i picked up the octave key from orrin last night. so i’ve officially finished the alto sax. i made a new screw for the octave key, put on a new pad and provided a flat spring that wasn’t there, and adjusted the linkage so that it worked correctly. if the octave mechanism on a sax isn’t working correctly, the probabilty is good that the entire horn won’t play right. when you’re playing in the second octave, above the G key, the upper octave key is open and the lower octave key is closed, but as soon as you activate the G key, the mechanism automatically closes the upper octave key and opens the lower octave key at the same time. it’s a pretty sensitive balance between 5 springs, and i got it to work the first time without having to figure out what it was actually supposed to do.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
it’s not that hard, actually. all you gotta do is either figure out what size threads it was threaded with originally, or drill it out and create new threads, which is what i did (because the old threads were too mundged to make any sense out of them). that’s why there’s a tap and a die in the first picture… one for the external threads, and one for the internal threads… beyond the threading, which is a sensitive process, but one that requires more muscle than finesse, the only other tool was a hack saw, to cut the piece of drill rod to the right length, and anyone coulda operated that…
You made a screw for it? Damn. That impresses me more than getting the 5 springs balanced on the first try.
Consider yourself thoroughly back-patted.
HH