but life is short and even your own research time is money...

I've some links on one of my own web pages - here's the resources page - scroll down and there's a download link to a pdf 'Repair and Maintanance manual", free, if you're that much of a cheapskate...:mrgreen: heehee
 
#19 ·
you're idea of free and mine are very different. Whenever people tell me how free something is I ask them to buy it for me and all of a sudden the cost is not so trivial. :) I will promise to read it front to back if someone buys it for me. After all "it's almost a freebie anyway"
 
#23 ·
Not at all. I am observing that people frequently try to do things to their saxophones that is beyond their ability or their tools - example: retensioning springs or adjusting key heights - and that there exists a real cost at the repair shop.
 
#25 ·
Coachz - Can't wait for when you have to buy a pad, guess you'll be googling "pad recovering", eh ?

Good luck, I admire your philosophy, having been there myself, and (almost) want to send you a copy of Stephens book - but I think I'll refrain from philanthropic gestures for the moment...
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top