[Svenne]

Hi
just noticed that the tenon reciever soldering on my selmer mark VI 1956 don't seem to stick all around (see the black arrow). I've inherited the horn so I don't know it's history, but it looks like the tenon reciever has been repaired (soldered) before.
It plays wonderful, and the neck seems ok in place. What's the sign when there's a leak in the tenon reciever? Is this critical and needs to be repaired?

thanks
Finn (Denmark)

 

[clarnibass]

A leak from the place the arrow is pointing to won't actually be a neck leak because the sealing is done lower than that. So it isn't actually anywhere in the bore. Although it might work fine, it can eventually cause some issues, like gradually becoming worse and worse, possibly making the tightening ring unsecure and making the post loose, messing up the regsiter mechanism, etc. It's probably a very small risk but it's a risk.

 

[Stephen Howard]

This is a common problem. At some point you'll need to have the clamp ring removed, cleaned and resoldered - trying to spot solder the lifted part seldom works.
It's not a difficult or expensive job.
As Clarnibass says, it won't necessarily cause a leak but there's a chance that the part of the clamp that's hanging free may eventually stretch or distort - so its something that needs to be fixed in the coming months.

In the meantime, don't tighten up the clamp screw too tightly.

Regards,

 

[Svenne]

Thanks. So the function of the clamp ring is mainly to prevent the neck from sliding side to side? It looks like a tech. has tried a spot soldering some time in the the past.

 

[Stephen Howard]

Yes, it is.
The crook should seal perfectly without the clamp beiing tightened up. A lot of player mistakenly assume the clamp is there to make the seal. It's not, it's simply to hold the crook in alignment.
If you try to use it to make the seal it'll fail eventually - which is why it's common to see cracks descending down from the slot in the receiver due the brass having been stretched.

And it doesn't surprise me that it's been spot soldered and come loose again.
To be fair, you can spot solder it - but you have to be scrupuluous in cleaning the joint surfaces...and because you have limited room in which to manouver it takes more time to do half a job than it would to whip the whole lot off and refit it.
I see this a lot with soldered-on tone holes.

Regards,

 

[Chris Peryagh]

The solder joint on the socket ring on MkVIs and others can often come adrift through fatigue, but still doesn't affect the function of the socket screw. And provided the socket ring doesn't rotate as there's a pillar for the 8ve mechanism hard soldered to it, then you shouldn;t have any real trouble so long as your crook tenon fits well in the socket and you don't have to tighten the screw excessively to tighten it up.

If it has to be resoldered (instead of trying to tack the free ends down which won't last), then have it done properly by taking it off completely, cleaning up all the old solder, refitting and resoldering to be sure it doesn't come undone again and also to ensure the 8ve mechanism pillars line up. I've seen a few where they've been soldered back on and the slots don't line up.

An unrelated topic, but what makes me cringe is seeing some alto and more worrying, some tenor players (both inexperienced and well seasoned) holding or carrying their saxes by the crook! This not only increases the likelyhood of bending the crook or the sax body crashing to the ground if the crook comes loose, but it puts enormous stress on the soft solder joints of both the crook tenon and also the socket so the solder joints can often fail at these two points. The crook isn't designed as a handle to carry them around with!

 

[Stephen Howard]

If it has to be resoldered (instead of trying to tack the free ends down which won't last), then have it done properly by taking it off completely, cleaning up all the old solder, refitting and resoldering to be sure it doesn't come undone again and also to ensure the 8ve mechanism pillars line up. I've seen a few where they've been soldered back on and the slots don't line up.

There's a great example of this in my 'Black Museum' - first exhibit, first shot:

http://www.shwoodwind.co.uk/misc/black_museum.htm

Regards,

 

[Chris Peryagh]

There's a great example of this in my 'Black Museum' - first exhibit, first shot:

http://www.shwoodwind.co.uk/misc/black_museum.htm

Regards,

Whoops! How could anyone miss that?

I see you've got Janet Mathews' old Reference 54 alto with the 'tone ripples' in there as well! She got rid of that and now owns a YAS-875EX (after I let her play mine one evening).

 

[Stephen Howard]

D'you happen to know who did the job?

Regards,

 

[Chris Peryagh]

I do indeed. I'll PM you his name - you'll have to clear some space in your inbox so I can do that.