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.