 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: stagehand
Date: 2006-03-01 00:59
One of my student's alto sax is acting strange. It will play great for a while and then not play at all. I tried it and it did the same to me. It will play fine and out of no where it stops. No sound comes out, and it feels like the air is not going through. I took the mouthpiece off that horn, and put it on mine and it worked fine. I cleaned it with a pull through cleaner and found nothing. I put a leak light in it and can not find any problems. Unfortunately the school does not have the money to send it to the shop. Does anybody have any ideas that can help?
Thank You!
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Author: wwinds
Date: 2006-03-01 02:18
If there is nothing inside to block it up and there are no leaks, that leaves a problem with a key. My guess would be that a key in the octave mechanism is getting sticky and does not always work. Per haps a hinge screw is working loose and the key sits crooked once in a while causing it to bind. Good luck!
Repairing brass and woodwind instruments
www.whisperingwindsrepair.netfirms.com
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Author: pzaur
Date: 2006-03-01 03:57
Stagehand,
When this happens, are all the keys closed, such as D, or are you playing a note like C (2nd finger, left hand)? This would help to eliminate and narrow down a whole host of issues if it is only occuring in the upper or lower stack.
-pat
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Author: stagehand
Date: 2006-03-01 12:27
It seems to be random. I tried playing C# (open) when it did not want to play, and still nothing. I got up, walked to the other side of the room, checked it and it played.
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2006-03-01 13:11
While this doesn't sound like your problem, once on a gig, I "stored" my metal mp cap in my AS's bell, wanting to NOT drop it on the floor ! Sure enough, it ended up stuck in the bore, and the lower notes just wouldn't play. Easily solved. I have had some "randoms" and always found it related to differing pad seatings , high on the horn, due often to worn shafts/pivots which can cause pads to shift position. Check the horn for "slop" in rods/shafts, get repair help AND oil the moving parts occasionally. Luck, Don
Thanx, Mark, Don
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Author: pzaur
Date: 2006-03-01 13:35
Check to see if a bubble formed in the key when it stops playing. I've had this happen a couple of times. It usually only happens to me in the palm keys and the uppermost pad on the upper stack.
-pat
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2006-03-01 13:40
Another possible cause of pad-seating problems is, IF the horn has had rough treatment [even in its case!], that some of the longer shafts/rods/keys may be slightly BENT and shortened as the result, thereby mal-functioning at times. Check the keywork carefully !! Don
Thanx, Mark, Don
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Author: pewd
Date: 2006-03-01 13:47
what part of dallas are you in? i'm assuming from your address we're in the same area.
- Paul Dods
Dallas, Texas
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2006-03-01 14:07
Check the palm keys for wobble, especially the high F key - if this wobbles on it's steel it could cause a leak that will make the lot pack up.
And check the front F key and the linkage - there SHOULD be some double action in the rocker, assuming it has a rocker linking the front F touch to the high F key. If there's no play in it, the high F key could be held fractionally open.
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Author: Merlin
Date: 2006-03-01 15:08
Check for a warping reed. Couple a warping reed with a bad mouthpiece table, and you can get exactly the symptoms you're describing.
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Author: Bob Phillips
Date: 2006-03-01 19:25
We had a disussion thread on this site about a clarinet that would suddenly stop playing. Shortly after that, it happened to me. After some consulting, it turned out to be a water bubble (in the G# key).
Its incredible that such a small fault can stop the instrument from playing at all.
Bob Phillips
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2006-03-01 20:02
Merlin,
I used to have this with bari sax reeds, especially in the days when I used Plasticover reeds (don't flinch!).
I had a call from a sax player who couldn't get a note out of her baritone, she then brought it round to me the next day VERY early so I had a look at it and couldn't find anything wrong with it at all - it worked for me, but didn't for her (!) but it was due to the warped reed leaking at the side rails on her own mouthpiece.
And the same from another bari player a few years later.
And more recently the same from a tenor player, and just after I'd serviced his tenor and straightened the crook so it definitely wasn't the sax - I showed him how to test the mouthpiece by sucking the air out and seeing how long it takes the reed to pop open - there was no vacuum at all due to the reed being warped.
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Author: stagehand
Date: 2006-03-02 01:05
Paul, you asked "what part of dallas are you in? i'm assuming from your address we're in the same area."
I have no idea how that address was picked. I am in Tennessee now and may be going back to California this summer.
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Author: pewd
Date: 2006-03-02 01:53
hm, odd. cant offer to look at it for you then
- Paul Dods
Dallas, Texas
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