Re: revolution
I admire you for wanting to learn to repair your own horns. When I first started collecting saxophones a few years ago, I didn't have a lot of money to spend. I bought a couple horns fairly cheap that needed a fair amount of work, and I really had no idea who to take them to. The shop that I had taken my horns to before was out of business. The owner retired after many years and closed his shop. I talked to a couple local places. One shop sold mainly new instruments; Selmer, Yamaha, Jupiter and Yanagisawa saxophones. They did not do any repairs on site. They sent their instruments out for service, and said that to have my tenor overhauled would take the better share of three months. The price they quoted me was outrageous! The other shop was a "Selmer Snob" shop, and they told me that my Conns were not worth repairing, but offered to sell me a new Selmer for a GREAT DEAL; just a few dollars OVER LIST PRICE!
My uncle has played professional saxophone for nearly 50 years. I asked him if he knew of a reputable repair shop and he recommended Luke Richmond and The Wind Works in Burton, MI.
Both my Conn 10M tenor and my Directors model 14M alto were in the basement of my parent's house on a shelf along with some recording gear, and a PA system. I had a little studio set up in their basement. Well, the idiots who plumbed the house did not glue the PVC drain pipe together for the bath tub properly. The drain pipe pulled apart at an elbow......right above my saxophones, recording and PA gear! UGH!!! So, my Tascam digital recorder and Peavey mixer were ruined! Both saxophones were soaked with water. Both cases were pretty much ruined. The tenor needed pads anyway, and the case wasn't in the greatest shape, so it was no great loss. The alto had been repadded a few years prior. Thankfully, the insurance paid for most of the damages, and I decided to have the alto repadded and the tenor relacquered and overhauled.
The first horn I took to Luke was the alto, mainly because it needed the least work. He basically overhauled the horn for $325! New springs, corks, pads, and he chemically cleaned the horn and polished it. It looked very nice and played about as good as any Directors model can play! I really liked that horn! I sold it a couple years ago after I bought my 6M, but that's another story!
Shortly after I got the alto back, I took the tenor in. The Old 10M was looking pretty bad. It had been relacquered at the Conn factory before my father got it in 1963. Dad played it through high school and college. I played it in jr. high, high school and college, and what little lacquer was left on the horn was looking pretty bad. Spots where the bare brass was exposed were starting to oxidize.
Luke stripped off all the remaining lacquer, thoroughly cleaned and polished the brass. He relacquered the horn and then baked the finish to cure it. He polished all of the silver keys and installed all new pads, corks, etc. I started hanging around Luke's shop; anxious to see my old tenor completed. I learned a lot by watching and asking questions.
When I first picked up the horn, I almost cried! It was beautiful! It looked like brand new again. It played like new too, but with that classic, bold 10M sound! Luke ordered me a new SKB case to replace the old beat to hell Conn case.
I took it over to show my dad. He looked at the SKB case and asked me if I had bought a new tenor. "Not exactly", I said as I opened the case. He took one look and pulled it out of the case, slapped on the old Otto Link Super Tone Master and started playing Girl From Impanema in the style of Stan Getz, one of his favorites.
About a year after having the 10M relacquered, I purchased a Conn 6M alto. I wanted a Naked Lady alto to match my tenor. That's when I got the fever, and I decided that I wanted to start collecting Saxophones; especially Conns.
I bought my 6M cheap; only $300, and it played great. It had been relacquered before; however, and they hadn't done a very good job. I knew Luke could make my alto just as beautiful as my tenor. I had him relacquer the alto also.
By this time, my repair tech was also a good friend. I watched and assisted with some of the repairs, and I wanted to learn more. I bought a few more horns, and he helped me with repairs. Finally I had enough confidence in myself to try doing some of my own repairs. My first horn was a Conn New Wonder Series I C Melody. Then, a Chu Berry alto, and a few others. Still there are some things I would not try to do myself. I am by no means a repair expert, but I do most of my repairs myself now. Whenever I need an expert, I call Luke!
Some of my tools, I made myself, some I had to purchase. I made my own leak light ( from an old strand of outdoor Christmas lights) and a spring tool (from an old tire patching kit). I bought a good set of small screwdrivers, and I made some wedges to block the action to make adjustments and stuff. I just took some wood shims, cut them to the size I needed and glued some felt on them. A lot of these tools can also be purchased through musicmedic.com
One thing I can tell you is that repairing horns takes a lot of patience. Sometimes, things don't always go back together as easy as they come apart. And then again, sometimes getting them apart can be a pain too! WD40 or Liquid Wrench helps; especially with the old Conns that have the set screws. I spray them before I even try to remove them!
When you remove the keys, number them as you take them off. Then when you reassemble the horn, you'll know what keys need to go on first. Some keys don't matter too much. Others do. I always put the rod screws back in whatever posts they came out of too. Sometimes I'll sand the rod screws with a little fine sand paper to clean them up and then spray them with a graphite lubricant before putting them back in.
It's not rocket science, but it is tidious and time consuming and it requires a fair amount of finess. You can also do a lot of damage if you get in over your head and you're not careful. If you have any doubts, don't do it!
Jim
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