Do any other players of Selmer SAII soprano sax find that they are constantly having to blow moisture out of the octave hole just below the mouthpiece? Has any one found a DIY solution for this problem? I'm trying a rubber band around the bore between mouthpiece and octave pip to act as a "drip rail" at the moment - seems to work so far but looks bad. I'm wondering if my repairer could solder a small plate at right angle to the bore to do the same job. Any ideas?
I think he's referring to how some straight single neck sopranos have the octave mechanism on the underside (as opposed to the top like dual neck models)
There was a thread a while back that discussed how the octave pip was getting plugged up on a straight Yanagisawa. I think Dave Dolson was part of that discussion. I think the solution in that thread was to build up a dam around the pip to prevent moisture from plugging it. I can't find it since I'm on my phone, but I know it's been discussed on here.
I used vaseline petroleum jelly to form a moisture-diversion above the upper octave vent inside the horn. It was a fixed-straight necked Yanagisawa S901. I'd never had that problem before that horn. Now, my two gigging sopranos are straight fixed-neck sopranos and neither one has that problem.
The vaseline dam helped but didn't solve it . . . selling the horn did. DAVE
Thanks for the comments guys. The mouthpiece fits the cork tightly. I do get some spittle coming down on the outside but I hadn't considered that the problem might be due to moisture running down inside the bore. Yes either way, the problem arises from the fact that the hole is on the underside of the bore directly in line with the underside of the mpc
Once I considered the possibility that the problem was caused by moisture running down inside the bore rather than outside I had a look and realised there was some gunge around the pip that protrudes into the bore. This seem to have been letting moisture run into the hole because since I've given it a good clean with a pipe brush the problem seems to have gone away. Fingers crossed it's solved. Thanks for your input
You found the source of the problem, rest assured. Keep the upper bore clean by running a silk swab through it and occasionally treating it with an oboe brush/swab set made by Micro. I too have an SA-80II sop, great horn!
Good point as the crud may be making a ramp to push the water into the sleeve under the pip.
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