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]

Probably wouldn’t suit me since I’m the opposite of refined, trained and classical. 😀

Martins are very diverse. Mouse or monster they’ll play well when setup properly. You need one !

 

[lig]

Martins are very diverse. Mouse or monster they’ll play well when setup properly. You need one !

I’d love the aesthetic of the Typewriter. Believe it or not I do have a Martin. An old relacquered Bb bari.

Not one of the high end Martins - probably a student model. Light gold lacquer, nickel plated keywork. Hasn’t been out of the case for years except when on loan to a friend’s daughter.

Just too lazy to haul it around. Still has the original hard case. That thing looks bomb proof. 😀

It does sound great but works better with older pickle shaped mouthpieces. Didn’t seem to like the more modern pieces with some baffle.

I’d kind of like to do this version of “You Know I’m No Good” and if we do - I’ll bust out the bari.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUAg4RkQTMg

 

[PigSquealer]

Black Arts award winner this week goes to Shim O’Mygoodness.

Mr O’My you’ve exceeded all my DIY expectations of hot melt glue use. Not everyone has the talent to install 25 pads with too little, too much, and shims to fix other issues. Of the 18 pads that leaked…I only needed to replace 10 of those new pads you installed.

Too much hot melt glue.

Not enough hot melt glue.

Double impression from installing the pad twice. Most likely to add more glue. Look at left pic @ 11:00 and see my index marks. I thought there was a chance to reuse. Best to start over.

 

[lig]

whoa! what a mess.

 

[noelweston]

Tenor time. 1990’s King 662. USA made.
No pad leaks. Plays inconsistent.
Cause, leak at body to bow. Previous tech did poor job.
View attachment 31053
The clamp provides NO seal. Its job is to secure the parts only.

The joint was slightly distorted and extremely lacking adequate sealer.
View attachment 31056

I've been meaning to ask ever since you posted this - how do/did you diagnose this issue? Is it a process of elimination, where everything else is right therefore it must be this, or do you have specific tools / techniques to identify this problem?
Thanks!

 

[PigSquealer]

I've been meaning to ask ever since you posted this - how do/did you diagnose this issue? Is it a process of elimination, where everything else is right therefore it must be this, or do you have specific tools / techniques to identify this problem?
Thanks!

Great question !
Yes, process of elimination.
Finger everything closed. Pop one key at a time. Starting at top stack. Listening for resonance. A loss suggests a leak.
Leak light next.
Body check.
I wedge or clamp everything closed. Two rubber gloves over end of bell secured with rubber bands. Saran Wrap works too.
Crook on. Pressurize unlit (blowing by mouth) and spray soapy water on joints. Crook to receiver, body to bow, bow to bell. If a leak exists you’ll see bubbles. I wasn’t worried about a mess as full COA was planned. I do this pre repad on soldered on chimneys too.
It’s difficult to find pads with internal air leaks. IE leaking from center and backside to outer edge of key cup. The loose booster lack of adequate adhesive scenario. Rare but can happen is a very porous pad.
The official tool for leak testing is a magnehelic. This only detects there is a leak, but not where.

What Is A Magnehelic Pressure Gauge? Explained Easy

What Is A Magnehelic Pressure Gauge? A device that uses magnetic diaphragm motion to measure very low pressure differences in HVAC and labs.

www.indmallautomation.com

 

[Woodpad]

Great question !
Yes, process of elimination.

And endurance.

 

[PigSquealer]

Someone cut the spud off. The snap is bigger than a rivet head, but smaller than smallest booster.
Does it really matter ? Honestly no. It worked for many years as is from last service.
I like original. I had the needed parts.

 

[PigSquealer]

When a leak is not a leak and that click is not your metronome.

 

[Colin the Bear]

What's happened there then? Wrong size replacement key?

 

[Tuppertn]

That looks to me like a manufacturing defect. The upper stack regulation bar is touching the side C tone hole chimney. Like a jig was off either when they drew the side C tone hole or soldered the upper stack posts.

The relationship is very close on mine. Without any material under the regulation bar feet, the bar is almost a perfect tangent to the side C chimney--a fraction of a millimeter of space between them. As the bar comes up it moves away from the chimney and easily clears the key cup.

The right side of your side C key barrel is about a millimeter shorter than mine. Like they had to account for the tone hole being off a bit when they fit that key.

 

[PigSquealer]

That looks to me like a manufacturing defect. The upper stack regulation bar is touching the side C tone hole chimney. Like a jig was off either when they drew the side C tone hole or soldered the upper stack posts.

The relationship is very close on mine. Without any material under the regulation bar feet, the bar is almost a perfect tangent to the side C chimney--a fraction of a millimeter of space between them. As the bar comes up it moves away from the chimney and easily clears the key cup.

The right side of your side C key barrel is about a millimeter shorter than mine. Like they had to account for the tone hole being off a bit when they fit that key.
View attachment 31435

Your attached link / picture is not working.

Yep, it left the factory like this in 1937. It not uncommon to see this relief cut engineered into the part on some makers.
The stack back bar was factory bent for clearance. The C key too. Not uncommon for lots of parts to be bent on Buescher’s with Snap-On pads. The body was bent. The stack pillars were out of alignment in 3 directions. One had been remounted sometime during the last 90 years.

The body straightened along with some tone hole leveling and rounding.
Pillar's aligned two directions. Inline & height.
All key cups leveled & rounded. Then fitted to hinge rods. Including straightening the back bar(s) .
Keys fitted between posts / pillars adjusted as needed (third direction). Pillars fitted to hinge rods.
Fulcrum review for level closure of cup to sockets. (Dry fit pads)
Review of distances where regulation materials are applied.
Sockets final leveled.
Pads installed in sections / stacks. Full pad seating to leak free.
Let rest a day.
Fully assembled function, leak & spring check. Last review of regulation needs noted.
Disassembled, cleanup / cosmetic detailing.
Cork & felts installed.
Lubricate, assemble, tune.

 

[Tuppertn]

The body straightened along with some tone hole leveling and rounding.
Pillar's aligned two directions. Inline & height.
All key cups leveled & rounded. Then fitted to hinge rods. Including straightening the back bar(s) .
Keys fitted between posts / pillars adjusted as needed (third direction). Pillars fitted to hinge rods.
Fulcrum review for level closure of cup to sockets. (Dry fit pads)
Review of distances where regulation materials are applied.
Sockets final leveled.
Pads installed in sections / stacks. Full pad seating to leak free.
Let rest a day.
Fully assembled function, leak & spring check. Last review of regulation needs noted.
Disassembled, cleanup / cosmetic detailing.
Cork & felts installed.
Lubricate, assemble, tune.

That's a labor of love, right there.

Good thing you never worked for Buescher. I can hear the floor foreman now...

"Piggy, we got deadlines! Quit yer fussin'! Just bend it and get it out the door!

 

[PigSquealer]

Good thing you never worked for Buescher. I can hear the floor foreman now...

"Piggy, we got deadlines! Quit yer fussin'! Just bend it and get it out the door!

🤣 ! My Great Great Great Uncle Porko worked at Buescher 1935-1940. I think this is one of his. Looked like a Friday rush job ?

 

[PigSquealer]

Nothing much happened today.

@lukehuang77 comes by tomorrow. We’ll fit the mouthpiece to new crook cork and make final tuning adjustments then.

 

[PigSquealer]

Next up. Just an old H & A Selmer Bundy. Pads smell like 1958.

 

[Woodpad]

It looks younger than it smells.

 

[peedeeblues]

Gotta love these old horns!

 

[PigSquealer]

Gotta love these old horns!

Thank you 🤗!
There’s just something about old horns that is satisfying… touching one.
That being making them mechanically the best possible or playing one well.
Love and appreciation is the best of both. Hours spent to achieve either.
The efforts to achieve the very best of long ago….
The patience and understanding.
The uniqueness of imperfections appreciated to those few daring to try to do better .
The enjoyment of what it is, not what it is not.
Those who seek to live truly to enjoy one’s efforts .
Some are better than others. Nobody plans on a bad day.
Each is special and to be embraced.
Such is life.

I try every single day

 

[Woodpad]

There’s just something about old horns that is satisfying… touching one.

I am always amazed by the ingenuity poured into making these impossible instruments from the time that greed was still a sin. It is a quality I seldom feel in touching modern instruments.