[simso]

Hi folks, Ive looked at a few of the sax repair stands and what a luxury they would be, but there not cheap. The two Ive looked at are the votaw tool one from the states and the unit from saxrax in the united kingdom. Either one purchased and shipped to australia costs in excess of 600 aust. Defnietly not a feasable option so it was back to using the lap and the bench. This morning I got up and said stuff it Im going to make one myself, 6 hours late of cutting grinding swearing burning myself ect produced the following results. Its not painted yet and Ive got to make a couple of custom pad inserts, I just taped some padding into place, but yeee-hah, it works a treat and makes life so simple, under 30 seconds to fit a sax in or remove it. Ive made mandrels while I was making a mess to fit bass and alto clarinets into it as well and the soprano sax, so its an all in one unit..

Heres a pic of my new pride and joy

 

[Gordon (NZ)]

Well done.

However, I'm interested in a report, after significant use, as to which jobs, if any, it actually makes quicker or easier than using one's lap, where one can quickly move a sax into ANY position, without obstruction, very quickly, dozens of times during most servicing work. I look forward to that.

 

[clarnibass]

Nice stand! But actually I agree with Gordon and I think a stand (any type) is much less comfortable than putting the sax on your lap.

 

[simso]

Thanks guys, yeh your probably right, you may not be able to achieve much more than you do using your lap, but after seeing one and deciding I wanted it, there was no going back, and then making it myself means I can modify alter design whatever I want into it. I can see some advantages when the time comes to resolder a post ect but Im still tickled pink, so I guess I wont see any disadvantages for a while.
Heres a follow up pic of a bass clarinet that I havent got around to finishing installed, just uses mandrels in the main mount points

Steve

 

[Gordon (NZ)]

I agree, probably better than a lap for soldering, and certainly better for hand polishing a silver body - something I have actually never done.

 

[jbtsax]

Great job. I haven't used one myself but I know several techs who swear by them for working on the larger saxophones. I am assuming that the rod that supports the neck receiver is hollow to allow the insertion of a leak light. Let us know how you like it once you have had a chance to use it for a while.

John

 

[crashkahuna]

Really nice! Any way to get a leak light thru the neck end?

 

[clarnibass]

polishing a silver body - something I have actually never done.

You've never polished yourself?

Yes Sismo the stand is probably better for soldering and possibly other stuff but for most (95%) things, probably just about anything that involves the keys in some way, I think putting it on your lap or table is more comfortable. The stand is just too restricting. Not that it isn't cool that you built it!

 

[ChuBerry47]

I would certainly Build, or purchase one of these!

 

[stitch]

I would certainly Build ... one of these!

Me too. It's been on my list for a while!

 

[tictactux]

Cool thing.
But I'm more the Gordonesque type who does things in the lap or with a little help of the beer bulge. A great addition is a bean pillow (or something to the effect of "punch and place"). Just be sure it's not easily flammable.

 

[simso]

Thanks for the comments folks, as you can guess Im pretty chuffed with it. Yes a leak light can fit in , the neck mandrel has been bored out to allow the light to slide on home. My 13 year old son lost his job recently, it ws a paper round, they required him to wear a gps tracking device as part of his job requirement, I told them to get stuffed. He now comes into the shed on a saturday and helps out to earn some cash. I set up a couple of clarinets on the stand for him to sort out any leaks and he whipped straight through them no issues, worked out really good becuase we both had our hands free as we were doing things, he identified the leaks and removed the damaged corks on the jig and then I popped of the keys and repadded them and showed him how it all worked, so this alone means it has paid for itself. Cost about 40 bucks in materials, so thats trivial, but yes it does take up some room on the bench
Steve

 

[tictactux]

(...) required him to wear a gps tracking device as part of his job requirement.

I know this is off topic, but *** is that all about?

 

[simso]

Gps tracking device.... Yes well whay can I say, the company that he worked for said a condition of employment now is he and all the other kids that deliver the papers must wear this device so they know that the papers have all been delivered during the allocated time periods, at completion of paper rounds a condition of getting paid is that the gps must have been turned on during the rounds or they wont get paid. They had to sign a new workplace contract to say they agreed to these terms or they didnt have a job, as you can guess I told them to jam the job after all he and his sister only got about 30 bucks total to fold and deliver the papers to 300 houses which takes about 8 hours each. So slave labour at under 2 bucks an hour and we want to track you, as you can imagine, I told them exactly what I thought. We didnt mind him originally doing it becuase it instills some work ethic into them and they have some spare cash as well.
Now what Ive done is I have some contacts for used equipment, so we purchase some of that, let him fix a piece each week under supervision, make sure it works and then sell it for him and he keeps the profits. So in the end it worked out better for him.
Steve

 

[Jonathan C.]

If he is 13, then he can not legally sign any inforcable contract. Just slightly illeagil.

~Carbs

Edit: What happened to min. wage?

 

[simso]

Yeh australia has recently gone to ****, the current government have been in power for that long they lost touch with reality. A while back they changed all the employment laws and said that an employer has the right to set conditions of employment. That means an employer that hires someone the day after the new legislation came in can negotiate the new workplace contract, if they dont want you to have a meal break then your not entitled to one, if they dont want to pay you shift allowance then you dont get any, if they want you to work at any time of the day or week then you have to at no penalty rates, if they dont want to give you annual leave then they dont have to. Now any one that was employed before the legislation came in still had rights, but under the new legislation you had none, Dont like it dont have a job. Now they screwed the working person one step further by saying that an employer with less than 100 employess can sack an employee for no reason. So as you can imagine employers sacked employees straight after the new rulings came in and then rehired them on the new system with no entitlements, and if you didnt like it go elsewhere, the governemtn also allowed it easier to get chinese labour into australia, so the whole country has gone to ****. Now the government party is up for election again and there trying to do some damage control by small amendments to the act trying to return some basic employee rightand by running million dollar ad campaigns, but the countrys had a gut full of them and there gone hopefully.

 

[Jonathan C.]

Best of luck. Nice stand by the way.

~Carbs

 

[tictactux]

slave labour at under 2 bucks

<shakes head> unbelievable. And I reckon zero insurance, health plan, unemployment money, ... <shudder>

I congratulate you to your plan to refurbish instruments - that'll train a lot more senses than just tossing papers over fences. (I do not want to belittle that kind of job, don't get me wrong)

 

[Gordon (NZ)]

You've never polished yourself?

Well yes, I have. I tried out several shades of that RubnBuff on my thumb and thumb nail.

The silver made it look like those frozen-still buskers in silver, who move in slow motion like robots, for a donation, in the entrance to a mall. Do you have them?

 

[jbtsax]

Well yes, I have. I tried out several shades of that RubnBuff on my thumb and thumb nail.

The silver made it look like those frozen-still buskers in silver, who move in slow motion like robots, for a donation, in the entrance to a mall. Do you have them?

Sounds a bit kinky to me, Gordon old chap.