Saxophones Cleaning my sax - am I over doing it?

[thomsax]

I clean/dry every pad after playing with pad papers or pad "swabs". To prevent sticky keys and the pads last longer as well. Pay atteniton to the closed keys. Palm keys, G#, C#. Eb ....

I also make a roll/reel of paper and insert it through the bell and soak up the condensation in the bow. I tilt the sax as well. And it also helps up to keep the swab and pad sawer as dry as possible.After that i use a swab and a pad sawer. The pad sawer is just to keep the tone holes joints dry. So I don't leave the pad saver in the instrument. But when take my sax out from my house I use to insert a pad sawer. I use key clamps as well .... . I clean/dry the neck with strong kitchen paper (roll/reel). I clean my mouthpiece in lukewarm water with some drops of detergent/soap. Dry with paper. If the reed can be used next time I dry it and put it in a reed gard. This takes some extra minutes after playing but I think it's worth it. My friends use to laugh at me when I'm doing this. But I don't laugh at my friends when the are struggling with sticky keys and smelly mouthpieces .... waiting for them to be ready to play!!!!

 

[kevgermany]

Pull through a few times, them in the case. I only leave a pad saver in when I don't have a neck plug. Can't say I've noticed a difference either way. But leaving a wet pad saver in, in a closed case is asking for trouble with mouldy pads.

 

[MarkSax]

I don't use padsavers. However after each session I run a cloth through the body, crook and mpc until dry and leave them out of the case when I am home for a few hours at least. I also pass a chamois on the outside to keep it shiny. Once a year I disassemble and clean everything.

 

[tatooandy67]

After every practice/playing session I tip the body to drain any moisture that's collected in the bell then use a chamois pull through on the body 2 or 3 times then insert my HW padsaver, I have an absorbent pad/bendy brush I pass through the neck a couple of times, I rinse my mouthpiece under a running tap and dry with kitchen towel, my reed gets a quick rinse under the tap and gets put back in its little plastic holder and the outside gets a buff with a soft synthetic chamois type cloth when the finger marks start to bother me.
Edit to add I have vacuumed the case as well (only once so far but I've not had it long)

 

[kevgermany]

I keep a toilet brush specially for cleaning out the bell and bow when I have them in pieces and am trying to get the muck out. Not an issue if the previous owner has swabbed with pull throughs, but if not they can be horrid inside.

 

[Sunray]

I keep a toilet brush specially for cleaning out the bell and bow when I have them in pieces and am trying to get the muck out. Not an issue if the previous owner has swabbed with pull throughs, but if not they can be horrid inside.

I hope the brush is not second-hand like the sax you refer to @kevgermany

 

[kevgermany]

Bought it new. My wife thinks I'm nuts.

 

[Targa]

Bought it new. My wife thinks I'm nuts.

I'm surprised she doesn't think you are clean round the bend.

 

[Ivan]

Pull through body, neck mouthpiece every time

Except bari I where pull through body is an occasional indulgence

No pad saver

No complaints

 

[Nick Wyver]

Cleaning regimen?

 

[kevgermany]

Cleaning regimen?

Part of the army, squaddies keep the barracks, parade ground and mess clean

 

[Jeanette]

If at home it goes back on the stand. If I'm putting it in the case then a pull through and on the stand when I get home.

Mouthpiece always removed from neck, I wash this from time to time , used to do it after each session. Reed if I remember rinsed and back in guard.

I have got quite sloppy with it lately but it doesn't affect my tone!!

Actually in my defence I often intend coming back to play again then get caught up with something else

Jx

 

[MandyH]

Pull through body, neck mouthpiece every time

Except bari I where pull through body is an occasional indulgence

No pad saver

No complaints

I use a pull-through on the neck and mpc on Bari, and use a Hodge swab for the pig-tail (after draining the valve into a cotton hankie)

But all my saxes live on their stand, so as soon as I get home, they are up and on the stand to finish air drying.

All other saxes have a pull through - one for the neck & mpc; another, larger one, for the body.

My Alto has a pad saver (fluffy stick style) which goes in after the pull through. I'm not sure why, except that it was the first sax I had and I got the pad saver early on. TBH it doesn't do anything for the sax - good or bad.

Once in a blue moon, I wash the outside of my saxes, especially the Bari, with a cotton hankie and warm water, plus cotton buds and pipe cleaners as necessary to get into the nooks and crannies.
The Bari suffers from a film of saliva / condensation, especially the upper third of it.

 

[Tenor Viol]

Cleaning regimen?

Definition of regimen

1. 
   1a : a systematic plan (as of diet, therapy, or medication) especially when designed to improve and maintain the health of a patientb : a regular course of action and especially of strenuous training the daily regimen of athletes
   
   
2. 2 : government, rule
   
   
3. 3 : regime 1c

Blame my English Language teacher - ex captain of marines and tough on vocabulary, use of antonyms, synonyms etc...

 

[Vetinari]

How do I clean inside the curly bit on my bari. Tried to get a pull through round it but the gymnastics required were beyond my capabilties. It took 20 mins to get the damn thing back out.

 

[thomsax]

A "Sax Neck Cleaner" (flexible coil with stiff brush on one end and a soft brush at the other end). You can cover the the stiff brush with a cloth. There a differnt types of flexible wire cleaning brushes that can be used on saxes as well. But you must adept the brushes for saxes. A long flexible wire cleaning brush for a Bb tuba (c 1,2 m long) can be used on a barisax to low Bb. Can be used from the neck joint and through the bell.

 

[kevgermany]

Good idea Thom. I've got one for my fish tank that I may use this way.

 

[Stephen Howard]

Pull through a few times, them in the case. I only leave a pad saver in when I don't have a neck plug. Can't say I've noticed a difference either way. But leaving a wet pad saver in, in a closed case is asking for trouble with mouldy pads.

I've been doing that for decades on all my horns, and I've never seen any mould.
That being said, if you're putting the horn away for some time (more than a month or so) it'd be wise to ensure it's completely dry beforehand. It's not so much the pads that will suffer, it's more the horn's finish.

 

[Stephen Howard]

Here's a little tip for frequent users of pull-throughs.

Over time you can get build-up of fibres across the bottom of the body octave key tube. The pull-through, unlike the pad saver, has little or no scouring action - and once it starts laying down fibres they'll continue to build until there's a visible web across the tube.
You might just be able to see it by peering though the top Eb or F toneholes.

This leads to stuffy octave notes and unpredictable tuning - so it's worth cleaning out this tube from time to time.
Easiest way to do it is to poke a small brush down the bore (an old toothbrush will do) and give the tube a bit of a scrub. This should be done when the horn is dry - if you do it when wet, it might push the 'sludge' further up the tube.
For a belt-and-braces job you can finish off with a pipe cleaner - just bend the tip to enable it to go up inside the tube. Be careful not to poke the octave key pad.

 

[Thierry]

All the same for me, sax back in its case after cleaning, stand only used during a practice session.
Also leave that fluffy Vandoren swab inside after I swabbed the horn 3-4 x. If properly dried, no issue; my sax stayed over 10 years in its case with its fluffy bit, no mold.
A small tank of compressed air is also good to eliminate the dust between keys and springs.
Protect all my mouthpieces with a BG neoprene pouch and keep a small fluffy swab in them for ultimate dryness)