Yts-61 Silver Plating

3105 Views 18 Replies 7 Participants Last post by Gordon (NZ), Mar 18, 2007

Hersch17

Discussion Starter · Mar 14, 2007

I have just purchased a Yamaha YTS-61 and would like to experiment with the horn.

1. Being that the horn isn't worth a great deal to start, other than resale value what other reasons are there for NOT having the horn plated.

2. Would this mean having to replace all of the springs?

3. I have done plenty repair work to other horns (mostly student horns) would it be beneficial to me (cost wise) to have the horn dis-assembled already.

4. Who should do the buffing on the horn before it's plated, the plating shop, or a repair tech?

5. If I wanted to have it engraved, when should I have that done? Before the plating but after buffing? After buffing and plating? or before any thing is done?

I am very interested to know your opinions.

Thank you,
Herschel McWilliams:treble:

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divisi

· #2 · Mar 14, 2007

Hersch,
I have done what you are asking.
1. If you want a silver horn there is no reason to not have it plated.
2. No you do not have to replace all of the springs if you are careful and you label everything.
3. When I did it, I disassembled and stripped the lacquer myself. It can be done if you know how to do it and keep every thing well organized.
4. Buffing... I would say not to do it. Hand polish if you want burnished. Or better yet have the horn glass beaded for a "frost" finish so you don't have to buff and loose metal.
5. Engrave before the plating. If you buff after the buff. If you glass bead it can be masked.

There are Tricks of the Trade that can be used. If you know a good tech see if you can work out a deal where he can supervise and make sure you know the best way of doing things.

Best of luck

Hersch17

Discussion Starter · #3 · Mar 14, 2007

sounds good.. where I look to find someone to glass bead it for me. There are plating companies around.. could they do it? What other industry would use that process? Also, Just for kicks I may have it cryo treated after taking it apart, any thoughts there.

Gordon (NZ)

· #4 · Mar 14, 2007

IMHO:

Buffing is the same as hand polishing. One is far quicker than the other. Because the other is slower, the operator has more control.

If you take the springs out carefully, and have a method of knowing where they came from, then there is no reason to have to replace them.

Hand Polishing is not "burnishing". Burnishing consists of rubbing a surface with a tool with a very hard, very smooth surface. Polish has abrasive of some sort in it, and puts minute valleys and ridges over the surface. Burnishing attempts to push those ridges into the valleys, for the most superior surface possible. One would not contemplate this on an area the size of a sax, and a lot of experience is required to get a non-rippled. It is used more in the jewellery trade.

Buffing needs to be done by an experienced buffer WHO YOU CAN TRUST! Whether that be a technician or associated with the plater.

During buffing it is very easy for an un-caring, or inexperienced person to drastically thin the metal in places, and to quickly chew away metal in vital locations such as tone hole edges, resulting in non-level tone holes. This is unlikely to happen with hand polishing.

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Gordon (NZ)

· #5 · Mar 14, 2007

"Also, Just for kicks I may have it cryo treated after taking it apart, any thoughts there."

There are huge heap of thoughts out there, and they have all been expressed in here. Use the forum ("advanced"?) search facility at the top of the page to find them, using both the words cryo and cryogenic.

DougR

· #6 · Mar 14, 2007

I've got a YTS61 - and its engraved already.

Hersch17

Discussion Starter · #7 · Mar 14, 2007

Mine is engraved too..I would just like to have some extra stuff done.. I'm kind of going for the over the top gawdy look...

divisi

· #8 · Mar 14, 2007

check out:
http://www.andersonsilverplating.com/band_instrument.html
That is who plated mine......did a great job.

Dave Dolson

· #9 · Mar 14, 2007

Hersch: Why don't you take it up with Jason Dumars, noted engraver here on SOTW? He can tell you how he prefers to do it. DAVE

wessexmusic

· #10 · Mar 15, 2007

I am a sax tech from England & I teach sax repair at a school over here. I play a 1978 Selmer MkVII tenor at the moment. I had a scrap 61 tenor that I decided to experiment on, I tore it to pieces, swedged all the keywork then sent it away to be polished & re-laquered, I then replaced the springs with blue steel, padded it with black roo skin pads with gold noyex resonators, & for the silver I fitted a solid silver Yanagisawa neck, if I was to do it again I wouldn't bother with the re-laquer, didn't affect the sound just cost more than it was worth doing. The other stuff all made positive changes to the playing & feel of the horn.

Gary

wessexmusic

· #11 · Mar 15, 2007

I am a sax tech from England my store is Wessex Music Ltd (www.wessexmusic.com) & I teach sax repair at a school over here. I play a 1978 Selmer MkVII tenor at the moment. I had a scrap YTS61 tenor that I decided to experiment on, I tore it to pieces, swedged all the keywork then sent it away to be polished & re-laquered, I then rebuilt it, replaced the springs with blue steel, re-padded it using black roo skin pads with gold noyex resonators & for the silver I fitted a solid silver Yanagisawa neck with underslung octave key (looks cool!) if I was to do it again I wouldn't bother with the re-laquer, didn't affect the sound just cost more than it was worth doing. The other stuff all made positive changes to the playing & feel of the horn.

Gary

bruce bailey

· #12 · Mar 16, 2007

Rather than buffing, I prefer to use a #2000 black emery paper with water. You can see the scratches as you work and it really gives a smooth surface. This is the same way quality lacquer auto painting is prepared for polishing. I use this for the finish work on silver and gold flutes I build.

Hersch17

Discussion Starter · #13 · Mar 16, 2007

that sounds good...

ALSO, the keywork and posts on the horn are all nickel plated. Would it be easier to leave them as such rather than trying to replate over that?

DougR

· #14 · Mar 16, 2007

That could be a bit of an adventure - speak to your plater.

How did a 61 come to have Nickel plated posts?

Hersch17

Discussion Starter · #15 · Mar 16, 2007

I have no idea... I may just leave them. I do know that this is one of the first 61's made 6,xxx serial number. So they could have easily changed it after the first year or so.. But it seems strange to me.. Which is part of the reason I want to have the whole thing redone anyway.

DougR

· #16 · Mar 16, 2007

Is there an "A" on the end of the serial number?

Hersch17

Discussion Starter · #17 · Mar 17, 2007

I don't remember.. what would that indicate?

DougR

· #18 · Mar 18, 2007

Assembled in America.

There was a brief period in the 1970s when event the 6 series were assembled in the USA....
We used to have a nice guy (W. Minier) who worked in the Yam. Grand Rapids plant and had assembled his own YTS61 - fund of knowledge - but I've not read one of his posts in a while.

Gordon (NZ)

· #19 · Mar 18, 2007

He left SOTW because some ignoramus here was so publicly insulting towards him.

1 - 19 of 19 Posts

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