US Army sax videos

[Mark Kiziuk]

Good vids…I agree with not using powder for sticky pads. I just bought another sax. I bought an old Buescher Tenor. I love the sound of the Tenor over my Armstrong Alto, that I’m in the process of rebuilding it. I love working on Sax’s. In my opinion of cleaning pads is this. I’ve read in a book called, “Haynes Saxophome manual” to use lighter fluid! Yes! Lighter fluid! The guy who wrote the book has been repairing Sax’s for over 30 years. He knows what he talking about. He says in all that time not one pad has ever been harmed! So that’s what I’m using to clean my pads in the restoration. The pads get saliva and all kinds of food particles on them and then they become sticky! The lighter fluid desolves the gunk! BUT doesn’t harm the pads! It works because I tried it and it does work! You also need to clean the tone holes too with the lighter fluid. That dissolves the gunk around the tone holes. It’s the sticky gunk that makes the pads stick! Since I’m restoring an old Saxophone, I’ve done this and I’ve also used “Scotch Brite” to get the built up junk off of the tone holes. Everything seals like a dream! And since I’m restoring I did a lot of research into polishing the nickel plating without scratching it up! It’s a polish called “Flitz metal polish” you need to be careful not to rub to hard! If you gently rub the nickel plating it will make the nickel plating shine right up, and it removes any dull spots too! This is what reviews from police who own nickel plated handguns say. I ordered the polish yesterday, so I need to wait a day or two for it to arrive. Also if you want your laquer to really shine you use liquid car wax! I did ALOT of homework. Just thought I’d share with my friends!
Mark

[Anonymous]

@Mark – i always brush my teeth and rinse my mouth out before playing the sax – so i don’t have problems with food particles rotting away inside the sax or coffee staining the metal inside.
This keeps it resonating properly,
and when i’ve finished i pull a cloth through it to absorb the saliva.

My daughter on the other hand had her clarinet 2 yrs brand new, and i had to take it to the repair shop, had to have it completely stripped down cleaned out inside and the whole lot repadded (she never cleaned her clarinet) – it cost me a third of the price of a new clarinet, and her clarinet costed more than my intermediate yamaha sax.

[Marc]

Hey, Cat… thanks for sharin! Cool videos all three.
I like to do some “saxsmithing” taskes (can’t say they are luthier jobs), and any tip from professionals is welcome.

The Haynes Saxophone Manual is worth every pence it costs. A must have for any player that want to put his/her hands not only for playing it. It -of course- recommends not to attempt certain tasks without the proper experience or with inadequate tools so the saxsmith aficionado can establish his limits, and if necessary take the sax to a qualified luthier for more complicated tasks.

I totally agree with Sxpoet about the very first step the player must do for cleaning a wind instrument is brushing his/her teeth before playing. Having a fresh (not fridge cold, just below room temperature) glass of water to drink during playing breaks is a good way to refresh the mouth and swallow any saliva that accumulates inside, avoiding to blow it into the instrument. Much better than spit frequently, like baseball players … LOL …

[Jazz Cat]

agree the Haynes book is great… I bought some ‘ultra suede’ inexpensive on amazon, will report back if it works on sticky g# key

[Mark Kiziuk]

Hey guys! Sxpoet over time the spit can start to make the pads stick, not just food. Hey Jazz Cat let me know how you make out with the ultra suede. I also changed my avatar to show off my two girls. They were pretty broken when I got them, but I fixed both of them up on my own, and they are both almost spot on in tune. One is a 42yr old Armstrong 3008A alto with abalone finger keys that I personally installed and the other is my newest restoration, it’s a 50 yr old Buescher Aristocrat series IV Tenor and I use Francois Louis Ultimate ligatures on both.

[Anonymous]

@Mark – a tip to reduce sticky pads.

When you’ve finished playing the sax and dried the inside with a pull through cloth. When you put the sax back in its case, don’t
shut the case, leave it open for
30 mins, to give the pads enough air to dry them out.

lack of air stops the pads from drying out.

[Mark Kiziuk]

Very good point sxpoet! Everytime I finish playing I have a routine. I put that chamois rag thing with the string on it and weight, and pull it through the entire sax. Then I do the same to the neck with a smaller version, then I clean the mouthpiece with a thing that looks like a cats tail. Then I take a pad saver and stick it in the sax, pull it out, then stick it back in and leave it there. And from now on I will leave the case open for about half an hour to dry the outside of the sax off.

[Pete]

Hi Mark
Don’t leave your pad saver in sax it is wet& damp
take it out once you have used it , a tip a pro
gave me.

[Mark Kiziuk]

Oh! I didn’t realize that…heh..
Hey guys!!! I found an AMAZING PRODUCT!!! I have to share it with you all. It’s called, “Flitz polish” for metal, plastic and fiberglass. I bought a 50 yr old Buescher and I almost have it completely restored. The nickel plating was really in bad shape! Blotches everywhere! I just tried it just now, and all of the nickel plating shines like a mirror! I got some on the body which is lacquered and I wiped it off the body, it sheens! I love this stuff! I just finished, just now the ENTIRE SAX. It shines!!! It is a polish but it doesn’t scratch!! On the bottle it says,”contains no ammonia or abrasives, acid free, non toxic, non flammable, safetly cleans, polishes and protects” it works on just about everything. Do a search on this stuff to find out what else it can do if you want. I bought it off of eBay 3.4oz for about 8 bucks. This stuff works great!!!

[Anonymous]

@Mark – can you put usefil tips like this in the ‘Saxophone Tips’ forum, it saves a lot of members myself included from wasting time trawling through lots of forums when we’ve forgotten something and we remember we’ve seen it somewhere in the forums and can’t
find it.

The other positive thing, it stops the person who raises a question from having to read through a lot of unrelated topics/comments.

Just trying to say that its a great shortcut to finding useful stuff like you have raised.

[Author]

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