[funbuffalo24]

I've had pads, corks, felts, etc replaced and had key height adjustments made in the past, but I recently picked up my 'almost' dream alto, a '56 Buffet dynaction. When I first received it I could see right away that the Low C guard had bent from a drop and the pad itself & key arm was out of whack, 2 needle springs were missing and all of the keys were pretty grimy and not one single pad was not dried out and cracked. Luckily every single one still had the original minidome steel resonator. My normal technician was super backed up due to school repairs so went to another local tech who also pointed out the Bell brace had pushed into the main stack and slightly bent two holes and after giving me a time frame and a quote I agreed to the repair as noted.. Other than knowing about obviously cleaning everything either ultrasonicly or with chemicals and seating new pads properly Etc, what else should I expect with a complete overhaul and adjustment? Anything else you might suggest he look at?Oldest horn prior to this was an 81 yas62, so this is far and away my first venture into a 'vintage' sax. Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Benny]

You ‘should’ get back a horn that plays like, or better than, a new horn. No issues, no stone left unturned

 

[JayeLID]

It sounds like he did a pretty good assessment actually.

So, the scope of an overhaul (which has some leeway from tech to tech) SHOULD absolutely include:

~ Complete cleaning of all keys, body, and neck (this MAY be just a chem or sonic cleaning followed by a soap wash - personally, on an overhaul I also do a complete hand-polish of keys and body and neck)

~ Dentwork....any significant dents and dings removed...gone if possible, significantly improved to the point of it being irrelevant other than perhaps a very small aesthetic wart, at least (I say this because hehre are certain times where I can only get maybe 75%, 80%, 90% of the dent out...it is for all intents and purposed BACK in GOOD geometry; which is really the ultimate point).
So certainly the keyguard impaction should be corrected, as well as the bellbrace impaction. The bellbrace impaction likely caused a 'banana bend' to the body tube...the tube should be returned to plumb.

~ cleaning and true-ing of all pivot rods

~ all new pads

~ all new corks and felts

~ key swedging (removal of any key play)

~ in your case some spring replacement (although many folks are under a mistaken impression that an overhaul should include ALL new springs. Of all the techs I know, and that'd be over 20 at this point nationwide...none of them will 'automatically' do that on an overhaul unless they assess that the existing springs all need replacing. Usually on an overhaul it is 'replace as necessary'. Any rust should be cleaned off of existing springs, of course).

~ tonehole leveling, all toneholes checked.

~ lubrication

~ regulation (this includes keyheight regulation for intonation)

~ a check that all rollers are free-moving; if not, make them roll freely.

I know I may think of more, but those are the things which pop into my head and I think they are a pretty reasonable expectation when paying for an overhaul.

 

[1saxman]

You 'should' get back a horn that plays like, or better than, a new horn. No issues, no stone left unturned

That would be great. If it actually turns out that way, please let us know.

 

[Dr G]

~ key swedging (removal of any key play)

I know I may think of more, but those are the things which pop into my head and I think they are a pretty reasonable expectation when paying for an overhaul.

Once the keys are swedged (lengthened), it is a good opportunity to square and finish the faces where they touch the posts. This helps reduce friction.

Done well, a horn fresh out of overhaul will likely perform as good as, or better, than the day it left the factory.

 

[JL]

Just to second what several posters above have said, what you should expect when you get the horn back from an overhaul is essentially a brand new horn in terms of playing condition (and maybe better than many new horns which might not have been set up perfectly). However, that assumes a thorough overhaul.

I think Jaye spelled out what is involved in a proper overhaul, but as he also implied, that doesn't mean that every spring, cork, etc, needs to be replaced, as long as all the components that show wear are replaced.

As long as you have a reputable tech who you can trust, you don't need to spell it all out; he/she will know what to do. Tell them you want the horn in TOP playing condition and let them do their job.

 

[funbuffalo24]

As long as you have a reputable tech who you can trust, you don't need to spell it all out; he/she will know what to do. Tell them you want the horn in TOP playing condition and let them do their job.

Honestly I'd never been to this guy before, and my usual tech wasn't sure who in the area currently wasn't swamped with student repairs even in the midst of covid, so I emailed napbirt and asked them for any feedback they could provide. No dice there but my daughter lives out of state and she asked her marching band director and her orchestral teachers who they might know, the replies to her went something along the lines of "No question this is the guy you go to in that area for vintage repairs, unless you want to go to Canada."

So sometime around christmas(at the absolute earliest) I'll get it back, and see how well it went!

 

[JL]

Honestly I'd never been to this guy before...

Yeah, it's a shame there aren't great sax techs everywhere. I guess I'm lucky to live in the SF Bay Area where we have a number of really top quality techs. I go to Lee Kramka of Saxworx and never have to worry about whether he'll do a great job, no matter whether it's an overhaul, changing a pad or two, or anything else.

If there's no one in your area, you could always send the horn out to a reputable tech (like Jaye on here, or a number of others). But it sounds like you've already got it in the shop. Hope it works out well. Let us know.

 

[Hassles]

funbuffalo24 - be sure to post pics of your big grin once your horn is returned

 

[B Flat]

That would be great. If it actually turns out that way, please let us know.

The only reason it wouldn't is because the term overhaul is so miss used by so many.
New pads and an adjustment isn't an overhaul.
If your paying $500 for it, it's not an overhaul (I don't care who the technician is).
There are actually very few technicians who can properly perform a full overhaul regardless of what they say.

 

[Hassles]

anybody you'd care to recommend here in Melbourne town?

 

[musekatcher]

You've got to ID a good tech, otherwise you are wasting your time, and potentially risking some irreversible damage. Having had new and used horns, and having used bad and good techs, there is great merit in the belief that a good tech can have a horn playing better than when it was new. I value my tech more than my horns really. He can and has made $350 horns play like a dream. A poorly setup master pro horn is inferior in comparison. With a sax, its all about the operating condition, which is all about the last tech that it saw.

 

[Pete Thomas]

unless you want to go to Canada."

 

[saxoclese]

I wrote a post several years ago with my thoughts on this topic.

Grading your repair tech's work on a complete overhaul

 

[funbuffalo24]

I just got my Buffet back today 3 weeks ahead of schedule, figured I'd share my first impression:

Played it over the past hour with my default Selmer classic metal C mpc, Selmer "standard" B, an as yet unplayed by me Vandoren perfecta 3, and a Vandoren AL3 Optimum, all with a fresh unmodified blue box 3.5 reed.

All the repairs came out exquisitely well, and had Prestini premium pads installed. All the original resos were restored and reinstalled, tone holes leveled, etc The key action is even lighter and faster than my Yamaha altos(stainless springs) but they spring back super quick with less felt pushback than my nicest tenor with blued springs does. I noticed with every mpc there felt like a little more resistance than 'my usual', also the volume seemed quieter but I seem to be able to funnel more air through to increase the volume without a similar mpc setup on my yammer sounding...off/brighter? Yanked out the 52 to do a comparison and it def seems as if the horn is more freeblowing than the Buffet. Dunno how a mpc can 'feel' more resistant on one horn than another other than the neck bore perhaps, but maybe that's just my inexperience? I thought the "dark" tone the Dynaction's famous for was not all that much different from what I'd already been hearing on my yas-23 and 52 and had been searching for by getting this horn, until... I hit C4, B3, Bb3. Holy Moses. They now make my upper teeth vibrate and purr, I even made sure it wasn't due to maybe not having switched out some of the thin teeth guards for thicker ones; nope! This thing on the low end is a vibrating bass Monster! I'm not at all even close to being good at hitting consistent altissimo notes either, but my high f# actually spoke out fairly clean for the first time in awhile with the first fingering with each mouthpiece too!

All in all, I'm very very happy with the overhaul so far, and I'm hard pressed to see where most of the repair work was, the only downside is that in conversation the guy tells me he's retiring in July. Sigh. It does make me wonder if I can find a good DA or SDA tenor to pit against my yts-875 someday soon. Added some pics for droolery, and thanks for the replies earlier, everyone!