About 3 years ago I had an idea that I'm pretty certain is an original one. Although very odd, this idea worked so well that I now implement it in many of my repairs. I'll outline this idea as a procedure to make it clear what I am doing and why. If anyone out there is doing something similar I will be happy to hear your thoughts.

The problem I was trying to fix when this idea came to me was a stuffy note on a Buescher Alto Sax. The note is the alternate or forked F#. The tone-hole for this F# on a Buescher alto is very small, so nearly every Buescher alto that I have played suffers from a stuffy F# because of it. Opening the key height makes the stuffiness better but it's still present.

It is not air that we are necessarily dealing with inside saxophone, rather it's a wave, and further it's a standing wave. Knowing this I still had the feeling that allowing more air to escape the tone-hole would improve the tone of this particular note. Considering ways to do this, I thought about adding a scoop of sorts onto the tone-hole that projected into the bore. Something like an air foil. I also thought about adding a vent
somehow to that area. Finally it hit me to try adding turbulence on a low level to reduce the overall turbulence experienced at that tone-hole.

I considered roughing up the tone-hole with sand paper. I tried this and worked a little but not great. I was surprised when it worked even a little. A little is better than nothing. I took the idea a step further and added a liner in the tone-hole made of sand paper. My thought was that this might work the same as the dimples do on a golf ball. By adding turbulence near the surface of the tone-hole, air might be allowed to rush out of the tone-hole more freely.

This theory is best understood when considering a large mass of air traveling over a surface. It the surface is smooth like glass, the air will encounter friction there and slow down. The air is slowed and continues to slow the air column around it. Consider that same mass of air traveling over a rough surface. The air that is directly in contact with the rough surface will whip around in turbulent circles. These circles of air act like a bearing for the rest of mass of air to travel over without friction. So adding turbulence actually increases the air flow. This is what I hoped would happen in the tone-hole.

After gluing the sandpaper in the tone hole and playing the note, I was amazed that it really improved the tone. The stuffy hissing air problem was nearly solved. Adding sand paper to the tone hole made a stuffy note much less stuffy.

I have also found that “The sand paper trick” works to take the fan or warble noise out of octave C that plagues so many sax players when playing at higher dynamics on instruments such as modern Selmer altos, vintage Conn's, vintage Bueschers and many other instruments.

Any tone that is stuffy can be fixed with this trick. However, I suggest searching for a solution such as mouthpiece, reed or key height before implementing this fix.

Here is how I install the sand paper. For ease of viewing, the work below is done on a horn without keys or posts. Of course, one would not need to remove this many parts when doing this simple job.


1.Remove the key

2.Clean the tone-hole clean with Alcohol



3.Cut a strip of sand paper



4.Apply contact cement





5.Glue the sand paper: It is not important that the sand paper match perfectly at the seam. Place the seam at the bottom of the tone hole. There are several pictures here to help you understand.







6.Press the sandpaper firmly on to the tone-hole



7.Apply super-glue to the sand paper (this makes it very permanent)



8.Cut the paper to match the contour of the body





9.Apply more super glue



10.Check that the paper is truly fixed

11.Clean the tone hole surface making sure it is not covered with adhesive.


12.Assemble and play


Best of luck to you!

-Curt

For saxophonists, and particularly those playing acoustically in quartets or solo literature, the hiss that is often found on the second octave notes such as octave A, G# and octave D on many Alto and Baritone saxophones can be a real nuisance. This hiss is most noticeable when playing softly on a hard reed. To the player, the hiss is accompanied with a feeling of resistance. This change in feel and sound is very bothersome and distracting. Luckily it is easily fixed on most saxophones, both the hiss and the resistance often disappear with the simple repair I am going to outline for you.

Before we begin, you must understand which of the two octave keys are open when the offending note is played. The first octave key, found lower down the body of the saxophone, is open on notes from 4th line D to top space G#. The neck octave key, or the octave pad that is closest to the mouthpiece opens from A above the staff and up. Notes most often afflicted with this hiss and resistance are those on the outer edge of a pips 'range'. For example, the second octave pad works from A and up and the worst note is often A. This is the lowest note controlled by the neck octave. Of the notes controlled by the lower octave pip, from D-G#, the D and G# are usually the most resistant and prone to this hiss. Notes in the middle of the pips range are largely not a problem.

It is simple to diagnose this problem and discover if the repair will work before you begin. Here is the procedure for testing this problem: First you will need to procure some cheap pantyhose.

1.Get some pantyhose and cut a strip from the 'leg' of the hose about 1” or 25mm wide.

2.While playing the note with the worst hiss, have a friend stretch the pantyhose strip over the open octave pip. You can test this yourself by placing the pantyhose onto the neck over the pip and tying it on. See the picture below.

3.If the problem is greatly reduced or disappears, this fix will help you.

If you discover that this solution works, you will need to tie the pantyhose over the octave pip. However the pantyhose will cause the small octave pad to leak, this will affect the response of many notes on the instrument. Do not be tempted to stop here . You will need to find a way to make this repair airtight and permanent. I believe there is a better way than the one I use but, to this day, I have not found it. If you have any ideas about this, please contact me.

Here is what I currently do to make this fix more permanent.

Start with the cheapest pantyhose you can find. Some pantyhose are sewn in double strands (the good ones) and some (cheap ones) are single threads. Although either will work, the cheaper pantyhose are easier to work with. You will instantly know which you have when you stretch them over your hand and look at the construction of the pantyhose.



1. Remove the octave key.







2.Using a sharp knife, cut the material into a 1" strip. Tie the pantyhose over the pip.











3. Stretch the pantyhose so there are only about 5 strands going over the pip.





4. Get some high quality 5 minute epoxy and mix it up. Be sure to follow the directions on the label and wear safety goggles.



5. Add heat to the epoxy via a hot air gun of some sort. This will thin the epoxy and allow it to mix better. Heat also removes the air bubbles and makes the epoxy set very hard. I hold the epoxy over my heat gun while it is on heavy paper pallet. Be careful here, the epoxy will get thin and run. Do not heat it up too much just heat the epoxy until it begins to thin out.





6. Put a little epoxy on the pantyhose make sure to get it on the edges AND in the middle over the pip. A small amount of epoxy on the strands of fiber over the pip will strengthen the fibers and make them waterproof.





7. With your safety goggles on, quickly hold one hand over the large end of the neck and blow in the small end. The epoxy on the fibers over the hole will blow off but the remaining epoxy on the fibers will strengthen then and keep them from fraying. Be sure that you are blowing the epoxy onto a surface that it will not harm. Of course you would not want to suck this epoxy into your lungs.



8. Make sure that the epoxy fills in the pantyhose grooves and is not in the pip. Also be certain that the epoxy surrounding the hole in the pip appears to be even and smooth. Although it is possible to sand this epoxy flat the embedded fibers may be damaged. It is best to reach a nice level surface with your epoxy when wet.


9. Wait. let the epoxy set hard. Prop the neck up into an upright position allowing the epoxy to set level.


10. After several hours, cut the pantyhose from around the edges of the pip leaving only a screen over the pip and the entire pip covered with pantyhose.







11. Install a new pad that will now seal on the epoxy layer. For this, I prefer RooPads as they are the least sticky and form the nicest seal on the new surface.





12. Using your mouth as suction or, the MagMachine (for best results) perform a leak test on the neck.


13. Play test paying attention to the response of each note. Too much material in the pip will inhibit the response of notes. Too little will not solve the hiss. if this is your first time with the trying this trick, you may have to give it several tries. The repair should be nearly invisible and leak free.


Good luck!

-Curt

After I posted the Buescher Alto modifications, I received a bunch of Emails asking for more modifications. It's too bad we don't take more pictures here at MusicMedic.com! Maybe this new blog will change that. I'll try and take more pictures of our work as we finish. It may keep others from having to reinvent the wheel.


Here are some Buescher mods that we did to an Alto a little while back. This Alto is a Transitional.



Clyde the Glyde

Clyde the Glyde is the name we have affectionately given to a mechanism that lowers the pitch of the second octave open C#. This little mechanism is miraculous. When the octave key is pressed Clyde closes the C# pad the proper amount to allow the tone to play in tune. Because this mechanism is adjustable, it also takes any play from the octave key that might be introduced when the mechanism is installed.

There are two screws on Clyde, one on top and one on the side. The screw on the top allows Clyde to glide back and forth between the fulcrums of the C# pad and the octave touch. This changes the amount of movement in the small C# pad.

The second screw is tightened down to keep two parts in constant contact.

Although much more difficult to manufacture than a simple attachment and adjustment screw, Clyde works so seamlessly it makes it worth the effort.



Neck Brace


This is a simple mod, but since it was done to this same instrument I thought it noteworthy. Here, a piece of guard wire was soldered to the bottom of the neck to reduce "pull down" that is common on so many saxophones.


Bumper added to low Eb.

On Bueschers there is often a problem with noise in the low Eb key when pressed. This is slight but when the entire instrument is super quiet, it is noticeable. Even if these keys are swedged to perfection, there can still be a little bit of noise as the pad cup vibrates when open. Here we added a bumper to the low Eb and the problem is solved.



Side Key Contact Points

This is a mod that I do to most horns coming in the shop. When a horn is set up perfectly, all the play is gone, cork is replaced with more appropriate materials and things are generally tight, any lost motion or imperfect feel in the keys is quickly noticed by the player.

Here we added contact to the side C and side E keys. If you look closely, you will see the side C key now contacts the body under the key touch. The side E key has an added part near the post to contact the post and reduce flex in the key. If these parts are hard to see in the picture, good. This means the modification is a success!

Good luck with your Bueschers!

-Curt

In 1999 I started making RooPads (Kangaroo Skin Saxophone pads) in my small shop in Mississippi. The air there was so humid that everyone's pads were sticking. Coming from NY, I had not seen anything like it. I did some research and found that Kangaroo Skin, when properly tanned, will not stick and is incredibly durable. Having tried to make saxophone pads from various other leathers including, goat, kid, sheep and deer, I was getting pretty good at making pads by hand. Although the results were very nice, it took me nearly 8 hours to make a complete set. That's when I started to have these pads produced for me by Precision USA; an excellent pad company for which MusicMedic.com is now the sole distributor. Precision was the only company that agreed to make these pads for us by hand, to our specifications.

Today RooPads, both the Black SaxGourmet pads and the white RooPads, are well known as the highest quality pads available for saxophone. RooPads have withstood the test of time. Even the most skeptical technicians offer RooPad overhauls and when they do, both the technician and player are amazed at how well the horn plays. The finest players in the U.S. and abroad are using RooPads on their horns, and insist on RooPads.

So many players are excited about RooPads, it's incredible. Some of the great players using RooPads include:

Kenneth Coon, Baritone Saxophonist -The Rascher Saxophone Quartet

James Carter, International Recording Artist


Paquito D'Rivera, International Recording Artist


Wess 'WarmDaddy' Anderson, Saxophone Professor Julliard School of Music

Jay Mason, Baritone Saxophone Gordon Goodwins Big Phat Band


Wally West, Tenor Saxophonist


Trent Kynaston, Saxophone Professor Western Michigan University



In addition to excellent players using RooPads there are many technicians around the world using RooPads on their instruments. We are honored that the following technicians recommend RooPads as the finest pads available.

Jeff Peterson,
Horn Improvement

Dell Knickerbocker, Quinlawn and Fabish

Eric Satterlee, Meridian winds

Matt Stohrer, Sam Ash, NY, NY


Mike Manning, Manning Custom Woodwinds.

Jim Scimonetti, Scimonetti Band and Orchestra

Steve Stransky, World Wide Sax

Steve Goodson
www.SaxGourmet.com

There are many more great repair shops, players and manufacturers using our RooPads on their instruments I am working on a list of players and techs that are using RooPads. If you would like to be listed, please contact me.


-Curt

The Z-gun makes news!

Today a technician and Z-gun (pat.pend.) owner sent me a link to a write-up in the Frankfurt Musik Messe news. The Z-Gun was previously featured in Jazz Times magazine and now it's on the Messe site. I feel like a father who's child just made the team! I feel great pride when something I created grows, is praised, or just works well as it was intended to.

The Z-Gun resulted from many years of trial and a lot of error. I used to heat and roll sticks of shellac to make them round to fit in a hot glue gun. Trying to find a glue gun that would accept such a stick was impossible. The shellac would either not heat up enough or ooze out the tip. I finally came to the conclusion that a heated canister would be the only way to accurately and safely dispense shellac when repairing woodwinds. It worked like a charm and I knew I had a winner right away. My padding time was seriously decreased. We started testing in our repair shop and sent a prototype to Jeff Peterson at HornImprovement and one to Steve Goodson for comments.

Once tested, I worked to have the new shellac gun produced. That was tough job. When it all come together we exhibited the Z-Gun at the 2006 NAPBIRT convention where it met both amazement and disbelief. For hundreds of years, technicians have heated shellac over a flame. I was sure that I would sell thousands of these the first month. We got the Z-gun on the site and, in the first three weeks.. we sold 2!

Technicians are fickle and rightfully so. They seem to like thinking things over. They worry about change when they perceive their current situation as working. Eventually we attended more shows and displayed the Z-Gun. Today it is one of our best selling items. I'm happy to say that today there are hundreds of woodwind repair technicians using the Z-Gun. I get Emails almost every day from Technicians who tell me it's a great time saver.

Check out the writeup here:

Article in German


Article in English