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Jean Baptist Alto Won't Play 3 lowest NotesHello, I am now retired as a school music teacher and out of necessity I have aquired quite a bit of repair, repad and rebuilding experience so, I "think" I know the typical things to check. I have a private student who was given a brand new Jean Baptist Alto which played just fine for a while. After about a year or so it developed a gargling sound on Low C-B-Bb and now almost will not play these notes. It was sent in for repairs and came back just as bad, I checked with a leak light and found no leaks, I can feel the keys of the affected notes and the lower segment of the horn oscilate with the gargling sound. I thought maybe it had food particles or fuzzy stuff in a whisper tube, but they are clean, all Springs are OK and pads are well seated. In dry weather it is really bad and when it rains for a few days, the problem almost goes away. So I thought, it must be the lower bow leaking, right? At tonight's lesson I tried wrapping electrical tape on the lower bow joints for a quick test and it made no difference at all; the weather here in Phoenix is dry again so it is really bad once more. I have disassembled a lot of cheaper horns over the years, but have never torn down a J.B. this far... Yet. So, I am pretty sure they seal these joints with a cheap glue, on others I have torn down it looks like titebond or Elmer's, and the screws on the clamps are tight. I thought it might have a leak down there but, without finding an obvious leak first, I am rediscent to heat up the glue and tear it apart just yet. The low C# plays fine and everything from there up is OK, it used to play well for a cheap horn, but now, from the C down, not so much. Sure could use some Help! |
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