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 !

 

[Grumps]

Another unwanted child arrived today. A mid 1920 Holton Bb tenor in gold plate finish.

You want a front F for it?
Might be big though...

 

[PigSquealer]

The process is easy 😉 Pictures below are from past project. I’ll post the actual York work later.

The distance spacers will be machined from plate or bar stock to the needs. Usually plate. End of barrel squared. Then soldered on barrel(s) with hot iron. Just tin both sides. Flux parts. Hold in position with wood clothes pin (or spit). Set iron high 700°f. Stab the heat on end for 10-12 seconds. Final ID reemed to fit in place.
View attachment 35974

Drill the hole first !
View attachment 35976

Holding the spare with arbor from Dremel tool. Spare is 0,750 x 4 mm OD, 2,48 ID
View attachment 35977
View attachment 35979
View attachment 35975
View attachment 35978

@mark_addy I’ll add that if the needed extension exceeds 1,0mm / .064 in distance. I’ll counter bore the barrel and make shouldered bushing insert. Solder that in and finish machine.
Here’s a link by another tech worth viewing.

Sax Mech Rep P1

 

[PigSquealer]

The Aquilasax is apart. I let the stuck hardware soak in Kroil another couple days. That didn’t help one bit. Tried some heat and other penetrates. No luck 😤. Pushed it off to the side and proceeded to clean the hardware removed. I’m out of naphtha at the moment. Started cleaning with acetone. Stubborn goo !! By chance I had an old can of mineral spirits on hand. Gave that a go…. SUCCESS 🙌
The spirits washed the goo off completely and effortlessly. Idea 💡🤔 I filled an old syringe with the spirits and applied small amounts at stuck hardware locations. Almost instantly the bits came loose like they were never stuck. Onwards 😀

 

[PigSquealer]

The Aquilasax pads are in really great condition. Especially the normally closed like palm keys, G# and Eb in bow.
The hinge barrels are a robust 5mm diameter.

A sign that real shellac was used at factory. Most have hot melt glue. Also notice the leather texture. It’s real leather. Faux leather doesn’t have hair follicles 😉

 

[PigSquealer]

Everywhere I look shows quality. The workmanship is high level. The build resembles a SBA Selmer.
Rib build with stout pillars.

This G# touch pillar is a beefy 6mm. The base plate looks 1mm.

Side C, Bb & F# are consistent too.

The body metal is solid-not flexible. Squeezing the bell by hand it doesn’t flex.
Thickness measured at different locations averages 0,68.

 

[PigSquealer]

The body cleaned up nicely. Pre cleaning all the pillars with a pipe cleaner soaked in mineral spirits worked great.
Most of the tarnishing came off with the mild Dawn dish soap and cold water. While still wet I gave it a treatment of Hagertys silver foam polish. Compressed air dried and hand polished.

What I really don’t understand now is what the finish actually is. Silver, nickel chrome, electro plating silver stuff ?? The bell & bow appears to have been clear coated too. Some coating loss is now visible 😢 Have never experienced this. No harsh or abrasives used. Haggerys foam has no abrasive. Always use cold water cleaning. So 😤

Same issue at inside bell area. Where the water trails were drained while playing. Oddly I don’t see any of this on the body.

The needle springs are not blued but black oxide coated.

 

[Tuppertn]

Now I want one.

 

[mark_addy]

The Aquilasax is apart. I let the stuck hardware soak in Kroil another couple days. That didn’t help one bit. Tried some heat and other penetrates. No luck 😤. Pushed it off to the side and proceeded to clean the hardware removed. I’m out of naphtha at the moment. Started cleaning with acetone. Stubborn goo !! By chance I had an old can of mineral spirits on hand. Gave that a go…. SUCCESS 🙌
The spirits washed the goo off completely and effortlessly. Idea 💡🤔 I filled an old syringe with the spirits and applied small amounts at stuck hardware locations. Almost instantly the bits came loose like they were never stuck. Onwards 😀
View attachment 36481

Acetone seems to thin some things, and white spirit (what the internet seems to think we call, what you call mineral spirits) seem to thin other things. At least, that's true of paints. And then there's meths! Did you mean to imply that mineral spirits are hard to find now in CA? Here, most commonly available household gloss paint is moving to water-based stuff, but spirit based is still reasonably OK to find although you might have to go to a trade paint place for it (and the solvent). I might have already said that 4:1 mineral spirits : clean engine oil makes a good, cheap WD40 substitute, in an empty bathroom-cleaner squeezer spray!

 

[Tonehole]

Squealer you just don't slow down do you!
The horn is sounding good to me and it hasn't even been played yet. Impressed with your perseverance and dedication to your craft. Learning a lot following your thread.

My Jupiter Artists have that strange silver finish not sure what it is. I cleaned and oiled all three S,A,T yesterday as I had some down time. Thirteen years of hard use and abuse and the finish is still like new. The Chinese C Melly I have seems to have the same finish it is not silver plate but it is tough as nails.

A little patina on a horn is of no concern. The retailer/ reseller may have sprayed something on it to clean it for prep for resale?

Get er done!

 

[Targa]

Acetone seems to thin some things, and white spirit (what the internet seems to think we call, what you call mineral spirits) seem to thin other things. At least, that's true of paints. And then there's meths! Did you mean to imply that mineral spirits are hard to find now in CA? Here, most commonly available household gloss paint is moving to water-based stuff, but spirit based is still reasonably OK to find although you might have to go to a trade paint place for it (and the solvent). I might have already said that 4:1 mineral spirits : clean engine oil makes a good, cheap WD40 substitute, in an empty bathroom-cleaner squeezer spray!

There used to be turps.
White spirit used to be called turps substitute.
Environmentally friendly white spirit is absolute ****, it turned into a gungy sticky sludge on the paintbrushes and nothing would remove it so they had to be thrown out.
Very environmentally friendly.

 

[PigSquealer]

Did you mean to imply that mineral spirits are hard to find now in CA?

Yep, not hard to find. It’s non existent. Solvent choices have been reduced to I think three. Gasoline and charcoal lighter fluid are looking like good options. It’s the fire risk that concerns me.

White spirit used to be called turps substitute.

Gum turpentine and mineral spirits are slightly different. Both no longer available.

 

[PigSquealer]

Squealer you just don't slow down do you!
The horn is sounding good to me and it hasn't even been played yet. Impressed with your perseverance and dedication to your craft. Learning a lot following your thread.

Just keeping my usual pace. Thank you 😄.

My Jupiter Artists have that strange silver finish not sure what it is. Thirteen years of hard use and abuse and the finish is still like new. The Chinese C Melly I have seems to have the same finish it is not silver plate but it is tough as nails.

I searched online to see what the Aquila finish is. Can’t find anything. Even on Wayback machine. The finish is very hard with great gloss.

The retailer/ reseller may have sprayed something on it to clean it for prep for resale?
Get er done!

No telling 🤷‍♂️
All new cork / regulation materials is next 😉

 

[Tonehole]

From a site that will not be named! LOL
Jupiter frequently applies a thin coat of transparent epoxy protective lacquer over their bright silver plated finish. This clear coat seals the silver, blocking air and moisture. The silver looks bright indefinitely because the metal never actually makes contact with the sulphur in the air that causes oxidation.

Epoxy lacquer is a high-gloss, two-component protective coating used to maximise scratch, chemical, and UV resistance on surfaces.

 

[PigSquealer]

Epoxy lacquer is a high-gloss, two-component protective coating used to maximise scratch, chemical, and UV resistance on surfaces.

Really 🧐 for how long ? “For two weeks or as long as we can see your taillights down the driveway “.
I went back and looked at the first pictures I emailed you upon receipt of delivery. The condition flaw was pre existing but not as visible being dirty.

 

[PigSquealer]

@Targa @mark_addy i discovered today that a concoction of mineral spirits as “ odorless mineral spirits” is in fact available. A gallon is $18-$22. The current 1quart can I have is practically full and dates to around 2013. Looking in my chemical stash. I found another 1 gallon almost full can dated 2010 with no California warnings. This will last at least a year or 5.

 

[mark_addy]

Flipping heck. That's quite a set of constraints to be working under. $5 a litre-ish - that's about what I pay here from a national-chain supplier, though one can certainly pay more. Perhaps like 'proper' (that is, toxic to life that eats fence posts) creosote I'll have to resort to ordering through work, as some things here are reserved for 'professional use'.

(This seems an OK moment to share (I hope not 'again', my poor memory) what happened when my colleagues were told to produce COSHH paper-trails for all sorts of substances in the work cupboard. Most of it came home with me, including some 1970s switch cleaner (perhaps a carbon-tet substitute) whose label proclaims it is 'not as harmful to health as previously-used switch cleaners'. Well, that's OK then... 🙂

 

[Targa]

@Targa @mark_addy i discovered today that a concoction of mineral spirits as “ odorless mineral spirits” is in fact available. A gallon is $18-$22. The current 1quart can I have is practically full and dates to around 2013. Looking in my chemical stash. I found another 1 gallon almost full can dated 2010 with no California warnings. This will last at least a year or 5.
View attachment 36525

Thanks but the postage cost is probably a little high.
I wonder if Barr’s lemonade would be as effective, it comes in a similar blue coloured container.

 

[PigSquealer]

Thanks but the postage cost is probably a little high.
I wonder if Barr’s lemonade would be as effective, it comes in a similar blue coloured container.

The last Barr’s I used wasn’t for drink. I’m thinking it would cause severe constipation😳. The intended use for auto engine head gasket leak, mild block cracks or radiator leaks. Largely over 82°C. You would need to be experiencing highly abnormal hot flashes to meet these crack points. But then again I’ve seen some weird….stuff.🤪

 

[mark_addy]

At the risk of TMI, I am currently off lactose, wheat, and about 5 more pages of listed foodstuffs in an attempt to, errr, firm things up a bit. Barr's might be just the job.

 

[PigSquealer]

The Aquilasax is close to an SBA in pivot screw count at 30. An SBA has 34. Grrrrr, I used the wrong caddy. Had to use two.
@kamak this picture’s for you 🤪