OK, Here's a quick shop tip that someone out there is going to enjoy.

The problem:
Mixing epoxy is messy and it gets air bubbles.

Adding heat to epoxy makes it flow much better and takes out the air bubbles. It also, makes it thin and thus difficult to work with.

The solution:
Red Bull or any Soda-type can. Tip the can over and mix your epoxy in the concave bottom of the can. If you need to heat the mixture the can will hold a little heat for you and the sides will cool much faster than the epoxy -so you have a place to grab the can.

I heat the can with a hot air gun.

Note: I never checked on the health implications of mixing epoxy on a can or even heating it up. Do this at you own risk and if it's a beer can, do it at you leisure.

I just returned from the NAMM show in Anaheim CA. Rich Zimmerman and myself exhibited for MusicMedic.com again this year. It was a great show and I have some news and pictures to share. However, Rich stayed out west to do a series of Clinics on Jazz improvisation. Rich has the camera so I'll wait for him to return to work to tell you about the show.

Now we're getting ready for the Navy Saxophone Symposium. Matt Scott and I will be exhibiting and checking out as many concerts as possible. We're both playing a gig on Friday night so we're planning to drive to the show in VA after the gig. Should be a late night but it will be worth it. The Symposium is always a great time.

I'm planning to bring our new Cebulla Straps for players to try and our other accessories. I'll also bring some Gloger and Goodson necks for you to try if you have time.

I'm toying with the idea of setting up a bench at the show but I'm not sure I will have time to organize it. If there is something that you want me to bring, drop me a line and I'll throw it in the truck.

See you in VA!

http://www.navyband.navy.mil/saxophonesymposium.shtml

-Curt

Shortly after I posted this Blog about our visit with Ken, this letter showed up in the mail.

"Dear Curt,

Just a quick note to thank you, Jen, Matt and the entire MusicMedic team for making my visit to Wilmington such a fruitful and enjoyable one. I know all too well how busy you and the whole gang are; especially considering the ongoing renovation of, and upcoming move into the new MusicMedic building. My noggin is STILL reeling from the staggering size of the project! I cannot over emphasize how awed I am with the work that is taking place on that venture, and I cannot wait to see the finished product! As with all of your endeavors, this too will certainly be an ENORMOUS triumph!

After our visit I started to shuffle through my memory a bit. My last visit to your shop was before the RSQ’s workshop in Fredonia. That would have been July 06. Since then “our” baritone has seen action on four continents, in about twenty five different countries, in approximately 175 concert performances and in roughly 20 radio, television and CD productions. It has logged bucket loads of frequent flyer miles and European railways points. It has dealt with the freezing temperatures of cities like Tromsø, Norway, the extreme humidity of places like Seoul, Korea, and the intense heat and sunshine of locales such as Palermo, Italy.

Add to all that more than a few practice and rehearsal hours and I guess you could say that it has had a pretty strenuous workout these last two-and-a-half years.

Considering such a work load, and taking into account that the horn is pushing 60 years old, I am amazed at how well it has held up and how relatively little “tuning-up” was needed. This is obviously the result of the superior WORK, CARE and COMMIMENT that you and Matt have dedicated to this instrument as well as the others in my collection. I am well aware of the finely detailed and creative work that you and your team have invested into my instruments. This alone is, to say the least, remarkable. However I am just as impressed with how DURABLE the work has been. Simply amazing!!!

Curt, all the seasons that I have had performing with the Raschèr Saxophone Quartet have be tremendous and special, however I truly believe that the seasons since January 2005 (this was when I first started using saxophones blessed by MusicMedic in concert) have been my most successful and certainly most enjoyable. Truly, a priceless gift!!!

Many people ask me why I travel to western North Carolina to have my instruments overhauled. I always tell them that it is the same reason I like to visit Asia to have my clothes made. The nicest Hugo Boss off the rack pales in comparison to the fit of a finely tailored suit made just for me. You and your team’s tireless efforts and remarkable results surpass the finest tailors that I know.

Yours, with utmost respect, undying gratitude and unwavering friendship,

Kenneth Coon
The Raschèr Saxophone Quartet"

There are a lot of reasons that I love my job. Repairing saxophones is a wonderfully fun and challenging sport were I am constantly pressured to outdo my previous work and solve new problems. It can be hard work but it is not without rewards. Sometimes these rewards come in the form of gratitude, occasionally money, and on rare occasions the rewards are nearly indescribable. This week, it was the latter. The shop was honored with the presence of Kenneth Coon of the Rascher Saxophone Quartet. For me, as a classical baritone saxophonist, Ken's visits are the greatest reward and the highest honor I can imagine.

As a student studying classical saxophone, I used to listen to recordings of Ken and the Rascher Quartet over and over. Ken's huge sound, musical style and amazing control of his instrument, well into the altissimo range, are nothing short of inspiring. In the past I have driven hundreds of miles, stayed in hotels (or my car during the lean times), and saved my pennies, to hear Ken play with the Rascher Quartet. This week I had the pleasure of having Ken in the shop and as a house guest for several days. Of course, I ask Ken for a lesson when he comes to town and his musical insights are amazing. Needless to say, a great time was had by all!



Ken's horns

Ken has been to the shop several times, but every visit is inspiring. This particular visit had a number of cool facets. First, it was great to see Ken and my horn (legally it's Kens horn but we both agree, it's my horn emotionally) after over a year without maintenance. The horn was in GREAT shape and that really makes a father proud. Another great part of this visit was handing over Carina Rascher's Beautiful Buescher Soprano to Ken. Matt and I did a full overhaul on Carina's Horn with RooPads but more about that later.

The first saxophone that I overhauled for Ken was his back-up Bari. I think Ken was testing me with this instrument. It was a good horn with a good soul but it was really quirky. After a lot of finishing work, pulling out all the stops, Ken came in from Germany to play the horn and pick it up. I had done a lot of modifications to his horn to get it to play with a more even tone and fix-up the intonation. It worked but it was a lot of work. Ken played it and asked me to do his primary horn. -later admitting that he knew this instrument needed an exceptional amount of love.

Later, when I overhauled his primary Baritone (the instrument he brought on this visit) I found out why it's his primary horn. Wow, what a nice instrument but it was in poor condition mechanically. Later we overhauled Ken's alto and now his Tenor is here in the shop waiting for an overhaul. This visit was to go through the primary Baritone. It's been about a year and half since we saw this instrument and since that time, it has performed in virtually every major city in the world. It literally traveled around the world in the past year and it was time for a bit of leak work.

Curious what type of work is done on a demanding players horn?

Since this is a saxophone repair blog, I should tell you some of the things that we've done to Ken's saxophones. We try and approach each overhaul from the players perspective; that is, what does the player want? Ken's horn already offered him a lot of what he wanted and I think his main goal was just to get the horn playing tip-top. I knew that Ken would appreciate smooth action, near perfect intonation and most of all a consistent tone from top to bottom.

That said, most of the truly creative work we did this Baritone was in the tuning and toning. Although we do a few modifications on the instrument.


Modifications to we did:



-Side key contacts installed under the side keys to give the key work a more positive feel and keep the keys from bending over time. (pic above)




-Modified Bb guide which keeps the unusually long side Bb under control (pic above)



-It's difficult to see but there are engage-able tabs installed on the G# lever. This keeps the feel of the C# Key the same under normal playing but allows the player to flip down a tab when it's time to play in keys like E, F# C# etc.. (pic above)

-We also added some palm keys risers and adjusted the configuration of the LH table to make travel from C# to B and B to Bb easier.

-In this picture you can also see an elevated Bis pearl intended to make going from B to Bis Bb easier and more comfy.

I'm sure there are some other mods that we did but we overhauled this horn years ago.

Ken's Buescher Big B Baritone was always a great horn with a huge sound. Even with this wonderful instrument to work with, there were a number of improvements that I made during the overhaul to allow it to play evenly and in tune. These adjustments and modifications are more difficult to picture and describe but to a player like Ken, they are huge improvements.

Starting at the top of the horn here are some of the improvements I made while tuning and toning the horn.
-Crescents were installed in the palm keys to lower some of the pitches.
-Very few Crescents were installed in the body of the instrument. You can actually see one or two in the pic below if you peer into the tone holes.



-All cork was removed and more appropriate synthetic materials were installed on key contact points. This keeps our now-crucial key heights and adjustments from changing.
-On this baritone, the Octave A tone was fuzzy, this was completely corrected by modifying the octave pip and adding a webbing to disperse the air traveling out of it. A portion of what I did is described here:
- Some tones such as, high C, alternate F#, side C, forked Eb, and low B were not as clear as other notes on the instrument. To bring these notes into 'tone' we added a sandpaper liner to the tone holes. This process is described here:

The results are excellent and most of the once difficult notes on the horn now play with a full and even voice.

I'm sure there are other modifications that did to Kens horn but again, it was years ago that we overhauled it. Kens Gold plated Conn Tenor will soon get a full overhaul and I'll try and post some pics and info about that horn too when I have it done. Of course this instrument will be lovingly overhauled with full tuning work and any needed modifications. I don't know what resonators we will put on this horn yet but Ken insists that we use RooPads! Ken will now have RooPads on all of his horns.

On Kens next visit we may add a second bell to body brace, a clothing guard on the back of the horn and a low C guide designed to keep the low C pad from falling out of adjustment when bumped.



About Carina Rascher's saxophone.





What can I say, it's such an honor to do this work. Carinas soprano was a diamond in the rough when it came in. Carina seemed to like her horn the way it was, the way she played it so wonderfully her whole life, and we respected that. There was a real temptation to do some great mods on this horn and make some improvements but we resisted. Carina wanted an instrument that would have a positive feel in her hands with a firm spring tension and the lowest key heights possible. We stuck with this and did all we would to get the instrument playing it's best. This instrument is now on a plane headed back to Carina in Germany and I really think she is going to enjoy playing it. In the pictures below you can see an image of Kenneth Coon's Baritone Supporting Carina's wonderful soprano.



Thanks for reading!

-Curt

In the MusicMedic.com repair shop we often get requests to re-pad Buescher Saxophones with RooPads. This is something we do on a regular basis for professional players around the world who play Buescher saxophones at a very high level. The results are excellent and I believe it is in a large part due to the quality pad we install and method we use to install these pads.

When re-padding a Buescher saxophone, one has to make a decision about the type of pad to install. The choice of pad and installation method is one of great debates among Buescher players, collectors and technicians. There are reasons to install standard pads on a Buescher just as there are reasons to keep the system original and install Buescher Metal backed pads. This article intends to discuss the one method of installing standard (not metal backed) pads on a Buescher saxophone while retaining the original snaps and spuds without modifying the instrument permanently.


Why not to install regular, cardboard backed, pads on a Buescher?

Before we begin a discussion about how to install standard pads on a Buescher, it's important to note that some players, collectors and technicians feel that installing anything other than Metal backed pads on a Buescher is an incorrect method and should not be done. In my discussions with many players, techs and collectors around the world, I have found two main arguments for installing Metal backed pads on a Buescher: The first is tone and the second is feel.

As far as the tone of the instrument is concerned, there are some players who believe the Metal backed pads are an integral part of the tone production on a vintage Buescher saxophone. The most common reasoning I hear is that the Metal backing on the pad transmits sound or vibrations to the key-work and body of the instrument. Since this system is unique to Buescher saxophones, some feel that installing cardboard backed pads on a Buescher may detract from its unique tone and playability.

Others believe that the Metal backed pads, in combination with the snaps and spuds, produce a feel in the players hands that is unique to Buescher Saxophones. As there are many ways to install Metal backed pads in Buescher saxophones, there are various levels to this argument. Buescher Metal backed pads can be installed (although it is very difficult) with pad shims, with a solid bed of shellac, with very little shellac etc.. The Buescher purist, would argue that it is imperative that no adhesive be used in the installation of Buescher Metal backed pads. Re-padding a Buescher in this manner (without shellac and with Metal backed pads) is exactly correct from a historical perspective and there are many players and collectors that feel this is very important to keep these instruments original.

Reasons to install Standard pads on a Buescher:

There are good reasons to install RooPads or standard pads in a Buescher rather than the metal backed pads. The first is feel and the second is playability.

As far as the feel of the instrument is concerned, replacing the Buescher metal backed pads with standard pads allows the technician and player to choose the pad style they prefer. This flexibility allows the technician to tailor the instrument to the player based on their specific playing style and geographical location. Even with this flexibility the technician and player are forced to use the Snap-on resonators that came standard on so many Buescher saxophones. Nonetheless, there is a lot of flexibility for the padder as far as pad choice is concerned. Certainly a Buescher with Metal backed pads will have a different feel than one with RooPads. In my experience using Standard tan pads on a Buescher will result in a feel that is very similar to metal backed pads.

As far as the playability of the instrument after the overhaul is concerned, installing pads with shellac facilitates more precise leak removal. With shellac it is possible to heat the cup and adjust the pads for a near perfect seal. This is the traditional method used on all other saxophones containing standard cardboard backed pads. To level and seat with the metal backed pads, the technician will have to bend the pad cups to conform to inconsistencies in the tone holes as well as the inconsistencies in the leather and felt. Using any cardboard backed pads will usually result in finer leak work. The feel and stickiness of the final job will be defined by the quality of the pads installed. Again, this is why I choose RooPads for most Buescher overhauls that do not get metal backed pads.


Removing the snaps and spuds all together.

Don't do it. Although it would be an easier job for the technician to simply remove the spuds in the cups and install the standard or RooPads in a traditional manner, this is not recommended for a few reasons. The most important reason to leave the metal snaps and spuds on the instrument may be value. A Buescher that has its snaps removed is less valuable than one with the Snaps and spuds intact. A lesser reason may be playability. Many players that use Bueschers, and to a greater extent collectors, feel that the Snaps and spuds are an integral part of the sound and feel of a Buescher saxophone. Removing the snaps and spuds will lessen these players' perception of how the instrument will play and may change how the instrument actually plays. Since replacing the snaps and spuds is very costly, removing them can be considered non-reversible. As far as I know, there is no proof that the spuds and snaps have any impact on the sound of a Buescher. Even with this information, we generally replace any missing spuds and snaps during a Buescher overhaul.


What does MusicMedic.com do in their pro-shop?

At MusicMedic.com we have a unique situation. We sell pads, including the Buescher Metal backed pads, as well as repair instruments. Also, we repair Buescher Saxophones for players all over the world. Players at a very high level as well as professors at major universities insist on the finest work we can offer and will not accept anything less. It is a real challenge to satisfy these players and we must use every trick and technique we can to help them play their best everyday; knowing that they are not in town and cannot just 'drop by' if they have a problem with their instrument. There can be no problems.

That said, in our saxophone pro-shop, we have used every pad from every major and minor pad manufacturer. We are also a pad manufacturer and have experimented extensively with various leather and felt (or synthetic) combinations. We have made Metal backed pads with various leather and felt combinations. If it exists, we have tried it. To date we find that RooPads are far superior to any other pad available at any price and this includes the currently available Buescher Metal backed pads.

Having found (created really) a pad that is clearly superior to anything available, we offer the option of RooPads to players who use Buescher saxophones. About 95% of our Buescher overhauls go out the door with RooPads and the player is always ecstatic with the results. Of course, we have installed metal backed pads on many Bueschers and continue to do so at the players request. However, we strongly recommend considering RooPads on a Buescher Saxophones.

As there are so many pad types in the world with many different properties discussing each of these would be a long winded article to say the least. For the remainder of this article will discuss the use of RooPads in place of original metal backed pads. As RooPads install exactly the same as any other standard pads, you can substitute any cardboard backed pad where RooPads are mentioned.


Finally, the Process of installing RooPads pads in place of Metal backed pads.

As I mentioned above, this process does not alter the instrument permanently. If you choose to remove the original snaps and spuds from your instrument you may be making a mistake.

The process of replacing Metal backed pads with cardboard backed pads (or RooPads) is simple but it takes a little more time than a standard (modern) overhaul. Once the preparation for this process is complete, the act of installing the pads is almost exactly the same as any other pad replacement. When complete, the resulting pad job will have RooPads in the cup with shellac behind them just like any other saxophone. In the middle of the pad will be the Buescher Snap held in by the original spud.

1.Choose a Pad that you like of the proper size. Buescher Saxophones work well with .160”-.165” pads.







2.Using your caliper, note the smaller diameter of the snap as well as the larger diameter of the snap associated with the key.







3.Choose a leather punch that is slightly larger than the snap back but smaller than the snap face.










4.Punch a hole in the center of the RooPad.








5.Set this pad aside read this article and all associated articles about padding including: Leveling tone holes, leveling pad cups on a bench anvil, dry fitting pads, The push and pull of installing pads and any other articles you can find here.


6.Once you have addressed the 4 variables of pad installation, you can proceed with the installation. Do not skip the preparation of leveling the tone holes, pads cups and dry fitting. Note that dry fitting is most important in with Buescher pads as the snap will hold the pad firmly in the center of the cup and 'floating' will be limited.


7.Heat the Buescher pad cup and apply a layer of quality shellac to the back of the cup, be sure that some gets on the spud in the cup. This will help keep the snap from rattling later.




8.Quickly press the pad into the cup and press the snap on the spud.



9.Now, install the pad in a the regular manner outlined in the articles here. Again, it is important to note that 'floating' will be limited once the snap is on the pad. Be sure you have done your dry fitting completely before you begin your padding.


May your Holiday gigs go well and may your Santa be a saxophonist!

-Curt