A couple of "no brainer" ways to make your horn play better

You won't need any fancy equipment for these tips. They involve things you've got around your house.I'll guarantee that if you try these suggestions, your horn will immediately perform much better!

LEVEL THE MOUTHPIECE TABLE

You'll need a sheet of glass (a mirror works fine) which for the purposes of our discussion we will assume to be quite flat and level. You will also need a sheet of 600 (or finer) grit emery paper. Lay the emery paper on the glass, abrasive (dark) side up. Now, using a VERY light pressure, rub your mouthpiece from left to right across the paper, doing two strokes and two strokes only. Take a look at your mouthpiece table: if you see some shiny spots, they represent high spots on the table. Those high spots seriously affect response, and they have to go! Using light pressure, stroke your mouthpiece on the paper until the table is nice and even. Almost all mouthpieces have uneven tables, and this is a very easy cure. While you're at it, flatten the portion of your reeds that contact the table as well. This will guarantee a good seal, and your mouthpiece will play much better.

LAP YOUR NECK

Over time, the male tenon of your neck becomes uneven. Assuming it fits the reciever to your complete satisfaction (nice and tight), our goal is to eliminate high spots and irregularities. First, wipe off the tenon and the interior of the receiver. Now, apply a very small amount of key oil to the entire surface of the tenon and receiver. Apply a miniscule quantity of (1) lapping compound (I know you may not have this), (2) automotive buffing compound, or (3) abrasive toothpaste (regular Crest is good) and using a light pressure, rotate the neck 360 degrees in the reciever. Take it out and wipe all the surfaces off completely from time to time. You may need to re-apply the lubricant. You'll notice some shiny spots. Those are high spots and they cause leaks. Lap until the surfaces are completely smooth. Be sure to clean off all the oil when you're finished with this process. Leaving oil on the neck attracts dirt, grit, and all sorts of other nasty stuff which will cut into the surfaces.

CLEAN OFF YOUR TONE HOLES

Take some 600 grit emery paper and cut into strips that are one inch wide and about four inches long. Now, starting at the top of your horn, insert the strip with the abrasive surface toward the tone hole between the pad and the tone hole. Close the key with pretty good finger pressure and draw out the strip. Repeat until you have drawn the strip against the the fullo 360 degree perimeter of the tone hole. This will remove the gunk and build up that causes sticky pads.

TAPER YOUR NECK RING

Take a small very fine tooth file and taper the ring at the small end of your neck (where the mothpiece goes) until it has a nice edge rather than a vertical surface at the point it enters the mouthpiece chamber. This will reduce resistance and improve response.

CLEAN OUT YOUR OCTAVE PIPS

The octave pips are the smallest openings on your horn, and they tend to accumulate all sorts of unknown materials that you blow through your horn while playing. Take an ordinary pipe cleaner and clean them out monthly.

LUBRICATE YOUR SPRING CRADLES

Use a heavy oil or grease and apply a drop at the point where your needle springs contact the cradle on the rods. This will significantly reduce key noise.

ROTATE YOUR BUMPERS

On most horns, the felt bumpers used to stop the Eb, low C, low B, and low Bb are held in small adjusters which screw into the key guards. Over time, the ends of the felt bumpers wear and compress, and they no longer contact the key face with 100% of the available surface. Using a large screwdriver, rotate the bumpers just enough so the surface of the bumper completely contacts the key.

Forums and groups I read.......

I was an early convert to the internet. We opened our site http://www.saxgourmet.com/ back in 1996. Since day one, I've read and participated in numerous discussion groups. I've learned a lot (good and bad) through this process. You should try it as well. Here's some of the groups I read and participate in:

http://www.saxnation.com/forum/
This is a discussion forum I own. I moderate it, and membership is restricted to people who use their real names. It's for general saxophone discussion. Everyone is welcome, except knuckleheads and trolls.

http://login.prospero.com/dir-login/index.asp?webtag=bandrepair&lgnDST=http%3A%2F%2Fforums%2Edelphiforums%2Ecom%2Fbandrepair%2Fstart
This is a group owned by Rich Feldman, and is for discussion of all types of band instrument repair.

http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/SaxophoneRepair/
This is a group I own and moderate which is concerned with saxophone repair. It's very active, and we have great discussions. Everyone who wishes to discuss repair is welcome.

http://www.saxquest.com/forum.asp
This is a general saxophone forum owned by Mark Overton. Lots of good stuff here.

http://forum.saxontheweb.net/
Of course I read this. Most of the participants are not old enough to shave, and very, very few of them have a clue what they're talking about. They hate me there, but as long as they spell my name right and keep it before the buying public, I'm happy.

http://www.steinwaymusical.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=12&sid=4520ec7e4a0dab92cb3f40ebc5de4ed2
This is the official Selmer discussion board, moderated by Miles Osland. Sometimes there's good stuff here.

http://www.breakfastroom.co.uk/
An English group, owned by Pete Thomas. The UK is my second biggest market (after the USA) so I lurk here. Very friendly chaps, those limeys.

alt.music.saxophone
A usenet group that was very active in years past, but has been taken over by people who need to have their medication adjusted. Don't waste your time.

Why Can't the Saxophone Industry Do This?

A couple of weeks ago, I had the great pleasure of attending the National Flute Association conference in Albequerque, New Mexico, and it really opened my eyes. It was four days of very intense flute stuff, and made me wonder why the saxophone industry doesn't do the same thing.

True, there are a couple of different saxophone organizations that hold conferences, notably the North American Saxophone Alliance, the World Saxophone Congress, and some others, and I've participated in their meetings. The significant difference (and it's very significant) is the size and scale of the conferences. The flute folks turned out several thousand attendees and over two hundred exhibitors. The had concerts and recitals going from early in the morning until late at night, every night. The concerts represented every known style and genre. There were workshops and seminars on any subject remotely related to flutes and flute playing. Every company I ever heard of that makes flutes or flute related equipment exhibited. The organizers, to their great credit, structured the event in an extremely user friendly fashion. There were no pompus academicians in evidence anywhere! The facility was first class. The NFA's rules prohibit holding the conference at universities and other venues that really don't lend themselves to a first class presentation. It was a totally great experience, and I look forward to next year's event.

The saxophone industry, on the other hand, lacks a central organization that represents the diverse saxophone world. The conferences are full of academics intent on proving to the world how very important and meaningful they are. The exhibitors are treated like red headed step children. The conference venues appear to be selected on the basis of cost rather than function. I've attended many saxophone conferences, and have never left one feeling like it was a great experience. I think this speaks volumes about our industry.

The Sorry State of Saxophone Education

I had an interesting conversation with a prominent saxophone educator last week. He (who shall remain nameless) is a well known university professor, who is director of jazz studies at a large university with a well established music program. He's also a clinician for a prominent French saxophone manufacturer, a former columnist for The Saxophone Journal, and a highly regarded performer and studio musician. A pretty qualified guy!

We were talking about what happens to his students upon graduation. We agree that there are far more graduates than there are jobs. We also agree that we don't know of a single university program that adequately prepares its students for a viable career as a performer. What's wrong with this picture?

As I ply the trade show and dealer appearance circuit, I meet hundreds if not thousands of young people walking around with stars in their eyes and saxophone cases on their backs. I worry about them. How are they going to earn a living? Are most of them going to have to learn to say "do you want fries with that?"

These kids are being done a major dis-service by our colleges and universities. They graduate knowing all about ii/V/I and being able to play lots of transcribed solos of the great masters of the past, but when it comes down to earning a living with a saxophone, they generally don't have a clue where to begin.

From time to time in my performance career, a recent graduate has been on a gig with me, and the results are almost always the same. If the leader is foolish enough to give them some solo time, they invariably quote Brecker/Parker/Coltrane et al regardless of the musical format. They consider themselves musical educators whose reason for being is to raise the musical standards of the audience. They try to force feed straight ahead jazz to an audience who came to dance and forget their worries. They show up dressed in blue jeans, T shirts, and tennis shoes when the event is semi-formal. They don't know the standard horn parts for the generally accepted dance set repertoire.

These same guys lament long and loud about how they can't make a living playing jazz, and how the buying public has no taste. I don't feel sorry for them, not one little bit.

If you're going to make a living as a performer, first you have to find some people who are willing to part with their money in order to induce you to perform. This requires, of course, figuring out what they want and expect to hear. This is where the educators fail.

The educators are all wrapped up in the mental masturbation of convoluted jazz theory, and forget that we're talking about what is basically an entertainment medium. The public lets us know what they want to hear. All you have to do is read Billboard, or listen to commercial (non-subsidized) radio. People vote with their pocketbooks. Their desires are easy to figure out.

Before a degree in saxophone performance is granted, a student should be required to complete a six month apprenticeship in a dance club, playing at least four sets, five nights a week.

This is not to say that the methods being used fail to teach students how to play. I see quite a few students who possess amazing technique, and have obviously spent many long hours with the Ferling Etudes and the many excellent jazz studies books. Playing skills are only a part of it, however. Entertainment skills are an equally important component. As part of any final examination, all students should be required to demonstrate proficiency in bar walking, hand percussion, stage dress, sound and light system diagnosis and repair, truck packing and driving, sleep deprivation survival, and dealing with club owners and union officials.

It's time for the universities to get a dose of reality.

The truth about the New Orleans music scene today....

I get a lot of questions about what's going on with the local music industry following Hurricane Katrina. The truth is not pretty:

Prior to Katrina, this was a great place to be a working musician. If you had the skills, you could make a handsome living playing. Before I retired from actual performance (for reasons of health), I certainly did. It was not at all unusual for me to play six days a week, sometimes three gigs on each of those days. Lots of full time (no day job) players I knew were buying nice homes and sending their children to good schools strictly off the proceeds of the music business. Those days are gone, and probably gone for good.

The secret of all of this high paying work was the convention and tourist business, and that has pretty much vanished. New Orleans used to be one of the top tourist destinations in the world, and it was not unusual at all to have a couple of 20,000+ attendee conventions going on simultaniously in town. Ordinary tourists flocked here from all over the world. No more. Why, you ask? Two reasons: crime and insurance.

You're taking your life into your hands if you come to New Orleans and don't know which areas (and there are a lot of them) to avoid. We're the number one (with a bullet...) murder per capita city in the United States. Mugging tourists is a big industry in certain communities. It's dangerous here. You should stay away until the situation is resolved. I'd like to point out that we have about half the pre-Katrina population base, and about the same number of police officers we had BEFORE Katrina. We also have 300 armed National Guardsmen and 80 State Troopers patrolling the streets. Feel safer? You shouldn't. They haven't been able to stop the murders and robberies. The city government is too interested in being PC to take the action that is necessary. Sure, they hold lots of news conferences talking about improvements, and they run nice ads in various television markets saying you should come on down. Before you book your flight, take a look at the crime statistics. The numbers don't lie....

Another big problem, as if the high chances of getting murdered was not enough, is that it's become very, very difficult for conventions to buy "event cancellation" insurance. Let's say you're the convention planner for the American Association of Solid Waste Engineers. You plan to bring 20,000 people to New Orleans for your annual meeting. You have to buy a policy that guarantees that the caterer gets paid (and everybody else) if you cancel your event, for whatever reason. Given the weather we often have here, not to mention the high potential for civil unrest, insurers have pretty much stopped writing such policies. No insurance = no convention.

This has resulted in most of the successful, full time players leaving town. They're gone. You can't make money like you could pre-Katrina, and life is too hard here (that's another entirely different topic) to endure on a reduced income. I don't blame them in the least.

There have been numerous efforts to keep musicians here. Most are scams. Take the Musician's Village, for example: it was a great idea as originally put forth by Harry Connick, Jr. You build houses for musicians, give them mortgages, and set up a performance center with rehearsal halls etc. Harry was right on the money with this plan. Unfortunately, it got hijacked at city hall by the PC housing advocates, who insisted that the money raised for musicians housing should be used for others as well. Now, musicians are a very small minority of the inhabitants of the so called Musicians Village. There's something wrong with this picture....

The problem in New Oreans is that there is not enough work here to make a living. The demand for musician's services has decreased dramatically, and until it returns, the players won't be back.

Gonna Buy 10 Copies for My Mother...

I'm extremely honored to have been selected to appear on the cover of The Saxophone Journal and to have a feature article about my work be contained in this issue. I've been reading this fine publication since the 1980's, and some years ago purchased all the back issues to complete my collection. This is without question the most important part of my reference library.

Through The Saxophone Journal, I have learned more about saxophones and saxophonists than through any other source. It keeps me constantly up to date and inspired. It has opened new doors to the tremendous diversity of the saxophone community. Through advertising in The Saxophone Journal (which I have done for years) I've been able to reach new markets that were previously inaccessible to me.

I salute Ken Dorn and David Gibson for bringing this great resource to saxophonists everywhere, and give them a hearty "thank you" on behalf of the entire saxophone community.

Why we use kangaroo leather

First, I want to apologize for being away from the blog for the last few weeks. My life has not been simple.....
When the Saxgourmet pads were being designed, we had several requirements that we felt were not being met by any other pad available on the market today:
(1) they must not stick
(2) they must have a very long life
(3) they must be quiet
(4) the surface should be quite supple to allow the use of very firm felt and backs

Kangaroo leather is the only material that provided the solution. Many different leathers were tried and rejected. Several synthetic materials were tried as well.

Kangaroo leather is the strongest leather on the planet. You cannot tear it. It is also extremely soft, so it prevents annoying key noise. The leather is extremely smooth and non-porous, so it does not stick. It also has a nice "drape" quality that allows the manufacture of pads to closer tolerances that perfectly retain their shape and size and do not wrinkle.

By using the soft kangaroo leather, we were able to use a much firmer felt and more rigid back on the pads. This gives the horn a much more precise feel and keeps the pad size stable over the service life of the pad. There is no shrinkage as with other pads.

Kangaroo leather does not have the impact noise associated with goatskin. The key action is much quieter. It lasts longer than sheepskin because the leather has much smaller pores and does not tend to accumulate materials which cause deterioration.

Quite a few imitators have sprung up as a result of the success of Saxgourmet pads. There's a big difference that you can very easily see: take a Saxgourmet pad and a competitor's pad (Ed Myers, Joey Grey, or Prestini) and flex the pad in your fingers. The Saxgourmet pad does not easily bend, the others can be bent over double. Their felt and back are too soft. They chose to "cheap out". Soft felt allows the pad to change shape over its lifetime, and gives the horn a spongy feel.

Saxgourmet pads are standard equipment on Steve Goodson Model, Orpheo, and Saxgourmet saxophones, and are available in sizes 6.5mm - 77mm from www.musicmedic.com. All Saxgourmet pads are hand made in the USA, and are distributed exclusively by MusicMedic.

CURRENT PROJECTS AND COMING ATTRACTIONS

I've been busy. I'm about to get busier. Such is the price of success. Here's some of the things I've got going on:

We're going to do a little restructuring of our executive responsibilities at Orpheus, and I'm going to take on some new duties in addition to my regular job. We're growing rapidly, and there is plenty for our management to do in order to cope with this growth. My twelve hour days will likely grow into fifteen hour days.

Look for some new mouthpieces from me in the very near future. I'm running out of places to store all the prototypes, so I've got to make some decsions as to which ones to produce. This mouthpiece business caught me by surprise: I had no idea we would sell so many. I'd like to say a big, hearty "thank you" to the many of you who have bought and are playing my designs. We haven't even begun advertising them, yet our sales are already straining our production capacity due to the preverbial "word of mouth".....My goal is to offer a complete family of mouthpieces for all saxophone players.

We've got a couple more saxophone lines to introduce: the new Orpheo brand and the Steve Goodson Model straight alto and straight tenor. These are entirely new designs, and I'm currently dealing with all the pre-production issues necessary to bring them to market. These are great horns, and will be worth all the hassle and heartache. Look for them this summer.

I've taken over the clarinet design at Orpheus. We're getting into that business in a big way, with better products than anyone has ever offered. I find that (1) student clarinets are over priced and lack features that students need to make it easy to learn and (2) high end clarinets are all essentially the same, and are over priced and lack features than benefit profesional players and advanced students. I'm going to do something about these problems, and am currently awash in prototypes.

The flute situation is about the same as the clarinet one. We're finished with the new flute designs now, and are delighted with the results. We've also got, in addition to "conventional" flute models, a new series of composite body flutes for jazz players. There's nothing like 'em anywhere! You will see them soon, as production has already started.

Both the Orpheus website and my retail website (http://www.nationofmusic.com) are getting a complete facelift. There will also be some significant changes at saxgourmet.com. You're gonna like it....

Our eBay store (my Noteworthymusical company) has done well, and will substantially expanded this summer. Ebay has become an important market for us.

I'm currently negotiating with a magazine many of your regularly read with the goal of writing a regular column for them. They came to me earlier in the year with a proposition, and the problem I have is simply one of having the time available to do a good job. This is something I have always wanted to do, and we will make it happen.

Dealer appearances are beginning to fill my calender. I feel like I should just rent a room at the airport sometimes. Watch for me at a music store near you in the near future. The summer trade show season is almost upon us, and I'll be seen in all the usual places.....

Sharon and I are still rebuilding our Katrina ravaged home in New Orleans. We will NOT reopen the retail showroom and will curtail our repair operations substantially. We will continue to see customers on a prior appointment only basis, as time permits.

That's what's on my plate these days. There's actually more, but if I told you about it I would have to kill you.....

REPAIR PARTS FOR OLD HORNS

This mornings email brought three individual requests for repair parts for 50+ year old horns. True, I maintain a large "boneyard" of old saxophones. However, I have NEVER been in the parts business. I maintain an inventory of parts for my overhaul customers only, not for public sale. When these parts are gone there will be no more, and I know it.

Manufacturers, if they offer parts at all, generally stock only a very limited assortment and keep them for a limited time. Conn-Selmer has recently announced that they will not stock parts for any horn seven years after the production of that model ceased. That strikes me as pretty reasonable, and is actually better than most companies are offering.

Most parts can be repaired, and it is the sign of a lazy technician who insists that a broken key be replaced rather than silver soldered back together. Unfortunately, some parts can't be fixed in a satisfactory manner, and if your tech knows their stuff, they should be able to fabricate keys, guards, rods, etc. Of course, fabricating parts from scratch is very time consuming, and hence quite expensive.

You can't get necks for old horns. Stop asking me. There are a couple of craftsmen who will custom make necks for selected models for which they have specification, but be on notice that they know what their skills are worth, so get out the big, leather bound checkbook before you order.

Parts from one brand of horn will not fit a different brand. You don't expect Chevrolet parts to work on your Ford, do you?

Some "maintenance" type items are still available, notably Norten springs and snap-in pads for Bueschers, and Reso-pads for Conns. Generic pads and springs are available to fit just about anything ever made. Unfortunately, there are a few things that don't seem to be around anymore, particularly the .150 thickness Leblanc pads and those marvelous gold wire Buffet springs.

My advice to those of you in the repair business is to start your own "boneyard". Buy up every old horn you can find. Throw nothing away. Today's trash may very well become tomorrow's treasure.

Make your neck play better!

I've spent a lot of time designing necks for saxophones. The neck is the heart of the sound, and is the absolute most critical component in how your horn plays. If you've got the coin available, and we manufacture one to fit your horn, you should stop reading this now and order one of my Saxgourmet necks. If you don't meet the above referenced qualifications, here's some things you can do to your existing neck that I guarantee will change your sax life:

Before we start this process, let me warn you that if you don't understand how to do any of the procedures described, don't attempt them. You will ruin your neck. It's on you to decide if you have a comfort level that permits these actions. Now, take the octave key off the neck, and let's get started.....

First, insert the neck (without the octave key) into the body of the horn, and with a light finger pressure, rotate it 360 degrees. Feel the resistance carefully. If it's more resistant somewhere, your tenon or your receiver (or both) are out of round. The fix is easy. Lubricate the neck and receiver liberally with Steve's Bourbon Street Key Oil, and take a VERY small amount of ultra fine lapping compound and apply it evenly to the neck tenon. If you don't have lapping compound available, get some polishing compound from an auto parts store. It's essentially the same stuff. Now, rotate the neck, using a light pressure, for a few minutes, so the compound cuts down the high spots. Remove the neck and wipe it off. The shiny spots that are visible are where the high spots were. Continue this process until the resistance of the neck in the receiver is totally even all the way around. You may need to wipe it off and re-lubricate from time to time. The high spots we're removing cause leaks. They've got to go. When you're done, clean the neck tenon and the receiver completely.

Now, you have to make a decision: are we going to replace the pips? You'll get far better response and improve intonation significantly if you remove the neck (and body) pip and replace them with Saxgourmet Power Pips. The downside is that y0u're most likely going to damage the lacquer or plating as you remove the old pips and solder in the new ones. If you decide to go ahead, and have the necessary soldering chops, it's a straight swap out. We sell Power Pips for pretty much every horn out there.
They're not "one size fits all".

If you're going to keep the existing pips, drill out the one on the neck to a #38 drill size, and the one on the body to a #42 drill size. If you don't know what this means, then you have no business doing it. Now, take an appropriate sized tap and "thread" the pips. This will eliminate the "whisper" often heard in the second octave.

Take a metal expander and enlarge the opening in the neck (mouthpiece end) about 5% for the first inch of length. I typically open up Mk VI tenor necks to around .505, for example. Now, take a coarse metal tap, and thread this area. This will virtually eliminate the burble often heard around low C and low B. Expanding the neck at this point decreases resistance. Take a fine jeweler's file and taper the ring at the end of the neck to create a venturi, and polish this area with #600 emery paper. Better yet, buy a Saxgourmet Neck Enhancer.

Before you put the octave key back on your neck, replace the pad with a cork clarinet pad. They never cut, and they don't bounce and flutter.

It's important that the neck fit the horn tightly and evenly. The neck tenon may need to be expanded or re-rounded. The equipment needed to do this is very expensive and only used occasionally, so take your horn to someone who owns the equipment and has the skills necessary to do this for you. If they don't have BOTH a neck expander (I prefer the "can opener" type) AND a neck tenon shrinker with multiple collets, put your horn back in the case and find someone who does. You can't do the job right with an expander alone.

Prepping A Pad For Installation

Pads aren't museum quality items. They have to be replaced from time to time. If you do it right, your horn will feel better, perform better, and the pads will last longer. If you omit any of these steps, you'll be condemned to reading SOTW for eternity....

First, use the best pad you can buy. There's a huge difference in quality. Shop very carefully, since the pads you select will be in your horn a long time. Kangaroo leather is the best, hands down. It's strong, quiet, and doesn't stick. Goatskin is very durable. Beware of soft felt, silicone treatments (causes sticking), and flexible cardboard backs.

Now you've got to select and size the resonator. Remember that a resonator is nothing but a mirror that reflects the sound. The bigger the mirror, the more the reflection. The closer the resonator material is to the material your horn is made from, the more accurate the reflection. You can alter, to a small degree, the sound of your horn through the choice of resonator material and the amount of leather exposed after resonator installation. Plastic resonators and exposed pad leather will take the edge off your horn and deaden the sound.

Measure the tone hole and select the largest resonator that will clear. You weren't stupid enough to buy pads with resonators already installed, were you? We usually use screws to install resonators so they can be re-used, but rivets work just fine for holding the resonator tightly in place.

Before you install the resonator, take some Mojo's Never Stick Pad Powder and spread a light coat over the leather. Apply a couple of drops of water. Then heat your pad slick or pad irons (Ferree sells great ones) with your bench burner and iron the pad, taking care to (1) not scorch the leather because the pad iron was too hot and (2) work the Mojo's into the pores of the leather. The leather should be as tight as......well, you know. It should also be perfectly smooth with no wrinkles. Brush off any excess pad powder.

Now install the resonator. It must fit tightly no matter what mechanism you use to attach it to the pad. No excuses!

Turn the pad over, and liberally apply only genuine shellac never never never hot glue. I use a shellac gun from MusicMedic. QUICKLY, while the shellac is still soft, rub the shellac on a smooth, hard surface (I have a granite block for this purpose. A bench anvil works well, as does a piece of glass) so you get an absolutely smooth even coating of shellac over the entire back of the pad, right up to the edges. THE ENTIRE BACK MUST BE COMPLETELY SEALED AND PERFECTLY FLAT. You can reheat the shellac on the back of the pad with a heat gun if you need to touch up your work. You're now ready to install the pad into the cup, a process that will be discussed in a later post.

You can get Mojo's Never Stick Pad Powder at www.nationofmusic.com.

DO THE TIGHTEN UP......

Nothing feels as good in the hands as a brand new, well adjusted horn, right? Like anything mechanical, your horn loses that feel as soon as you start playing it. The good news is you can easily restore it to like new condition. The bad news is you're going to have to buy some tools you don't have, although they're not expensive.

Every time a key rubs against another key, a minuscule amount of metal rubs off. Over time, this constant wear causes a gap in the keywork. The key then moves from side to side, and the pad doesn't sit down on the tone hole at the same location every time. You can minimize this wear by keeping your horn well oiled, but you can't totally stop it. It's time to swedge the horn.

Most, but not all, of the keys on your saxophone are hung on the horn via a steel rod which runs through a hollow tube. It's the hollow tube (made of brass, which is pretty soft and wears quickly) that causes the problem. It gets progressively shorter as metal comes off through friction. Our goal is to make it longer.

Carefully examine the horn. Move every key up and down and from side to side. Note any small gaps in the keywork between keys or post, and mark them clearly with a felt tipped marker. Don't worry, the ink from the marker will rub right off with your fingers. Remember, the keys should fit tightly against each other and against the posts. No gap should be visible to the unaided eye.

Call Ferree Tool and order some swedging pliers, some good screwdrivers, a hinge tube file, and some sax posts countersinking tools. Stop by your local jewelry supply store and pick up some fine tooth small flat files. Don't cheap out. Good tools get the job done right.

When the brownshirts deliver the tools to your door, take your horn completely apart. Now, insert the rods into their corresponding keys. This is essential. Do not under any circumstances or for any reason proceed without having the rods in the keys!!!!

Here's the plan: we're going to squeeze the key tubes over the rods and extrude the metal a bit and make it longer. This is going to make the tubes a little thinner at the point of extrusion, but nothing in this life is free. To minimize the effect of this thinning, we're going to apply pressure along the length of the tube, not just at one point.

Now clean the tubes you're going to swedge. Then clean them again. And again. Any small grit you leave will scar the tube. Now polish the contact surface of the swedging pliers until it has a mirror finish. Clean it again and again.

WITH THE ROD INSERTED IN THE TUBE SO IT DOES NOT COLLAPSE, and with the surface of the pliers and the tube lubricated with Teflon grease, squeeze along the end of tube and rotate the pliers, moving up and down the length of the tube. Keep a close eye on your work. The marks made by the pliers (yes, this is not a scar free process), should be somewhat even. If the tube is beginning to look thinner at some points, it should also be getting a little longer. Don't expect the end of the tube to remain even and squared up. It's not a perfect world. That's what the fine toothed flat jeweler's file is for.

Now, put the key back on the horn and check the fit. Still some play in the key? Then repeat the process described above. Too long? Get the flat file back out and take a little off the ends. Be certain that the ends of the tube are even and smooth as a baby's behind. Expect to have to repeat the process several times in order to get a perfect fit.

Take the key off the horn, and lubricate the tube interior and the rod, using Steve's Bourbon Street Key Oil. Now, using a very light touch with the fingers, spin the key on the rod. It should move absolutely freely. It probably doesn't at this point. Don't worry, this is easy. Take the hinge tube file you got from Ferree Tool and clear up the interior of the tube. Cut a little, and then test with the rod. Remember that once you remove metal, it's gone forever.

If the key is hung between two posts using pivot screws, the fix is easy: you simply take the countersink tools you got from Ferree and carefully deepen the hole in the top of the post so the screw head can go a little further in, allowing the point of the screw to go down into the key a bit more. If this doesn't do it, and it almost always does, you may have to use your swedging pliers and the same technique previously described to lengthen the rod. Remember that on keys hung with pivots, the rods are solid, and may take a little more persuasion.

Of course, this is the perfect time to replace the key corks and felts which have become compressed over time, and as you put the horn back together, even out the relative spring tension. These are topics for another post.

If you want to see how this swedging is done, get my saxophone repair DVD, which is available at www.nationofmusic.com.

WHY WE NEEDED A NEW BARITONE SAX MODEL

I fancy myself to be primarily a bari player. I used Selmers for years (all Mk VI's, most of the low Bb) and switched to a 1955 The Martin in 1996. I've also owned pretty much one of everything at one time or another, and what I haven't actually owned, I've overhauled a couple of examples. I think I know baris pretty well. Honestly, I was never very happy with any of them.

The problem, IMHO, is that saxophone companies have always treated the bari as an "afterthought" due to its low unit sales. I don't believe any company sat down and tried to solve the problems inherent with this instrument. I decided to do so.

As with all saxophones, the heart of the sound and the definer of all things accoustic is the neck. With the bari, of course, you have to re-think exactly what constitutes the neck. It's far more than just the "removeable" part. You have to include the "pigtail", and that's where most manufacturers have let us down. Making the pigtail is expensive and complicated, and I think that most companies just "cheap out". I re-thought the taper and curl of the pigtail, and Voila! I was able to vastly improve the intonation and response. Try one of my horns and you'll see what I mean. Changing the pigtail neccessitated altering the upper bow configuration, and by increasing the diameter and altering the taper, I was able to greatly improve the response and voice of the palm key notes.

It's always bothered me that the bari was uncomfortable to hold and play. The finger touches for the upper and lower stacks were simply too far apart, so you always had too much muscle tension in the fingers to be able to play fast and smoothly. I took some measurements from various tenors I had lying around my studio, and set up the bari key touches to tenor specifications. This was not rocket science, and it amazes me that it hadn't been done before. The results will astound you: the horn fits your hands like a glove, with no finger stretching necessary!

To increase comfort, I added a three position strap ring so you can hook up in a fashion that suits your physique and your choice of strap. I also added an extra large thumb hook for the right hand, that supports the last digit of the thumb as well as the first digit.

I've worked on enough baritones to know that these big horns tend to get knocked around. With this in mind, I did a couple of things to decrease the income of saxophone repair technicians worldwide: We use TWO bell to body braces, because the long bell of the low A baritone is forever getting twisted. We also used a new configuration of brace in the middle of the body tube around the LH pinky table whcih greatly strengthens it. My precious new pigtail and upper bow also got a new brace design (with my name engraved on them!) so alignment of this critical area is guaranteed.

All of my signature series horns use my Saxgourmet black kangaroo leather pads and solid brass Noyek resonators. The resonators are huge. We had to tool up for some special sizes for this model. The extra firm felt of the pads gives the horn a very precise feel, and of course, the kangaroo leather is not only durable, but it virtually eliminates pad noise and absolutely positively does not stick to the tone holes!

These are the most elaborately and extensively hand engraved baritones of all time. The engraving (each one is a little different) covers the bell flare, the bell, the bow, the body tube, and the neck. Available finishes are gold plate, silver plate, black nickel with black nickel keys (spectacular!) and vintage lacquer.

There are lots of other features that are unique to this horn, and you'll just have to check one out in person to appreciate them. We've had a problem with this series: we ordered what we thought was a six month supply, and sold them one and all in less than thirty days! We've corrected that situation, which was a nice problem to have and a total surprise to us. Plenty of Steve Goodson Model baritonew will be availaboe on an ongoing basis in around 30 days.

IT JUST AIN'T SO!!!!

I was contacted over the weekend by a very good friend and long time business associate who happens to own a large saxophone company. The P. Mauriat saxophone company, to be specific. He had been contacted by his USA distributor concerning allegations that our Saxgourmet series saxophones are the same as a certain model of the P. Mauriat saxophone. This is not true. Our horns are totally and radically different, and are not the same in any way as any other saxophone on the market anywhere in the world.

I was hired by Orpheus Music a couple of years ago to be a saxophone DESIGNER, not a saxophone copier. All (100%) of our horns are my unique designs. We buy absolutely nothing off the shelf.

This is not the first time this sort of thing has happened. That well known saxophone "expert", Pete Hales, who posts under the name of "saxprick" or something like that on SOTW, stated that our Steve Goodson Model horns were the same as the current models offered by Buffet. Several people stepped up and pointed out the many, substantial differences, yet this "expert" never corrected himself. You can read all about this sordid incident here:

http://www.saxnation.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=119

You gotta wonder what the agenda of those who attack our products is. Particularly those who attack us without so much as even playing our product.

Why we are now offering horns for the "beginner" market

In the past, our company has confined itself to offering horns for the advancing student and for professional player. I'm changing that. I'll be honest with you: the future of the music business depends on what we do to make learning to play an instrument a pleasant, affordable, and trouble free experience. We took a look at what was available for beginning players, and quite frankly, we were aghast at what we saw. We knew we could do better, so after a series of meetings in which budgets were closely examined and a lot of strong language was used, we made the corporate committment to enter the lower price point market. We don't realistically expect to make a huge amount of money right away on this venture: the margins are razor thin. What we do expect to do is to make high quality instruments affordable again, and hence "sow the seed" for the musicians of tomorrow.

The lower end of the saxophone market is a quagmire of marginal quality Asian imports and antiquated designs. First time buyers, who have limited product knowlege at best, can't help but be confused. If they make their purchase decision based on price and price alone (and those $300 Chinese horns do quite often look just like real saxophones), they often find themselves confronted with intonation and durability issues. If they choose a horn named after their favorite motorcycle company, they (1) pay a lot, (2) get a design that has been in continuous production for well over 30 years, and (3) when they closely examine their high priced new horn, they see it is clearly stamped "Made in China". Something is badly wrong with this picture!

We have been manufacturing and distributing the Vespro saxophones for many years. The brand is exclusive to us. It has never been a huge seller for our company, most likely because we never really got behind it and promoted it. Sales were always steady, particularly in the Northeastern United States. Maybe we became complacent.

About a year ago, as we were beginning to consider the entry level market, we made a list of what was good and bad about the various offerings in the marketplace. We played most of the most readily available models, and took them apart to see how they were manufactured. We didn't like what we found.

Our new line (designed by me, of course) of Vespro saxophones offer some features you won't find at this price point: they have full rib construction, metal resonator pads, a full floating LH pinky table, and a high F# key. They are robustly made, and available in a variety of finishes: lacquer, black lacquer with silver plated keys, and silver plate. We've got the Vespro in alto, tenor, and straight soprano versions, and although I'm not going to answer questions about our manufacturing, I will absolutely assure you that the Vespro saxophones are not made in China.

If you are buying your first saxophone, or looking for a back up horn or just want to expand your arsenal, this may be the horn for you. We've got them in stock, and are beginning initial shipments to our dealer network.

Saxophone Endorsers......

Several times a week, I receive an unsolicited promo pack from players who wish to become endorsing artists for our products. I try to listen to all the enclosed CD's, and want to assure you that there are some very talented but as yet unknown players out there. It's a tough business, and there are thousands of people trying everthing that they can dream up in order to gain some recognition and further their career. I don't blame them in the least: I did the very same thing myself thoroughout my career, and currently have been known to fire up the old propaganda machine myself in order to promote my products and my agenda.

These promo packs are invariably accompanied by a letter explaining how the artist in question will do wonders for introducing our product and promoting it. They usually expect us to give them horns and feature them in our advertising in exchange for their efforts. Well, I'm not sure that's the way it works.

I've had many, many endorsement deals myself. I've been affiliated with horn companies, reed companies, mouthpiece companies, stand companies, microphone companies, etc. etc. etc. I've even endorsed a line of stage clothing. I honestly used all the products I endorsed, and never made a secret of the fact that I was invariably compensated one way or another for the use of my name. I never endorsed a product I didn't actually use myself. Some of these deals are still current, and if you look around the web, you will find my smiling likeness shilling various saxophone products.

After you read this post, take just a moment to look at the various saxophone manufacturer's websites and make a list of which one(s) of their endorsing artists you would actually pay money to see in live performance, or that you have actually ever even heard of. Not many, huh? That's the problem. IMHO, endorsements by unknowns are meaningless. I would respectfully submit that if a manufacturer could obtain the endorsement of a big name player, they would. Most of them can't. They fill their web sites with pictures of people holding saxophones. Who are these guys? I don't know the vast majority of them, and I make it my business all day every day to get to know saxophone players of prominence.

At Orpheus, I have a rule for our saxophone endorsing artists: No Grammy, no endorsement. This means a Grammy in your name, not a recording you appeared on as a sideman. I believe the Grammy award to be the recognized standard of achievement for a player. I don't know of any other yardstick I would consider significant.

We have two endorsing artists at present: Tom Scott and Jay Beckenstein. These men both have a record of solid acomplishment for a very long time, and have millions of fans worldwide. They are also both very, very nice people, and frequently appear on our behalf at trade shows, where they are friendly, grateful and humble with their fans, and extremely articulate in explaining why they chose to endorse our product rather than another brand. We are all too aware that any instrument maker on the planet would be all over them to obtain their endorsement, and we are quite happy that they both chose to use and promote our products. Yes, I see to it that Tom and Jay are well taken care of, and yes, I provide them with instruments and other products that we sell. Tom and Jay could play any saxophone in the world, but they choose to play Saxgourmet horns. To me, this is the greatest possible honor they could ever bestow on a humble saxophone designer.

I'm not sure you should ever make a saxophone purchase decision based on the use of the instrument in question by somebody else. I do think that if you are going to consider an endorsement, make sure it's an endorsement that actually means something, from somebody who has an infinite choice and for whom the choice of an instrument is a critical decision.

Orpheo Saxophones.....An Explanation

Another saxophone brand, just what we need? Actually, I think we do, and since I get paid to act on what I think is best for the saxophone community, Orpheo saxophones are being manufactured as we speak.

Saxophones are getting pretty expensive these days. The concept behind the Orpheo line is that the advancing student and "weekend pro player" needed an option that both played well and was affordable.

The Orpheo line (alto, tenor, and straight soprano) brings features found only on "professional" horns down to Earth in price. They've got double arms on the lower keys, our exclusive speaker key system for upper octave intonation improvement, a Saxgourmet thumbrest, MusicMedic kangaroo leather pads with Pisoni seamless domed resonators, and keywork to high G. Most importantly, they come with two different necks, for two different sounds. You wouldn't go to the golf course with only one club in your bag, now would you?

When I was designing the Orpheo, I tried to keep my favorite nephew, Zack Goodson, in mind. Like all the Goodson boys who played the saxophone (this includes my father and Zack's father and my brother, Dave), Zack soon had needs that you just couldn't get in a plain vanilla student model. Zack has been playing one of the early prototype Orpheo's for about six months now, and I'm pleased to report that he sits firmly in the first chair of his school band and the jazz band.

The Orpheo horns will be heavily engraved, and will be available in a variety of finishes: lacquer, black, silver plate, kamelion ("switchback" finish that appears to be a different color when viewed from different directions), and burnished brass. We hope to begin shipments to dealers in around 60 days.

Setting Intonation With Key Heights

I read a lot about this topic on the web. Many of the "experts", including a few who are actually old enough to shave, insist that the way to set intonation is through adjusting the key heights. This is simply not true.

Proper key height does affect the way the note speaks. If a key is not open enough, the voice of that note will be stuffy. True, lowering a key over a tone hole will tend to decrease the pitch, but very much at the expense of "voice"

The reality is that the only way to set intonation that is resonable for most saxophonists to try themselves is through moving the effective center of the tone holes through the use of "tuning crescents". Place a tuning crescent in the top of the tonehole (nearest the mouthpiece) if you wish to flatten a note. Put one away from the mouthpiece is you wish to raise the pitch.

I make these crescents using Devco brand Marine Epoxy. Cork absorbs moisture and encourages the growth of stuff you don't want living in your horn.

Of course, you can also adjust intonation through changing the diameter and taper of the neck (you get a total of one chance: once the neck is altered, it's pretty much altered forever, so if you're wrong...) but this requires a complete understanding of where the nodes are located and some tools that most of us don't have in our inventory.

It's also possible to alter intonation through the use of inserts in the body, but I've got to tell you that this seems to be a black art and my results doing this have been spotty at best.

The key should open 30% of the diameter of the tone hole. Any more makes no difference. Any less, and the note will sound stuffy. It is true that opening some adjacent toneholes up a bit may help certain notes (open the low C# to bring the D2 up), but generally at the expense of intonation.

Vintage Horn Reviews

At one time or another, I've owned multiple examples of just about every "vintage" horn you're likely to run into. I was in the vintage horn business from 1972 - 2005, and literally thousands of horns passed through my hands. Here's my thoughts on some of them:

CONN

Pre- Chu Berry horns: Make excellent lamps. If you're going to buy a C melody, only buy the straight neck variety. If you want anything besides a
C melody, save your money and buy a later edition.

Chu Berry Series: bad ergonomics, but nice sound.

6M: nice horn, serious over-supply. Don't pay too much.

10M: great tenor. Rolled hole models play the same as straight hole models. The last ones (nickel keys and underslung octave keys) are seriously underpriced.

26M and 30M: buy all you can. If you don't buy them, I will.

28M: best of the vintage altos. Don't worry about the plastic keyguard.

BUESCHER

True-Tones: buy them by the pound only. There are too many out there. They have no real redeeming value.

400: The Top Hat and Cane models are fabulous. Buy all you can find. The later 400's are undervalued.

Aristocrat: sweet players. The older ones seem to be a little better. Don't buy any made after 1960.

MARTIN

Committee II: one of my favorites. The ergonomics are not the absolute best, but the low end sound can't be beat. Don't buy any Martin made before this model.

The Martin: A real saxophone. Undervalued for sure. The baritones are the best of the vintage horns, even if they don't have a chromatic F# key.

KING

Zephyr: Don't buy the bari, but if you can live with the quirky intonation, the Zephyrs are a great sounding horn.

Super 20: they got better as this model evolved. I always like the later ones. The ergonomics are not the best, but that tone.......

BUFFET

Superdynaction: really undervalued.

S-1: buy all you can find before I beat you to them. One of the greatest designs of all time.

I'll deal with some other horns in a later edition. I plan to devote a seperate edition to vintage Selmers.

Saxophone Import Figures

Here's some interesting numbers on saxophone imports. Only the top 3 nations were given (source: Music Trades Annual Industry Census), and I note with interest that none of the European makers made it to the finals!

NATION 2006 2005 change

Taiwan 47,642 48,846 -2.5%
China 34,640 31,726 +9.2%
Japan 11,011 7,829 +40.6%

Keeping Your Horn Clean......

Proper saxophone hygene is important! Your horn will play better, smell better, and most definately look better if you will take a few quick and easy steps each week to remove the stuff that doesn't belong inside or on the outside of your horn.

(1) GET SOME GOOD SWABS
I use several different ones: a "shove it" type brush swab for the body, and a couple of weighted string type swabs. The brush type swab is good for wiping out the body interior. Be hereby on notice that they tend to shed fibers and these fibers can accumulate on your toneholes and cause small leaks. Be further notified that you should wash your swab from time to time to remove the stuff that formerly resided inside your horn. I use Woolite to wash mine. I follow the use of this swab up with a weighted string cloth on a brush type swab. Mine has a chamois cloth, but I think the silk ones work just as well. Warning! Don't leave the "shove it" type swab inside your horn when it's in the case. You wouldn't leave a damp sponge inside your horn, now would you? For the neck, the procedure is the same: I use the "neck saver" brush type swab first, then followed by an ordinary clarinet type string swab.

(2) YOU'RE GONNA NEED SOME BRUSHES
Get a sax neck cleaner brush and a sax body brush from Ferree Tool. There's nothing better on the market. Use them from time to time, first spraying them with a little KaBoom bathroom cleaner. Use the string swabs after applying the Kaboom. I'm pretty sure that KaBoom couldn't possibly be good for your health. Get some very soft artists brushes small enough to fit between the keys and use them to remove the accumulated dust.

(3) MAKE IT SHINE
If you've got a silver or gold plated horn WITHOUT A CLEARCOAT OVER THE PLATING, use nothing else but Flitz brand polish. This is a great product, and it's less abraisive than toothpaste so it won't remove metal from your horn. Use a little Flitz on the neck tenon and the neck reciever interior as well. Do not under any circumstances apply any form of lubricant to the tenon or reciever after they have been cleaned! This would only attract dust and grit. If your horn has a lacquer finish or a clearcoat over plating, use a good quality automotive polish to clean and protect. It is very important that you absolutely not get any type of cleaner or polish on the pads!

(4) DON'T FORGET THE CASE
I use powdered carpet deoderizer that I can suck out with the old vaccum cleaner on the interior. From time to time I also shoot the interior with Fabreeze. I use Armorall on the exteriors.

Everything You Could Possibly Ever Want To Know About ALL The Different Saxophones From Orpheus Music But Were Afraid To Ask....

Here's a link to a podcast that will soon be on the new and improved Orpheus Music website. This link (below) takes you directly to the MP3 file that you can download. It takes a minute or two for the file to download.

This podcast is a lengthy interview with me in which I discuss each and every model and all the features of the various brands we manufacture. It's lengthy and very comprehensive.

Turn your speakers up and click here:

http://media23a.libsyn.com/podcasts/88c1ead7b2b4a41f41662a6eba1bd7e1/461e6bf2/rfenno/Steve_Goodson_Introduces_Orpheus_Saxophones.mp3

Airline Travel With Your Horn

Don't kid yourself: you're at the mercy of the airline. You have to abide by their rules. They are under absolutely no obligation of any form or fashion to allow you to carry your horn onto the plane yourself unless it meets each and every one of their requirements.

The problem usually arises when your case won't fit in that little box that is always located by the boarding gate. It either fits or it doesn't, and if you can't make it fit, they have every right to make you check it as baggage. It's their plane, and they make the rules.

There's a letter circulating from the Musicians Union requesting special consideration. The letter has no legal standing. Realistically, they will usually let you bring an alto, tenor, or soprano on with you, but always remember they don't have to do so. If your flight is full, you can count on the airlines to try to keep as much space in the overhead baggage lockers available as possible, so any oversized items may be required to go under the plane. On a recent flight from Chicago (on Delta), I was forced to check an alto I had with me in a ProTec contour case, which is about as small as an alto case gets. I had been allowed to carry it on on the flight up to Chicago, but was forced to check it as baggage going back to New Orleans. It could happen to you.

Whenever I fly with a horn, I always assume I'm going to have to check it. My tenor and bari always go in an Anvil case which holds the horn inside a Walt Johnson case. The important thing to keep in mind is to use a case that absolutely does not flex in any direction. Flexing bends the body of the horn. Take your horn out of the case, and with all the strength you can muster, try to get the case to bend. If it bends at all, imagine what this would do if your horn was inside the case. Again, you've been warned.....

If your case doesn't pass the flex test, here's a couple of things you can do:

(1) keep your horn in key clamps. You don't want the keys flapping as the baggage handlers throw your horn around.

(2) Use an end plug that extends beyond the octave key actuator bar.

(3) Fill the case as tightly as possible with bubble wrap. The horn must not move at all when it's in the case.

(4) If you have any doubt at all about the integrity of your case latches, use bungee cords to make sure it doesn't pop open at an inopportune moment.

(5) Never underestimate the power of prayer.....

Stuff Sax Players Need.....

It's not enough to own a good horn(s). Your sax life will be considerably better if you accessorize. A lot of the little problems and inconveniences are easily and cheaply resolved with some of the following items, all of which should be found in your case no later than day after tomorrow:

REED RESURFACER
Almost nobody I know has one of these, and they're crazy not to go out and buy one. The back side of your reeds is almost never flat, so getting that perfect seal on the table of your expensive mouthpiece is impossible. I use one made by Vandoren, and you can easily make one using a piece of glass with some emery paper glued onto the surface. I guarantee you will be amazed at the difference a few quick strokes makes.

REED RUSH, OR SOMETHING LIKE IT
I don't use the hard to find "Dutch Rush". It doesn't last. I use a single edge razor blade and a very light touch to balance my reeds. When I'm trying to impress somebody with my stash of exotic saxophone accoutrements, I whip out my "Santy's Permanent Reed Rush", which works a little better.

MUSIC MEDIC LEAK LIGHT
This is a "rope" type light that rolls up and fits easily in the case and requires no transformer. It's bright enough to let you spot most leaks, although you'll get far better results in a dark room. Once you spot the offending leak during a break, heat the cup using a butane "crack pipe type" lighter to float the pad back into position for the last set. You can buy these leak lights at www.nationofmusic.com

FOLD UP ALL IN ONE TOOL KIT
You know these: pliers, screwdrivers, saws, bottle openers etc. all in a fold up thingie in a little leather pouch. After the roadies knock over your horn while it's sitting on the stage after sound check, you're going to need all these tools.

A REALLY GOOD SCREWDRIVER
Throw away that set of "jeweler screwdrivers" that you bought at the flea market. Get a real one (Ferree Tool sells the best ones) with a nice big handle so you can torque out that stuck rod screw.

A BAG OF CORK AND FELT
Next time you're at the repair shop, get a small bag of cork scraps and key felts. Keep it in your case, along with a tube of Super Glue. Throw in a few rubber bands as well, because I've got it on good authority that you're gonna break a spring next week....You'll need some single edge razor blades to trim the cork.

A GOOD STAND
Throw away your old stand. Get a SaxRax. Accept no substitute. They're much cheaper than a trip to the repair shop.

THE BEST CASE YOU CAN AFFORD
When I travel, I use a top of the line Anvil, which holds my horn securely nestled in a Walt Johnson case. This is the only baggage handler/roadie proof set up I know of. Yes, it's expensive, but not nearly as expensive as my horn.....the choice is yours. Get a thickly padded bag for your neck. A really thick one, not a Crown Royal bag. I'm tired of taking the dents out of your neck.

A SOFT CLOTH SHOULD LIVE IN YOUR CASE
Use it to blot your pads off after you finish the gig. Remove all the moisture and they'll last practically forever. Wipe your horn down to keep the lacquer intact. Saliva, beer, and whiskey all attack lacquer.

EXTRA 9 VOLTS FOR YOUR WIRELESS
Don't count on the crew to have these for you. They forget. That's why they're roadies, not musicians.

PLENTY OF BUSINESS CARDS
Keep these in your case. You meet all sorts of interesting people back stage. Put your email address on the cards. Don't give your cell number to girls you meet back stage.

What's My Old Horn Worth?

I think I'm still the only one on the net who publishes a saxophone value guide. A couple of times a week, I hear from somebody who tells me one (or more) of my values is wrong. They should do their own research and publish their own guide. I promise not to try to stop them.

Old horn prices are all over the place, mainly because the marketplace has so many different aspects. Here's a couple of things you can count on:

(1) a horn is worth what a willing buyer and willing seller can agree upon

(2) "old" does not necessarily mean "valuable"

(3) the number of collectors buying really obscure and historic horns can
be counted on the fingers of both hands

(4) condition is everything. This means cosmetic as well as playing shape

(5) the eBay market is not a reliable indicator of value

(6) "stencil" horns have almost no value to anybody

(7) old student model horns have almost no value

(8) some horns are in serious oversupply: 6M's, for example

(9) a horn owned by a famous player must be incredibly well documented

(10) old C melodies generally have no real value

(11) the cost of repair or overhaul may well exceed the value

(12) necks and other parts are not available for old horns, at any price!

(13) anecdotal price information is generally just that

(14) you should learn "what's what" and "who's who" before buying

Saxophone Projects I Want to Pursue....

Several times each and every week, I get suggestions about products we should offer and questions like "why don't you build a modern C melody?" or "can't you build a low A tenor?".

Anyone who has visited my prototype shop will assure you that I rarely have a shortage of new projects under development. Most of them never see the light of day, because they either didn't work like I had hoped or because they don't offer a significant improvement or advance over existing saxophones. That's how I learn: I try different stuff. I've always believed that it is equally important to learn what doesn't work as well as what does work. My shop is littered with my failures. We bring to market the successful designs.

A lot of the suggestions and requests that I get have limited market appeal or demand, and that's why I don't pursue them. For example, I don't think we could ever sell enough C melodies with modern keywork and good intonation to justify the development and tooling costs. Here's some things I'm either working on now or want to pursue:

ALL OPEN TONE HOLE SAXOPHONE
Well, not exactly all of them, but most of them! Think about this (and look at your horn): the G#, Eb, and low C# pads all stay closed most of the time. This causes dead spots on the horn, and also affects intonation (you have to change the surrounding tone holes to get the horn to play in tune) so the horn can never really play up to its full potential. There have been several attempts over the years to correct this problem, some good, some not so good. The Leblanc Rationale was brilliant, played great, and solved the problems but the mechanism was far too complex for mere mortals to own.
The Kings with the double G pads and forked Eb key were a good start, but they don't appear to have completely thought through the intonation issues. I've seen some Conns with a similar system to the one used by King, but I don't recall that it worked any better. Martin occasionally added some speaker keys which seemed to help, and the Holton "Rudy Weidoft" model was pretty far down the road on the right track. I plan to keep plugging away on this project.

A MOTHER, MARY, AND JOSEPH COST IS NO OBJECT HORN
This one may happen next year. I've got the design finalized and am about to have a "pre-production" prototype built. Mulitple octave vents (I'm not gonna tell you how many!), high note compensator mechanism, altissimo key, upper stack speaker system, solid silver bell and neck with a high copper content body (it works better if you use different materials in different places) plus features too numerous to mention. I'm not sure if the "traffic will bear" what this is going to cost......

CLASSICAL MUSIC SPECIFIC SAXOPHONE
There are thousands of people studying classical saxophone, and nobody builds a horn specifically for this market, which has very different needs. I think it would be pretty easy to do, and plan to pursue it. There are lots of horns out there that are adapted for classical playing, but so far, nobody has come up with a model that exactly meets the requirements of these players. I've gotten some most excellent advice so far from a couple of very famous classical players, and would appreciate any input as to specific improvements along these lines.

MORE NECKS
The Saxgourmet tenor neck has gotten rave reviews, and I've got prototypes of quite a few new models. This neck business is a serious "black art", and I'm still experimenting. I'm not going to offer necks for the "replacement" market, but only necks which make a significant improvement in the intonation, voice, and response of existing horns.

REEDS
Saxgourmet N'Awlins Cut reeds have a very steady and loyal following now, but they're expensive and limited in availability due to the "one at a time" manufacturing process. I've been acquiring samples of cane from all over the world, and hope to introduce a more moderatly priced reed in the near future. We'll make 'em ourselves rather than contracting this out. We bought some reed machines!

A field spotter's guide to saxophone manufacturing in Asia

"Where's it made?" If I hear this one more time, I may vomit. What possible difference does it make? The horn either plays well or it doesn't. I would respectfully sumbit that if you can't tell if a horn plays well and if the construction is robust enough to satisfy your needs, you have no business buying a saxophone. You can always find someone to help you with the necessary expertise if you lack the personal competence to make a buying decision.

The reality of saxophone manufacturing in Asia (and elsewhere in the world, for that matter) is far different from what most consumers have been led to believe. I've had the pleasure, honor, and maybe somewhat unique experience of dealing with most of the major "players" in the saxophone making game for many years. A great many of them have been visitors in my home. I spend most of every business day dealing with them.

The company I work with, Orpheus Music, is what is known in the trade as a "contract manufacturer". This means that everything we have made, we have made to our exact specifications. We don't buy anything "off the shelf" and then put our name on it. We take everything we have made to our specification (and all our saxophones are my original and unique designs) and then do final assembly and regulation at our facility in Texas. We go through a lengthy protoyping process, and I have a "posse" of professional players that I use to give me independent verification and validation of my designs. Almost nobody else in the industry does it this way.

Today, most saxophones are manufactured in Taiwan, China, Indonesia, and Viet Nam. Selmer still makes their "Paris" horns in France (although not in Paris!), Keilwerth makes a few (but not many) of their horns in Germany (often using components from other nations), and there are a couple of other small makers in eastern Europe and Italy. There are no saxophones manufactured in the United States. Yamaha still makes a few saxophones in Japan, but most production has been moved to China and Indonesia.

The vast majority of the horns manufactured in Asia are copies of the Selmer Super Action 80 Series II, which is not a bad place to start. A dirty little secret of the business is that the majority of factories (but not all) are basically "assembelers" of components that they purchase from multiple sources. I know of one specific industrial park in Taiwan where you can start at one end of a row of metal buildings and buy, from individual companies, bells, bodies, keys, and necks. It's essentially a shopping mall for saxophone components! You may have noticed that the keywork on many Asian horns appears to be identical. Can you say "they use the same supplier"?

Recently, I met with a large Chinese manufacturer, and the president of the company, in the privacy of my hotel room, offered me exact copies of the Selmer Super 80 II; Selmer Super 80 III; Yanigasawa 901; and Yamaha 875. Trust me, these were exact copies, and all were readily available for quantity purchase with any name I wished engraved on them. They were all very well built, and the parts were absolutely interchangable with the originals. Of course, you can order the horns with various cosmetic variations and in pretty much any finish you want. There's a huge amount of this sort of thing going on, and if the vendors know and trust you, they are extremely "up front" about what they are offering.

At this point in the discussion, it's worth pointing out that most of the features on saxophones are not protected by patents. Sure, there are a few patents out there, but those of us on the design end now understand that reality is that (1) filing patents is very, very expensive; (2) you can bet the farm on the fact that your patent rights will be violated, probably sooner than later; (3) if you think filing a patent is expensive, you need to consider how much it will cost to defend them in Asia, and what your chances are of prevailing.....

The reality is that very often, horns sold by "brands you know" are often very much the same. Last year, there was a lawsuit over whether the horns by Walmart (First Act) were different from the horns sold by Selmer USA. Expert witnesses were sent to the factories in China, and sure enough, the court found they were the same, and gave First Act a $16 million dollar judegment. This surprised nobody who is familiar with how things really work.

A couple of the major European companies (Keilwerth and Buffet) have their horns built in Asia. Same thing for Conn-Selmer. Is this a bad thing? Not at all. First, Asia is about the only place you can actually get the horns manufactured. There really aren't any other options available. Second, the Asians have the experience, the skill, and the equipment. Third, the price is right. Cost of living varies widely all over the globe, and the cost of skilled labor is significantly less in Asia. These are not "sweatshop" jobs: the workers in the saxophone shops are highly skilled and are very well paid. It is most unfair to judge the standards of various local economies by our standards. The cost of materials used is essentially the same: a kilo of brass costs about the same in Shanghai as it does in Elkhart. It's a global economy, stupid. Get over it.

I think it goes without saying that there is often a variation in build quality. This is where you (or your duly appointed proxy saxophone tester) have to make the call. But don't kid yourself. Some of the horns with strange sounding names that are unfamiliar to you play very well and will last a lifetime.

Some maintenance ideas.....Sticky pads

Unless you are really lonely, and the only companionship you can find is your saxophone repairman, you probably ought to think more about maintaining your horn. Leave repairs to someone who knows what they're doing: you'll probably only make the damage worse if you attempt to fix it yourself. However, there's a number of things that almost nobody does that can make your horn last longer and play better. As you have probably figured out by now, I've developed a few products that will help you out in your quest for good horn health....

STICKY PADS
Don't you hate it when you're blowin' your brains out on a solo, eyeing the cute girl at the front table with bad intent, and your G# pad sticks? This embarassment is easily avoided. All it takes is a little preventive maintenance. First and foremost, clean the top of the tone hole. Think about it: the G# (and the low C# and low Eb) pad stays closed most of the time. It accumulates moisture as you play, and this moisture reacts with the brass body of the horn. This forms that yucky green stuff on the top of the tone hole chimney, which is mildly adhesive. Voila! A sticking pad! You gotta clean the top of the chimney well, so put that fresh twenty dollar bill back in your wallet and get some 1500 grit emery paper at your favorite local hardware emporium. Cut the emery paper into a strip about an inch wide and four inches long. Place the strip with the abraisive side (the dark side) on the tone hole and close the key cup with a fairly firm pressure using your other hand. Pull the strip out and examine it. See that gunk? That's the problem! Now, repeat until you've cleaned the entire perimeter of the tone hole. While you're at it, you might as well do the same thing to every tone hole on your horn. You will be amazed at how cleaning all the tone holes quiets down the action. Now, clean the pad. Contrary to what you've read on the internet (if you're listening to those knuckleheads at SOTW then you are obviously too stupid to play the saxophone and I strongly suggest you consider taking up the accordian), don't use lighter fluid, Windex, WD40, Old English Oil, or anything whatsoever that will break down the leather, dry it out, or leave an oily film. Use saddle soap. Let the pad dry completely. Then, apply some Mojo's Never Stick Pad Powder to the entire pad surface using a small brush or a Q-Tip. Try to rub the Mojo's into the pores of the leather. Now, place your face close to the pad you just treated and inhale. Smells good, doesn't it? A familiar scent? Yep, it smells like hippie girls. All of my maintenance products are scented to smell like hippie girls. Why? I'll tell you why: my research has shown that the regular use of Mojo's actually attracts hippie girls. Hippie girls are well known friends of saxophonists, and having plenty of them around will make you play consistantly better. You can buy Mojo's at my online store located at www.nationofmusic.com

'bout 'dem new mouthpieces....

I've always wanted to be in the mouthpiece business. I freely admit that I have a BAAAAD mouthpiece habit: I own at least a hundred different ones, and I was probably deluded into believing each and every one of them was going to solve all of my playing and personal problems.

Over the years, I've taken mouthpiece refacing lessons from anyone and everyone who claimed to have any knowlege of this black art, most notably Santy Runyon and his greatest student and successor to the throne, Paul Coats. I don't know how many mouthpieces I've ruined learning how to reface. It's a very big number. I've also ruined many a perfectly good mouthpiece through altering the window size, the baffle, the chamber size, the angle of the floor etc. I've spent a huge amount of money on diamond files, every mouthpiece measuring guage known to Western (and maybe Eastern) man, granite leveling blocks, and mile after mile of fine emery paper.

I always try to learn from my mistakes, and honestly, I've made plenty of them in this area. Slowly, over a period of years, I developed some designs that seemed to work for me.

For some reason, the companies that market mouthpieces seem to have ignored a basic fact about the needs of saxophonists: On any given Saturday night, there are more players out there playing "Mustang Sally" than there are guys playing "Giant Steps". Nobody was making a piece for guys who actually make a living playing. The jazzers (admitidly not all of them, but certainly the overwhelmingly vast majority of them), who all want to sound like Coltrane, are usually appearing at the local "open mic" night or working "for the door". I wanted to make a series of mouthpieces for guys who actually make a living playing, or at least aspire to do so!

There are three models currently available. Each one is significantly different from the other. You should buy one of each. You wouldn't go out on the golf course with only one club in your bag, now would you? Think about this for a minute....Do you really want to sound the same on every gig? Here's the lineup:

STEVE GOODSON MODEL
There are two versions of this series, a metal version and a plastic version. The metal version is solid brass and silver plated. The plastic version is made from a nicely resonant synthetic material, and no, I'm not about to tell you what it is. Yes, you can only get it from me, or one of the dealers of my products.

The metal version is similar in concept to an "Otto Link on Steroids" crossbred with a Selmer metal Jazz. The chamber is rather large, and the baffle is straight. The ligature is virtually identical to the one used on the Selmer metal series (except it's reinforced at the screw holders so it doesn't break like the Selmer's invariably do) and the soprano ligature uses a single screw so you can accurately center the pressure point on the reed. It's available in a variety of facings for alto, tenor, and soprano.

The composite version is designed for student use. The students of this great land of ours are getting seriously overcharged for the mythical C star! My mouthpiece plays better, and is a third of the price! It's available for alto, tenor, and soprano as well.

SAXGOURMET SERIES
This is a serious mouthpiece for rock and roll work. It's got a "cliff" baffle, and virtually no resistance. The ligature is attached to the mouthpiece (think Lawton), and has special contact points to distribute the pressure evenly to the reed. They're gold plated, and available in a wide variety of tip openings for alto, tenor, and soprano. The facings are dead on accurate. They subtone phenomenally well, and have plenty of head room when you really need to push it.

THE HAND MADE SERIES
This is The Big Daddy Rabbit With the Fuzzy Tongue! Each and every one is hand faced by Paul Coats (I would trust nobody else) and is the finest mouthpiece available for tenor saxophone (only) at an price from anybody.
The body is very long (it tunes way down on the cork) and has a great deal of mass. The sides are fluted (sort of a Buck Rogers/Flash Gordon 1930's science fiction look) and they're gold plated. The chamber is compound: a high baffle leads to a large chamber with a "bullet" opening. The tone is complex, to say the least. The beak has an extremely pronounced "duckbill". It has no resistance. None. Not a bit. The body is solid bell quality brass (made to my specifications by EMR Corporation in Phenix, Az, which is owned by my buddy and master sax player Bill Lieske) and is a work of art in itself. There's one and one only tip opening and facing (.105) which we have determined to be the optimum for this design. There's nothing like it. Expensive? You better believe it. The best available? You be the judge.

NEW PROJECTS
I've got several new designs in development at present. Watch this space and www.nationofmusic for news of my latest and greatest mouthpiece designs.

Even More Product News

THE STRAIGHT ALTO AND TENOR SAXES ARE COMING!
We did just what we planned with the last generation of straight saxes: we sold every last one of them! Now, we're getting ready to bring you the latest and greatest: the STEVE GOODSON MODEL straight alto and tenor. This is a total redesign of the previous horns (which played great!) and will feature all of our latest tricks. The new version is so much improved that we're gonna move it our of our L A Sax brand and upgrade it to Steve Goodson Model status. Like all the horns in the Steve Goodson series, we will include Saxgourmet black kangaroo leather pads and solid brass Noyeks, as well as a Saxgourmet thumbrest. That's going to be easy enough to spot. The important difference is a totally new bore taper and tone hole placement, which will make these horns speak like nothing you've ever heard! The keywork geometry has been revised to be a little more compliant with the "upright" playing position. The tonal charecteristics of these horns is different from our other offerings: it's darker with an entireoly different mix of overtones. That's what the new bore taper is all about! Watch for these in a couple of months.

IMPROVEMENTS TO THE STEVE GOODSON MODEL BARITONE
Look, there was nothing wrong with the bari. I honestly believe it's been my best design so far, and the sales figures back it up. There was something that was needed that I missed on the first batch: we're adding a key guard for the keys on the upper bow to protect them. All subsequent production will have this feature.

The future of saxophone design

If you look at some of the work I've done so far (at the online store located at www.nationofmusic.com), I believe you will find things never offered to saxophone players before. Well, you ain't seen nuthin' yet!

We're absolutely overwhelmed by the great success we've had with our new models. The biggest immediate problem we've had is keeping the supply up with demand. I think we have a good handle on that now, and so we're going to proceed with some other projects that have been lying dormant for a while.

STEVE GOODSON MODEL SOPRANINO
We underestimated demand. That's all there is to it. I'm pleased to tell you that this little beauty will be available again in about two weeks. All examples will be in silver plate and have Saxgourmet kangaroo leather pads with solid brass Noyek resonators. An extra large Saxgourmet thumbhook will be standard. The great thing about this sopranino is the intonation: it's spot on!

STEVE GOODSON MODEL CURVED SOPRANO
I've been working on this design for years, and it's finally happening. Curved soprano saxes look cute (I don't know how many girls I've told "I picked this one before it was ripe...") but never felt right to me. I re-thought the key geometry, and I think we've got a winner here. I also moved the lowB and Bb keys to the right side of the bell. Not only does this significantly improve the voice of the lowest notes, but most importantly, it enabled us to extend the left hand pinky table out to a point where a normal person can easily reach the key touches. By making these changes, we were also able to use a floating mechanim low Bb key touch. Now the curved soprano feels like a real honest to goodness saxophone! The right hand thumbrest has been repositioned so the right hand is now in a natural position. I've also extended the range to high G, as this seems to be quite the fashion in soprano saxes these days. The palm keys are "conventional" style, and all of these horns come very heavily hand engraved (bell, bow, body tube, and bell flare) in silver plate. The pads are Saxgourmet black kangaroo with solid brass Noyek resonators. A three ring strap hook and a Saxgourmet extra large thumbrest are standard. This horn will set the standard for curved sopranos!

THE VESPRO'S ARE COMING!
We've decided to enter the "student" horn market. The difference in us and the competition is we want to do it right. Our new line of Vespro alto and tenor saxophones is full rib construction, floating mechanism left hand table (Take that! YAS-23!!), metal resonator pads (no plastic!) and, I hate to take credit for it, but better design and build quality than has been seen at anything approaching this price point. No they won't be the very lowest price saxophone you can buy, but they will be sold for less than the "name brand" competetion, and if you'll kindly give one a test play, you will easily see there's simply no comparison. Delivery to dealers will begin in a few weeks.