Forum of the Saxes

CMelodyMan · Posted: Sat Jul 30, 2005 8:33 pm Post subject: Assembling a saxophone

There is very little difficulty in the assembly of a sax. There is one main precaution, however and that is with the neck to the body and engaginf the octave key properly. With proper instruction and a little common sense, many adjustment and repair problems can be eliminated. The cork on the neck of the sax should be greased so that there will be no strain when placing the mpc on the cork. Once the neck is im plasce the screw on the end of it should be firmly tightened. On some saxes the screw is part of the neck while on others it's located on the body. The last piece to assemble on the sax is the mouthpiece, which is oftened abbreviated to mpc, or simplyy "piece." The mpc should never be forced on when it is dry, or if the sax has been in the cold. Cork becomes brittle when cold and will easily chip and crack. The neck cork should be well coated and the mpc put on with shortt, twisting movements. The grease will soften, as well as preserve the piece and make it easier to slide onto the cork.

Thomas · Joined: 27 Jun 2005 Posts: 223 Location: Alberta, Canada

GAS_Wyoming · Joined: 04 Jan 2006 Posts: 84 Location: Gillette, WY

For quite a while I thought that the cork grease went on the other end of the crook also. About 5 years ago a technician asked me what all that junk was on my neck. I told him and he laughed really hard, then saw from my reaction that I didn't know better, so he just chuckled for the next few minutes.

He cleaned it and showed me how to assemble the sax properly. I remembered where I got the technique...I had dropped my first sax (a Sears Silvertone tenor) and hit the neck joint bending it slightly out of round. The neck didn't fit very well so I started putting the grease on to make it seal -- it worked, so I stuck with it. Rolling Eyes

_________________
Greg Smith
Sop/Alto/Tenor/Bari - Whatever the band will let me play!

toktok · Joined: 19 Mar 2006 Posts: 17

I would have to say that i put the neck first then the MP then the reed, just found that to give a bit more time for the reed to moisten in my mouth.

Saxophone · Joined: 31 Aug 2006 Posts: 2

ackers_in_flames · Joined: 28 Jan 2006 Posts: 7 Location: Bristol, England

i put the mpc on the crook, crook on the body, reed on the mpc. i then check im comfortable with the crook position before tightening it.