Saxophones Pork Tales: Saxophone Repair DIY Adventures.

Life around the barn.

Tales from a pig that likes to stick his nose into everything.

Paint that S. How difficult could it be ?

1) Search the net.
2) Find the color.
3) Order color.
4) Study task on University of YouTube, aka; For destruction by DYI presented by pro tech.

Do the cleaning & prep.

Paint and cleanup / detail the edges with hard cotton swabs. Sounds easy……

Yeah tha guy Matt makes it look easy.
Anyone remember your first experience cooking bacon crispy while still in the frying pan !

 

[PigSquealer]

The green colors of the twenty’s was most likely made with arsenic ! Hazardous ? Well you won’t find me rooting my fat nose in it.

The interior (N95 mask on) was vacuumed, blown out with compressed air, then shampooed with Woolite upholstery cleaner.
It’s not unusual for a few bits to come loose. Good time to use the last dollop of contact cement. Luckily only these areas needed TLC help.

As needed I often secure the storage box with small wood screws in these locations. Screws are more secure. If you must use nails. Install them at an angle. This prevents the box from lifting straight off.

The bow area got screwed too !

Do be mindful in the areas for hardware interior protrusion. You don’t need a nail tip signing you sax

 

[PigSquealer]

The customer furnished a very nice handle. Real leather with a beefy metal frame. $25usd delivered directly from maker. PM me for source. I don’t offer free advertising.

I actually had to expand the D rings (for off old & on new) and arc the part to fit properly.

 

[PigSquealer]

The locking latch was a big PIA. Some damage is hard to recover from.

I ended up hand filling a key to work. Every time the case is closed it self locks !😡

I had to drill & tap threads for screw that holds the Einstein nut. The eyelet becomes the latch hook. 8-32, 8-18 stainless steel.

All & all not a bad week. Doesn’t look a day over 102 years.

 

[PigSquealer]

People often ask “ how do you remember where everything goes ?” Well by keeping organized.
I don’t care for the store bought parts caddies. I make my own from scrap wood.
3-1/2 x 7 x 3/4”. Holes are 3.5mm, 5mm deep, 13mm space. Three rows of 11 each. One large hole at top for thumb screw.
I place a cut strip of painters tape to note locations. Practically every sax I do is a different layout.
Why three rows ?
The thumbscrew placement is top of the sax.
Each row is the side and sequence as removed. IE right, middle, left. Two pivot screws ? Top / bottom to the key.

Small mirrors are handy too. Best used when leak testing in the dark. One on surface. The other on wall. This allows viewing both sides in the dark without having to turn around.

While you have woodworking tools out. Make a DIY bench peg / jewelers block.

 

[Ivan]

As needed I often secure the storage box with small wood screws in these locations. Screws are

That colour...

It's worth the arsenic poisoning

 

[PigSquealer]

That colour...

It's worth the arsenic poisoning

And 88 years later the US EPA banned the sale of kids size off-road motorcycles. This due to exceeding the product lead content for children 12 and under. The lead was primarily the soldered wire connectors…
One consumer was livid. He when after the officials. “I promise I won’t let my kids chew on the wires unsupervised “. The laws were changed back for “certain “ provisions.

Just imagine a youth looking at this package in a store front window circa 1923. Eh, wots a bit arsenie with your lead ?

 

[PigSquealer]

Just another day at the office. Always wear your safety glasses.

 

[ghostler]

Love the new look of the pads and reflectors. New pad smell, they ought to make a spray with that smell. 😉

 

[PigSquealer]

Happy Monday

Not a bad looking thirty year old Yamaha alto.

 

[Colin the Bear]

30 years sounds old, but, do the sums and it's 1995 and wasn't that just the year before last? 🤔

 

[PigSquealer]

30 years sounds old, but, do the sums and it's 1995 and wasn't that just the year before last? 🤔

Yeah, like working on a brand new sax. Especially since 80%+ of what I work on is pre 1940 horns.

 

[PigSquealer]

Happy Monday ended with a stuck neck octave hinge rod. No good way to setup to machine out in drill press , so I went at it freehand. The rod is 2.5mm. I used a 1mm bit. And yes I tried all the usual methods to extract this rod beforehand. Heat, Kriol, PB blaster, freezing and paraffin wax.

Just enough internal stress relief and it came out solid.

 

[PigSquealer]

like many materials or supplies there’s use knowledge.
Like wood, paper has a grain direction. Short / cross grain or long grain.
Grain long is more difficult to tear. Just take a sheet of notebook paper and tear it two different directions. Grain long will tear easily. Almost straight. Grain short will tear ragged.

Sandpaper to size / fit neck cork I use grain long. Notice how the paper curls is one clue of grain direction. The printing is the other. Print always is inline with grain.

I cut the strips just wider than needed.

The old used sandpaper I use for finishing. This leaves a smooth almost polished surface.

 

[ghostler]

I will often resort to those auto body rubber sanding blocks when I need flat surface backing and not in tight spots. Not long ago I had to throw away a couple, (20+ years old), because over time the red rubber had hardened, more difficult to mount sheet ends into the slits with nail points to hold the sheet in.

The standard sheets of sand paper are enough to fill one of these blocks 4 times. I simply temporarily fold to crease the middle along the long edge. Then I fold the corner over to this middle crease, to quarter the paper. By folding with the sand elements on the inside, I can run my fingernail over the fold, to sharply crease it.

Then I fold back the opposite direction. After doing this a couple times, the sheet tears easily along the crease cleanly. Thus I don't dull any sissors or sheet cutter blades. Inside this refill into the block. I just saved myself money over buying precut sheets made to fit.

The worn removed sanding sheets, portions can be used in general for hand sanding.

Disposable emory boards for ladies fingernails also come in handy for small work. Just don't steal your spouse's stash of those.

 

[Stephen Howard]

For sanding in tight spots I use lolly sticks (popsicle sticks?) onto which I glue wet 'n dry paper. The stick provides a firm backing for the abrasive, and by simply snipping bits off with a pair of cutters you can customise/renew the tip of the stick as desired.

For cleaning toneholes with the keys in situ I use wooden tongue depressors or waxing sticks to which I've glued 1200 grit wet 'n dry paper. Avoids having to drag the back of the paper across the face of the pad.

 

[PigSquealer]

When someone hands you a project gone sour. I literally received a ziplock bag full of parts and a necked body.

A week later…

 

[ghostler]

Tenor looks ancient. What is it? BTW, nice cleaning job on the case, big difference afterward.