Various Saxophone End Plugs
A selection of industry standard end plugs for tenor and alto saxophones, including a novelty piece.
The following pictures attempt to show the repair job that result from not using one.
undamaged parts
Bent Floating Register Arm, Hinge Tube and Hinge Rod
aligning bent parts.
Vice, Mallets, hardened steel, rod and key all worked in tandem to straighten.
Preparing to glue a new silencing cork
Straightened mechanism assembled. Works like new!
Tuneable Neck, Exploded.
Tools to repair Receiver
Selmer Balanced Action Neck with Dents
Neck after Dent Work
I wish I could take credit for this excellent work, but I do not have the right rods to get into a saxophone neck. I sent it to my friend Terry Ghiselli over in Bastrop, Texas, and am very pleased with the work he did.
While working on a flute yesterday I decided it was past time to replace the mylar on my feeler gauge. Usually I prepare several at once using bamboo sticks with mylar glued to the end. Instead, I got creative with some legos. It weighs about the same as the bamboo stick, with the added advantage of ease of replacement – when the mylar goes bad, the legos unsnap, and a new piece can be inserted. Goofy, and slightly geeky, but functional.
Pictured above is a late 1940’s Selmer Paris Saxophone body striped down to its’ bare self. Awaiting new springs, pads, corks and felts, encased in a protective shell of wax, here is my next overhaul.
Improper joining of U-tube to body. Plumbers tape!?
Foreign object melted into a solder joint. Nerf darts impede airflow.
Bell removed to correct for plumbers tape seal.
Leak checks are easier on a bari with the bell removed.
Recently I was contacted to look over a baritone saxophone that had spent repeated trips to another repair shop in town. The instrument played poorly, and its’ intonation was off by a quarter step. The first thing I found was that in re-securing both the U-tube and the bell section, plumbers tape was used. Selmers come from the factory with a glue seal overlaid with a heavy clamp. The plumbers tape leaked, and both joints were loose, allowing the two sections to flex. Thinking that I had the problem diagnosed, I took the upper U-tube to the sink to wash out. Normally lots of muck deposits itself in the bottom of the tube. Imagine my surprise when I ran a brush thru it and out came a Nerf dart. A previous tech had resoldered the main brace on the pipe, and melted the dart into the metal. Te body tube had suffered severe damage, which i presume is why all the joints were taken apart. The body tube had some dent work done, but all the keys in the upper stack had play in them – some as much as 1/16″. Swedged the keys, replaced a few pads, properly assembled the horn and enjoyed conducting an extensive playtest.
