Posts Tagged ‘care’

Do you have a number of mouthpieces you’d like to display? While I pretty much stick to one mouthpiece, I periodically like to go back and try other mouthpieces that I’ve collected over the years. Here’s a cool looking display you make relatively quickly. I’ll step you through the steps.

The Mouthpiece Display Stand

I started with a nice piece of solid maple, about 12 by 18 by 1 inches, leftover from a shelving project. I had in mind what I roughly wanted, so I also picked up a 3 foot long piece of 1/2 inch dowel. My friend Lon has a wonderful woodcutting studio, so I started by cutting the maple down to roughly 8 by 18.

We then routed the four sides of the maple, giving it a nice professional look.

Next I used the drill press and cut 1/2 inch holes, about 1/2 an inch deep. I picked a spacing of 2 inches (front to rear), and 3 inches (side to side). This would allow me to mount three rows of six dowels, or 18 total.

Next I cut the dowels. I cut six for the back row (sized for tenor mouthpieces), six slightly shorter (for alto), and six even shorter (for soprano).

The next step is to use a grinder to nicely finish the ends of the dowels, taking off the sharp edge.

Now it’s time to oil the maple for a nice finished look. I decided not to oil the dowels, since my mouthpieces were going to be on them. I used Teak Oil for the maple base, and it came out very nice.

Once the maple base was oiled, I mounted the dowels, long ones in the back and short ones in the front. I used just a touch of wood glue to make sure they wouldn’t wobble or come out.

All in all, a very easy project, and I know I’ll get a lot of use out of the stand!

See the photos below for more details of each step.

Handling the Saxophone

The saxophone is an intricate instrument that needs to be handled carefully and maintained regularly. The best way to pick up a saxophone is by the bell, or with at least one hand holding the bell. You should never pick up the saxophone by grabbing an area with keys. The weight of the saxophone in your hand can easily bend or warp the keys, knocking it out of adjustment.

Saxophone Maintenance

A trained instrument-repair person should regularly check the horn for leaks around the pads, check corks, check springs, check key heights, and perform other minor adjustments. If you have a professional quality horn, adjustments should be made by a repairman who regularly adjusts professional (not just student) quality horns. Ask other top musicians who they use. I like to have my horns adjusted every six months, at least  for horns I play often. In addition, the pads will eventually develop tears or wear out. When this occurs, an entire pad job is needed, which usually runs anywhere between $300 and $700 depending upon the pads used and what other work might be required.

A saxophone should regularly wipe off and clean the saxophone. On a daily basis after practicing, the student should run a wipe (see photo) through the horn to remove any saliva from the main part of the horn.

In addition, the neck should be swapped with either a wipe or a soft rag with a cord. I prefer to remove the mouthpiece after each practice (to keep the cork fresh), but some saxophone players leave the mouthpiece on the neck for extended periods.

The outside lacquer of the horn should be carefully wiped with a little dab of rubbing alcohol on a soft cotton rag. If desired, a little dab of Old English can be used after the alcohol wipe to give the lacquer a little glean. For newer horns, check with your manufacturer to find out what they recommend.

About every few months, the keys should be oiled and the pads gently cleaned. To oil the keys, drop a miniscule drop of key oil into every place where there are moving parts. Keep this oil off of the pads, cork, felt, and lacquer.