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Philsaxophone
Member
Hi,
I have posted an issue on the Sax on the web which is about a problem I found on the crook of a MKVI Tenor
http://forum.saxontheweb.net/showthread.php?147036-A-humbling-lesson-well-learnt
Well, this might have a happy ending after all.
As some of you pointed out, selling a MKVI is not to be done lightly so I blindfolded the wife and played both saxes with an identical mouthpiece / reed combination and both slow mellow and fast bright songs
Which did she like the best--the Mauriat--so it wouldnt have been such a major problem telling her I was going to sell her birthday present
When I asked her why she prefered the Mauriat she said it was obvious that I was struggling a bit to play the MKVI especially the low notes which tended to burble and that the upper register seemed out of tune
No suprises there then as thats what I thought too
However when she helped me pack the MKVI away she noticed something that I had not noticed in the year I had been playing it
I had always looked for problems with the keywork, pads etc but she noticed an issue with the crook
At the end where the mouthpiece fits the whole was not symetrical--at one point the edge was extremely thin whereas the rest of the hole was the same thichness all round--the thin part was about a quarter of the thickness of the rest
When I looked closley I saw that the problem only went for about a quarter of an inch down the tube and then everything was OK--it seemed that the area of the fault curved slightly outwards towards the rim
The thin part was exactly at the bottom of the hole--opposite site to the octave key--- which I assumed is where the join is when it was manufactured
Was this a manufacturing fault or some sort of dodgy repair because I also noticed a slight black line where the metal thinned like you might get if some metal had been added
So what to do--would it make a difference??
What I did was get a small pencil and wrap some very fine emery paper round it and very gently curver the hole out from about a quater inch in the tube to try to replicate the area where it was thin
Now, I havent done it anywhere near as much as the thin area as I was too scared to but I now have just the last quater inch with a slight curve that matches the one in the faulty area
I'm sure some of you will tell me I've wrecked the horn and killed the resale value but the money was never the point
Mouthpiece on and see what happens--unbelievable difference!!!
Bottom notes pop out as clear as anything and its in tune in the uppper octave
I'm not going to do any more work on it to match with the very thin part unless a tech out there tells me its the right thing to do
I now have a wonderfull sounding MKVI--super sultry when played softly and still mellow when pushed
How can such a little thing make such a difference??
Any tech with an answer???
I just wondered if anyone else had experienced the problem and what your thoughts are on whether to do a better fix
I have posted an issue on the Sax on the web which is about a problem I found on the crook of a MKVI Tenor
http://forum.saxontheweb.net/showthread.php?147036-A-humbling-lesson-well-learnt
Well, this might have a happy ending after all.
As some of you pointed out, selling a MKVI is not to be done lightly so I blindfolded the wife and played both saxes with an identical mouthpiece / reed combination and both slow mellow and fast bright songs
Which did she like the best--the Mauriat--so it wouldnt have been such a major problem telling her I was going to sell her birthday present
When I asked her why she prefered the Mauriat she said it was obvious that I was struggling a bit to play the MKVI especially the low notes which tended to burble and that the upper register seemed out of tune
No suprises there then as thats what I thought too
However when she helped me pack the MKVI away she noticed something that I had not noticed in the year I had been playing it
I had always looked for problems with the keywork, pads etc but she noticed an issue with the crook
At the end where the mouthpiece fits the whole was not symetrical--at one point the edge was extremely thin whereas the rest of the hole was the same thichness all round--the thin part was about a quarter of the thickness of the rest
When I looked closley I saw that the problem only went for about a quarter of an inch down the tube and then everything was OK--it seemed that the area of the fault curved slightly outwards towards the rim
The thin part was exactly at the bottom of the hole--opposite site to the octave key--- which I assumed is where the join is when it was manufactured
Was this a manufacturing fault or some sort of dodgy repair because I also noticed a slight black line where the metal thinned like you might get if some metal had been added
So what to do--would it make a difference??
What I did was get a small pencil and wrap some very fine emery paper round it and very gently curver the hole out from about a quater inch in the tube to try to replicate the area where it was thin
Now, I havent done it anywhere near as much as the thin area as I was too scared to but I now have just the last quater inch with a slight curve that matches the one in the faulty area
I'm sure some of you will tell me I've wrecked the horn and killed the resale value but the money was never the point
Mouthpiece on and see what happens--unbelievable difference!!!
Bottom notes pop out as clear as anything and its in tune in the uppper octave
I'm not going to do any more work on it to match with the very thin part unless a tech out there tells me its the right thing to do
I now have a wonderfull sounding MKVI--super sultry when played softly and still mellow when pushed
How can such a little thing make such a difference??
Any tech with an answer???
I just wondered if anyone else had experienced the problem and what your thoughts are on whether to do a better fix
