Second Semester: Week 12

Saxophone mechanisms can be complex. This week we worked on regulation, venting and lost motion. The saxophone is very interesting. Once I grasped the concept it wasn't too difficult. To change regulation on the sax I used a leak light. The leak light allowed me to see where the pad was leaking and which pad was touching the tone hole first. Leak lights are awesome when working on leather pads. They allow me to see where the pad is leaking and where I need to adjust the pad.

The D pad is not touching because the F# pad (not pictured) is touching before the D

I flexed the D foot to regulate it to the F# key and now the pads seal at the same time

Second Semester: Week 11

This week we worked on saxophone padding and regulation. Padding a saxophone is a mix between padding a flute and clarinet. We use glue to float the pads but then the glue is used to shim the pad where it needs more thickness to be level to the tone hole. Padding takes patience. Since the pad is so large the glue has to be heated in stages so that it can be warmed evenly and moved around the pad cup. It was easy to overheat the glue and then any changes I made didn't stay because the glue cooled and contracted. I had to figure out when the glue was at it's plastic stage so that it was malleable enough to move and create the outcome I was looking for.

This is what taking the old pad out of the pad cup looks like. There has to be enough glue so that the pad can be moved around to seal

Heating the glue and applying it to the back of the new pad

The new pad is then installed and ready to be put back on the saxophone to be finished and leveled to the tone hole