Neck Pull Down.

[Alley Cat]

A recently acquired alto arrived with a pulled down neck. It's not so bad that I could live with it but it's
also not so bad that, in the right skilled hands, it could be rectified. Sadly, the last time I asked a repairer to correct a neck suffering from the same condition he simply yanked the neck up by hand with the consequence that the sides split. I could probably have achieved the same result myself.

Anyway, my question is........ has anyone on this wondrous forum actually had a pulled down neck successfully repaired by someone who has the tooling/skills and some track record and experience at performing this particular repair ?

On a less civilised saxophone forum than this one I read of techs able to restore necks using dents balls etc back to "like new" but they are all based in the US. Surely, there must be someone with similar skills here in the UK ? Any recommendtions will be very much appreciated. Thank you.

 

[kevgermany]

Hi, welcome to the forum.

Can't answer your question, but there are two well respected members who're sax repairers, Griff and Stephen Howard. Hopefully one of them will pick up on this.

 

[saxnik]

Hi CA, and welcome.

Where are you based? I know a few repairers who might be able to help in the Midlands...

Nick

 

[Alley Cat]

Many thanks for your speedy replies ! In answer to Saxnik, I'm prepared to travel to have the job done by a repairer who has successfully carried out this procedure in the past so my location is not so important in this case. Ideally, I'd love to hear from someone that they recently had a crook expertly corrected and for them to give me the repairer's contact details.

 

[saxomophone]

Slightly off topic but can anyone tell me how to recognise a "pulled down" neck?
I've heard the term a lot but never a description of the result.

 

[Alley Cat]

Right on topic I'd say. Usually, but not always, caused by downward pressure on the neck while putting on the mouthpiece while the neck is in the sax instead of before inserting the crook into the body. It looks like it sounds...........the neck points down further than it should because the tube that the neck is formed from has been squashed or flattened. Really ought to be called "pushed down neck"

 

[saxomophone]

Thanks for the info Conn Artist - is there a visible result of this? Do you get creasing on the underside of the neck?
I mean - how do you know what angle the neck was originally if looking at a horn for the first time?

 

[Alley Cat]

Thanks for the info Conn Artist - is there a visible result of this? Do you get creasing on the underside of the neck?
I mean - how do you know what angle the neck was originally if looking at a horn for the first time?

With a tenor the mouthpiece end should be more or less at a right angle to the body so a damaged neck will be pointing down noticeably with the sides of the first, largest, bend flattened and wider than normal. I think you'd find it obvious if you were handling the instrument. With an alto, the bend is flattened and wider than it should be. Yes, it's only very thin brass so in extreme examples you will get creasing and even cracking on the sides. Fortunately, my problem neck is not that far gone. The usual way to deal with cracks is to solder a brass patch over the crack. I've heard it said that these patches can "darken" the tone because there's more ........... well you know....it just goes on and on............

 

[Taz]

Griff is your man, he's got some great feedback from loads of people who've had work done by him, to a very high standard. I'm in the Midlands and I'm trying to find a way of getting my tenor down to him in the near future, he's in the Southampton area.
Paul Warner has just had a dent removed from the bottom bow of a horn by young Griff.

 

[Alley Cat]

Griff is your man, he's got some great feedback from loads of people who've had work done by him, to a very high standard. I'm in the Midlands and I'm trying to find a way of getting my tenor down to him in the near future, he's in the Southampton area.
Paul Warner has just had a dent removed from the bottom bow of a horn by young Griff.

Thanks Taz. Maybe I ought to ask Griff if he might be interested looking at this neck and giving me his thoughts as to whether he thinks it would a suitable case for treatment. Where in the Midlands are you ?

 

[Pyrografix]

Griff is your man........................I'm trying to find a way of getting my tenor down to him in the near future

I posted my tenor to him for service/check-up, and got it back in less than a week- from one end of the country to the other. Unbeatable service!

 

[jonf]

Griff is your man, he's in the Southampton area.

Err, no he's not. He's in Devon, and one day a week in Croydon.

I can vouch for his work, though. Great, and rates reasonable. A top banana.

 

[Young Col]

Griff (forum name griff136) has almost certainly done this kind of work and I too can vouch for him. Top man. Stephen Howard has great repute too (and he wrote the Haynes Sax manual). Probably others in UK and no reason to doubt Thomas, but I have no first hand experience of them.
YC

 

[Alley Cat]

Thank you Thomas. Peter Jessen is just the sort of expert craftsman that I'm looking for. I can't truthfully claim to have met every woodwind repairer in the UK but in my experience many of them are simply not required to develop their skills beyond repading and minor repairs. I realise I maybe challenged on that rather sweeping statement but I believe it's true. How often is the average woodwind repairer asked to
make a new neck ? That level of skill, and the tooling required to service, it would be beyond the needs of all but a few workshops.

Young Col I've just seen your post and of course I'd much rather hand the item over in person than send it away. The suggestions that I contact Griff or Stephen Howard have not gone unheard. Thank you.

 

[Taz]

Thanks Taz. Maybe I ought to ask Griff if he might be interested looking at this neck and giving me his thoughts as to whether he thinks it would a suitable case for treatment. Where in the Midlands are you ?

I'm in the Rugby area. I take it by your asking that your Midlands based too then?

Err, no he's not. He's in Devon, and one day a week in Croydon.

I can vouch for his work, though. Great, and rates reasonable. A top banana.

Jon, I'm no good at either geography or remembering where every one lives, but I suppose, looking at my post, I probably should have checked really, shouldn't I!

 

[Alley Cat]

Thanks for the info Conn Artist - is there a visible result of this? Do you get creasing on the underside of the neck?
I

This is the next stage on from creasing..........an actual crack along the sides of the crook. Repairable with a soldered on patch but well, it's a pity it happened in the first place. NOT the neck I've been going on about on this thread. This is a tenor crook from my Black Museum of Sax Abuse.

 

[kevgermany]

If you really want to travel, try Franz-Joseph Traut in Munich. Highly recommended. Makes parts for Epplesheim, among other things. Saw some trumpets he was making, superb. He's making a new neck for my turn of the century Meindl at the moment. He doesn't speak English, and prefers Bavarian to German.

But unless you see the instrument as a collector's item, then it'd be cheaper to consider a new neck, than travel a long way.

But one thing - neither Stephen, nor Griff would take on a job they couldn't do properly. So please don't dismiss them as repadders.

 

[old git]

A little more on Griff. From personal experience of his work on my horn and a conversion that included manufacturing parts, I'd trust him with anything woodwind or brass.

Only connection, a very satisfied customer.

 

[johnboy]

Only connection, a very satisfied customer.[/QUOTE]

Off topic:-
I was banned from a forum last week (subject, English internet TV in Spain), because I questioned a moderators husbands freshness on the subject (does that sound like me?). What I did was, to avoid any brand names, offer to provide information via my email address. The Wicked Queen came down on me like a ton of bricks.
Good init
Back on topic. I'm sure Griff or Stephen will repair that with no problems.

John.

 

[Juju]

Steve Crow in Huddersfield would be good, too. I remember having the discussion whether or not to do anything with the neck of a Conn 30M, as he had measured it and it was slightly pulled down. We decided against it as some previous soldering had been performed on the neck by someone else to remove a pick-up. We might have opened a can of worms there.
I'm sure Steve would only do it if he knows there is no risk of damaging it. He is in great demand, though, often you have to wait several months for an appointment.
Juju