My new sax and where do I put the smartwater?

[Pauline]

Polite answers only please! 🙂

Well. after several months of struggling with the prelude tenor - nice instrument but palm keys too big for my left hand - I found the time to buy a new one.
Armed with a sizeable chunk of my inheritance I travelled to Wood, Wind and Reed in Cambridge and chose a Selmer Series II
Fits my hand and has a fantastic sound!

I've got it insured and the insurers have sent me a bottle of Smartwater to identify it.
Now, it says put it where the police could find it but preferably not on a shiny place :S

Any suggestions??
And how much? It says small amount but how small?

thanks,
Pauline

 

[Linky Lee]

well unless you bought it in matte finish or it's been unlacquered it's all shiny! maybe the inside of the bell flare? I wouldn't really know. Maybe call the insurance company and ask?

 

[Saxlicker]

WOW!!!!

I'm not Jealous 😛
I think you have made a great choice. They look gorgeous. Something about the Selmer look does it for me on modern saxes.

I wouldn't have a clue where to put the smart water though.

 

[Pete Thomas]

I am about to do the same thing, I think under the LH G# or under the octave key.

Congrats on the horn, a nice one!

 

[Semiquaver]

Stop, stop, stop.

Before you do anything please check with Smartwater that this substance will not ruin your instrument.

Then check with the insurance company exactly what mark they want you to put post code etc.

I was a police officer for 20 years and have been in the security/ crime prevention field for another 10.

Smartwater to me, means a unique DNA type solution that is used for forensic identification not basic property marking. I don't know what its make up is but you do not want it taking off the protective layer off your valuable instrument.

I am in my office at the moment and shortly have to go home. If you can wait a little while I will try and do some research on this and advise you later.

Maybe tomorrow, maybe after the week end.

Please wait. I can help.

 

[old_git]

Pauline,
Have you ever considered a suave, public school educated mature male as a sax playing friend and well worthy of the long term loan of a Selmer Series 2?
Well I had to try.

Later thoughts:-Would you like to pm me your address and when you will be out, not playing of course, before you Smartwater it. After all, when the insurance company pays out, you'll be able to buy another one but please, do not show them this posting.
All pure, innocent thoughts................ 😉
post script:-Would you like to correspond with a Nigerian web pen friend?

 

[Djangette]

<ignorant, never heard of smartwater

Are the ultra-violet pens OK? Inside bell?

 

[griff136]

I would carefully unscrew any or all of your keyguards including the clothes guard on the bottom stack.

the underside of these usually are not lacquered.

 

[Rogerb]

I thought, as has been suggested, that smartwater was meant to be sprayed on the miscreants, rather than the products?

UV pens are more often used for the latter, aren't they?

 

[Pete Thomas]

Rogerb wrote:
I thought, as has been suggested, that smartwater was meant to be sprayed on the miscreants, rather than the products?

UV pens are more often used for the latter, aren't they?

You're thinking of the stuff that stains bad people yellow.

This is a unique identifier, like DNA, which is applied to the instrument and can be matched up with a barcode.

 

[old_git]

Pauline,
Amongst all this well meaning advice, may I take it that the lack of response means a "No."? 😉

 

[Semiquaver]

Pauline,

I have spoken to the technical boffins at Smartwater and they have said...

It may not adhere to a laquered surface.

It will leave a slight discolourment.

Best application is a few very small dots and not a big smudge (my words)

If the police find your insrument they will send it to smartwater who will take sample of your application, trace you through their data base and give your details to police.

You could also mark the case as sax and case will probably stay together after theft and police/smartwater will look there as well.

The leaflet that Peter supplied above has most of this info in but they did stress to read carefully.

I will add that don't forget to record the serial number as this is also a very good identification mark, although it can be removed.

You could also take pictures of the sax and keep them along with the serial number and any marks or blemishes that make it unique.

The stickers are a good deterent. Stick them on your case as well.

Non of this answeres your original question. I think i would check with insurance company and ask if the case is sufficient. You are no doubt getting reduced premium by applying it but do they stipulate where.

I hope i have helped you and not made things worse. I did not wish to worry you. I just did not want you to inadvertantly do something you might later regret.

 

[peter_fitton]

Congrats Pauline. A Selmer Series 11 wow! Did it play ok 'out of the box' or did it need some setting up? I hear that Selmers need a lot of setting up normally, which is a bit of a b-mmer considering they cost so much.

If money was no object I'd love a Selmer, but the setting up issue and the fact that only the VERY expensive ones come with a case does put me off a little bit.

No idea about the Smartwater I'm afraid. I know that sax.co.uk can fit some sort of 'tracking device' to new saxes. Might be worth looking into that as a better option, I would have thought.

Hope you have loads of fun with the new sax.

Cheers

Peter

 

[david_tannahill]

Hi Pauline,

Nice sax, did you try many. It's a funny place at wwr- they are very nice but i don't think they do themselves justice upstairs as it is a bit higgldy-piggldy! When I got my smart water- I put it on the reverse of the left hand table keys, inside the bell (deepish so you couldn't see the mark) and on the inside of the key guards. It does seem to leave a residue so if you are concerned apply it where it isn't noticeable. Enjoy your new sax.

 

[Pauline]

Thanks everyone for your replies! Under the keys seems a good idea.

I have been without internet access since last Thursday (long story!) and am now on holiday in London and have just managed to get a few minutes in an internet cafe.

Semiquaver - thank you very much for all your effort - much appreciated!

Sorry OG but this sax is mine!

Peter - Wood, Wind and Reed supplied their own case (and a nice solid one it is) at no extra cost.


I will post a better reply when I get home at the weekend.
Thanks again!

 

[jazzzzz8]

Oh OG she's blown you out; fair play for trying OG.

 

[Pauline]

Well back home now but still no internet access until later in the week.
Someone moved into the area and applied to BT for a phone etc but gave the wrong postcode (ours!) This resulted in no landline for a week and now no internet for two weeks while Tesco run checks again on the line!

Rant over and so back to the point.......

David - they are lovely at WW&R but you have to take your chances as to what they might have in though I did ring up a week before to discuss what I was interested in.

Apart from that, being a beginner and rather a nervous person I was looking for a shop with friendly and sympathetic staff and that is exactly what I found there. (Sax.co.uk would have been ideal but just too far away for me to get to.)

I think it was Daniel I saw and he spent a lot of time with me trying different mouthpieces, reeds, harnesses etc. He said I had a nice fat sound and a good ear which made me feel encouraged.

In the end I discounted the Yamaha because it was too big for my hands and then it was a choice between the Yanis and the Selmer.
It was a hard decision because the Yanis are so light and the octave mechanism is so amazing - the sax almost plays itself!
BUT, in my opinion the Selmer sounded so much better!
So..... very easy playing or sound???
I had to go for the sound as I will only do this once. It might have been nice to try more saxes but I have no regrets. I was surprised how much my husband, who knows nothing about music or instruments was enthusing over the sound! (Though he wouldn't say anything until I did as he didn't want to influence me) It makes me sound a much better player than I am! I haven't really done any serious practice on it yet because I have been having so much fun playing all the tunes I already know!

Peter - I believe it was already set up in the shop and in fact they lightened the keys a bit for me while I was there. They also recorked it as the cork was too loose for my Yam 4C.

Semiquaver - I've now had time to read your post properly. Some great advice there that I will take onboard. Again, I can't thank you enough for taking the trouble to find out for me. You are a star!!

Thanks everyone !
Pauline

 

[peter_fitton]

Sorry to hear about your net problems, Pauline. I've just managed to get rid of a serious trojan problem, which kinda made huge parts of the net impossible to use, so I understand some of your frustration.

As you've upgraded from very much a budget sax to a top notch professional horn, I'd love to know whether you feel there is a huge difference between them. Is the Selmer just a significant improvement or is it in a completely different league altogether?

I ask because I was told by a music shop guy a while ago that if I traded in my T James Classic Tenor for the SML Pro horn he was selling (which turned out to be a 'stencil' job & not a 'real' SML at all) that the difference would be so staggering that I would scarcely be able to believe it (well, I paraphrase but that was the gist of it).

Ever since then I've had this fanciful notion that if I got a top-notch sax my foghorn tone would suddenly transform into something beautiful and I'd actually sound like a half-decent player lol.

Anyway, keep enjoying the sax 🙂

Cheers

Peter

 

[Pauline]

Peter - I would say significant rather than staggering.

Actually the prelude is quite a nice instrument and has quite a good sound. I would have been content with that for a long while if I could have got my hands around it better.

The Selmer, though, IS richer and more mellow and (either it does it itself or it is easier for me to do it) the notes tail off nicely rather than just stopping. It does make me me sound a better player than I am!
Apart from the sound it is just beautiful and feels nice to hold and play, but this is all subjective. Someone with bigger hands might feel cramped for instance.

As for the internet access - we are now on pay-as-you-go dialup until the 23rd June when broadband should be restored so using the internet at home is difficult and very very slow.

However, this problem has now paled into insignificance as I have discovered a potentially serious health problem and am awaiting a fast track hospital appointment .......

Pauline

 

[jadoube]

Hope you get that fast track to the hospital quickly. Good Luck.

When I suddenly discovered a health problem (cancer) I found focussing on a relaxed mental approach helped - both in terms of my own feelings/fears and (at least in my imagination) slowing the problem down. If you think techniques to aid relaxation would be of use for you PM me and I'll send stuff.

John