Tech/maintenance SHWoodwind Updates

[Jeanette]

Just read the end, brilliant....

Think the punctuation here is slightly wrong

After some brief, but fun, experimentation I found that cigarette lighter

Jx

 

[Stephen Howard]

I was all out of brackets 🙂

 

[Targa]

@Stephen Howard, if you wonder why I rated that funny it's because I haven't looked at the 'Guide' itself yet but read 'The end' and by the time I got to:
'If you've never visited a saxophone forum you probably think this is all a bit far-fetched. If you have, though, you'll probably be thinking "Ooh yeah - I remember that thread!" '
I'd not only remembered the thread(s) but started filling in the names of the protaganists.

 

[Stephen Howard]

@Stephen Howard, if you wonder why I rated that funny it's because I haven't looked at the 'Guide' itself yet but read 'The end' and by the time I got to:
'If you've never visited a saxophone forum you probably think this is all a bit far-fetched. If you have, though, you'll probably be thinking "Ooh yeah - I remember that thread!" '
I'd not only remembered the thread(s) but started filling in the names of the protaganists.

I kinda guessed 😉

I did think about adding "..and you know who you are"...but in the end I felt it didn't really need to say it

 

[jbtsax]

That work is simply brilliant @Stephen Howard. I can't fathom how you can find time to do presentations of that quality and do repairs as well. I could have really used something like that 20 year ago when I started a 2nd career in saxophone repair. The Reg Thorpe manual has some good illustrations showing various octave mechanism designs, but unfortunately he provides little instruction on how to make them work properly. This should be required reading for students at Redwing and Renton repair schools. With your permission I would like to send a note to those instructors letting them know this resource is available.

 

[Stephen Howard]

High praise indeed - and yes, feel free to share.

 

[llamedos]

Writings of the quality of "the end" should come with a warning not to read them whilst nursing a mug of hot coffee!! The explanation of the flame effect had me harking back to the Gerard Hoffnung epic tale of the hoisting of a barrel of bricks for some reason but the whole piece is a joy from soup to nuts!!
Congratulations Stephen, keep them coming please. Just off for a change of trousers to avoid being accused of doing something rather childish.
Dave

 

[Stephen Howard]

Thanks Dave!
Glad it made you chuckle - and sorry about the trousers!

 

[Stephen Howard]

Another entry on the Benchlife Blog - Go swivel

A rolling blog of everyday life on and around the workbench

 

[Stephen Howard]

Another review for your delight and delectation - and this time it's British through and through.
It's perhaps the finest example of a Hawkes & Son XX Century alto out there, and a real treat to see one in such superb mechanical condition.

Hawkes XX (Double) Century alto saxophone review

 

[thomsax]

Thank you for an interesting reviev. What kind of pads was on the sax when it was new? Just "glued" with shellack?

 

[Stephen Howard]

Just bog-standard leather pads, glued in with shellac.

 

[thomsax]

I'm asking because many manufactors had thier own system. Buesher Snap-On, Conn Res-o-pad ......

 

[Stephen Howard]

Hawkes dabbled with various patent key mechs, but aside from the occasional use of vented pads (one cup key atop another) their designs were pretty much standard.

 

[Stephen Howard]

A couple of updates before Santa turns up to deliver the usual stack of goodies...

There's a new exhibit in The Black Museum - the dreaded school bari. G'wan, it'll make you chuckle...

The Black Museum - a woodwind house of horror.

And on the Benchlife Blog I go into a little more detail about the tests I'm running on 'multigrade' key oil, using an emulsion of synthetic gear oil and silicone grease. It's a little geeky (OK. it's a lot geeky) - but it has the potential be a very useful technique.

A rolling blog of everyday life on and around the workbench

 

[Stephen Howard]

Just a li'l update to round the year off.
Had a nice King Super 20 (Series V) tenor come in a while back, so took the opportunity to revamp my original Super 20 review from 14 years ago.

King Super 20 (Series V) tenor saxophone review

 

[Ivan]

There's a new exhibit in The Black Museum - the dreaded school bari. G'wan, it'll make you chuckle...

The Black Museum - a woodwind house of horror.

I enjoy your mechanical horrors very much, especially in this article that gives a nod to the baritone being easiest to forgive its faults

But I am reminded of what seems an opposite problem whereby my baritone is a pig to play down low with the merest hint of a leak up high at the water jey

 

[Stephen Howard]

Yup, it's sort of exponential. The nearer the leak is to the mouthpiece, the more noticeable the effect. That's why a leaky octave key pad can pretty much stop a horn in its tracks...but one further down the horn merely makes it less responsive.

 

[Stephen Howard]

An update to my Oiling The Action - For Geeks article, in which I put the 'multigrade method' of oiling through its paces.
I found some very surprising and useful features...

Oiling the action - for geeks

 

[vries1]

Interesting stuff Steve!

Not sure how to call your cunning mélange. Saxogrette?

I do fear you lost part of the audience by the potentially too advanced level of geekery. At the very least, it put this thread in a state of suspense... or not-knowing-what-to-say...