Curt Altarac, a fellow saxophone repair specialist here in North Carolina put together a great article at MusicMedic.com based on the experience of one of his apprentices fitting the keys (aka rebuilding the mechanics) of a cheap East Asian import sax. Any of you who are repairmen reading this are immediately getting clammy, and perhaps …
A company based in Thailand has made a plastic saxophone, called the Vibrato. had a chance to test out a Vibrato model A1S and take a look at the mechanics from a saxophone repairman’s point of view. (Click on any photo for a high resolution version) In the wayback times, an English company made an acrylic saxophone aimed at …
I love original literature, be it ads or booklets or price lists, and I collect them as I come across them. Here are some high-quality scans of the booklets that would have come with your new Selmer Mark VI saxophone. Click on any image for a high resolution version.
The shortcomings of language and barriers to consumer knowledge have divorced value from price, and created an unprofitable valley that traps and kills many good products, services, and innovations to keep the status quo a sea of mediocrity.
On older horns, sometimes you’ll find that the right hand E pearl is disconnected from the E pad cup, and through a rather complex mechanism is attached to a tiny key opposite the low D. This is a mechanism called the forked Eb, and when in proper working order allows you to trill from D …
Obviously some stuffiness is caused by leaks, damage, supoptimal key heights, octave issues (particularly with upper A and C), etc. But what about when you’ve taken it to a competent tech and worked on it and nothing seems to be helping? Well, the following information may help you. Some notes on the horn are vented …
The following is an email I received asking a variation of an Eternal Question I seem to get pretty often, followed by my response. “Hello Matt.I am mailing you to tell you about a Keilwerth New King Tenor I have bought and playing. I put it through a repair shop and it plays so well …
Early Keilwerths I have recently become a big fan of early Keilwerths, around the serial 10xxx to 21xxx. There is a picture of the New King and the Modell 3 I speak about in this article in the gallery. To get up to speed on Keilwerth New King/Tone King and their stencils, go to http://www.saxpics.com/keilwerth/newking.htm …