New to the saxophone

[Mark Kiziuk]

Hey Kevin!
Well, I got handy fixing my sax real quick when I learned what the cost might be to have this work done to my sax. And being my first saxophone (or first instrument for that matter) I wanted everything to be working asap, but done right! I solder electronics all day at work, so I asked a co-worker “how hard can it be to solder a post (I think it’s called a post?) back on?” He basically told me what I thought, just use flux and a butane torch, and sweat the thing back on just like plumbers do! I already have those things at home. The hardest part was heating up BOTH the (I’m going to call it a post) and the body of the sax at the same time. So I took regular wire and stripped the outer jacket off of it to use only the metal wire and just somehow wired the post right onto the body, put flux around the bottom of the post and took my butane torch (it’s a small torch but it is butane) and kept heating it up until the post started to move a little, then pushed down on the post with a screwdriver, released the flame and held it there for about 20 seconds and voila! But it also took about 2 hours for my brain to figure this out! I attempted many, many ways and almost gave up several times until I figured out to WIRE the post to the body. The pads look easy enough to do. I made sure I ordered the correct one fory alto saxophone. You just remove them (take pictures as your removing them) one or two at a time, hit the brass with a heat gun and slightly pry the pads right out (they are only held in there with shellac), then use a shellac stick andelt a little shellac where the new pad is going, push down on the shellac with something and voila, you just replaced a pad! I’m going to replace all of the pads. Might as well. I’m gonna try to check out that book you mentioned, the sounds like an interesting book.
Mark

[Mark Kiziuk]

I meant, push down on the pad, not push down on the shellac. Heh heh

[Marc]

Hey… seems you’ll be a proficient wind instruments luthier in parallel to a sax enthusiast… congratulations on that fix. Knowing the mechanics of your instrument is of great help to know why it sounds how it sounds.

[Mark Kiziuk]

Hey Marc…I kind of didn’t have a choice. I bought an Armstrong off of eBay for $200. In the description it said all pads in excellent condition, ready to play. That’s why I bought it! But! I had someone with over 25 yrs of sax playing play it and he said a couple of the pads leak and the upper register is not working, so I’m thinking, some new pads and an adjustment for the upper register. I priced new pads, and they are fairly cheap enough to do it myself. I checked out how to change pads on YouTube, to me it looks very easy! Also, I contacted the guy who sold me the sax and I asked for an explanation of why he said pads in excellent condition. He was honest and said he only observed the pads, and it’s true, if you look at the pads they look very good, so does the whole sax. He wanted to know if he could work out a compensation, He seemed honest and the pads are cheap enough, so I told him forget about it. I gave him fair feedback and he did the same. I should have waited a little longer with dropping the matter with that guy because I found out one of the posts was broken off of the body of the sax (well actually the solder bond let go), very difficult to notice at first because the rods are holding the post in place, but if you move the upper register key, you can slightly see the bottom of the post move! I’m good at soldering so I soldered it back on, looks like new now! The pads will be here Tuesday, so I will have a weekend project changing pads. I also discovered this sax is out of alignment as well! I need to buy some cork and felt so that I can adjust everything correctly. YouTube videos, the right tools and wanting to fix it myself makes this a fun learning project instead of a choir! And I’m not paying a repairman to fix this 200 dollar sax, because at repairman prices, I can save that money for a better saxophone. It’s sort of like taking your car to a mechanic to get the brakes done, oil changed and a tune up, when you can do it yourself, and also learn from it! Who knows, maybe by this experience I can fix other people’s saxes!
Mark

[Mark Kiziuk]

Kevin, I got that Haynes book, a wealth of information in there, thanks for suggesting that book to me! Also, hey Jake if your there, what part of NY are you? I’m in Brentwood NY on Long Island.
Mark

[jake]

Hey mark. I’m in central ny. The Syracuse area. Prob about 5 hours away.

[Mark Kiziuk]

Hey Kevin, I purchased that book you recommended, It has some good things in there. It also mentions about fixing sticky pads! And no, not with any powder stuff that can leave a mess in the saxophone.
Mark

[Mark Kiziuk]

Hi everyone! Just wanted to say that I got my saxophone working flawlessly! It took ALOT of work! I saw on YouTube about repadding, but things are kind of left out when they show how to repad! It was very easy to remove the old and insert the new pads. The hard part was getting all those pads to line up with the tone holes. If that pad is not level with the tone hole, it will leak! It was like torture for over a week, and I even called in sick for work one day because I was up till 2am the night before. Then after all pads (after about a week!) are flush with the tone holes, you have to use cork and felt and pliers to make sure everything opens and closes and with the same timing of another key or multiple keys acting together. About another 3 days. Also, I had to resolder a post (took 15 minutes to do, but about 2 hours figuring out how to do it by trial and error) is now perfect! I even changed out my old plastic pearls and replaced them all with abolone ones. Looks beautiful and plays perfect! All the time I kept practicing with my mouthpiece until I got my sax fixed! I have practiced from day one, and I think I’m on my third or fourth week. I practice in my room and I practice on my lunch break at work. I have been using Johnnys 2 beginner courses, YouTube, this furum, the web and an IOS program called,”Alto Sax” for my iPod touch (it’s a cool program, it shows you what note to press and also tells you what keys to press and it hears your sax and tells us if you hit the right key or not!) (I think they sell it for other instruments too!)3 or 4 weeks ago I could only imagine playing a simple song called,”old McDonald had a farm” and now I am! I practice my embouchure EVERYDAY and I can ALSO make my saxophone GROWL just like in that song “Tequila”
Later!
Mark

[Pete]

Hi Mark
Well done you are doing well.
You are very keen and enthusiastic
keep blowing.

[Mark Kiziuk]

Hi Peter and thanks for your feedback! I have always loved the sound of the Alto sax and I ALWAYS wanted to play one! I’m now close to 54 and its on my bucket list! It’s now or never! And I’m going to be the best at it too! That’s also on my bucket list! Later.
Mark

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