Tech/maintenance Truetone Soprano Restoration

[LostCircuits]

Mine was completely overhauled by PM Woodwinds and here are the most important key heights: Lower stack: 4.5 mm
All measured at the distal end of the tone hole (widest opening)

 

[LostCircuits]

Hope this helps! And key height means tone hole chimney rim to pad, not cup.

 

[jbtsax]

Thanks for that. They are close to the Conn key heights I got from Helen's webpage except for low D which on her list is 6mm. On your photo (if I have the right key) it is 8mm.

 

[LostCircuits]

No, that one is the low C key (lower key of the right pinky keys). Paul Maslin, whose shop did a complete overhaul of this one (before I even thought of getting my hands dirty with sax repairs) told me that they literally adjusted each key individually until it played in tune with their own c-sop MPC. I have to take that at face value but the only consistencies are the main upper and main lower stack, everything else is either more or else less than what I had expected. Paul also told me that the c-sops are the most difficult horns to set up correctly and I tend to believe him with what I know now.

 

[jbtsax]

I hit the wrong key and wrote the wrong key. 🙂 I meant to write the C key is 6mm.

 

[LostCircuits]

There are no wrong keys, some are just more right than others 🙂

 

[Yansalis]

Nice to know that about PM Woodwinds approach to regulation. I was treated rather strangely when I looked into buying something from them, so good to know it might be worth the trouble if there is a next time.

 

[LostCircuits]

Nice to know that about PM Woodwinds approach to regulation. I was treated rather strangely when I looked into buying something from them, so good to know it might be worth the trouble if there is a next time.

I really only had the best experiences with them. I was a complete N00B and bought the sop thinking it was a Bb and it was in pretty dire shape, my local tech didn't want to touch it and I wanted to keep the snaps. I had bought my King Zephyr bari from PM Woodwinds and after calling around everybody I knew for an overhaul, I called PM and they told me it wasn't going to be a problem. Then I sent in the horn and Paul called me telling me it was a c-sop not a sop and whether I really wanted to spend the money on a complete overhaul at more than the market value of the instrument. I am glad I did, and they did a great job, I mean, it came back and looked essentially factory new. And arguably, they are not the cheapest but Paul called me every step through the procedure, whenever they ran into a small snag to give me options.