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C Melody Saxophone Forum / Repairs and Refurbishing / Emergency repair kit

Next 20 Messages

Mal-2k8
User ID: 9335603 Mar 9th 5:26 AM
I should have thought of this sooner, I would have had a lot less trouble tonight...

Assuming a box of convenient size -- say an Altoids tin -- what would you stock in an emergency sax repair kit? Here are the items I've thought of:

* Appropriately sized screwdrivers
* A small, cheap folding pocketknife
* Hair rubber bands (the kind with cloth over the rubber)
* Cigarette papers
* A small piece of sandpaper
* Toothpicks (for lost point screws)
* A couple inches of shrink tubing
* Self-sticking felt circles
* Clear mouthpiece pads -- these can be cut into strips and used in place of missing silencing corks in a pinch
* A lighter
* A stick of hot glue
* Plastic wrap -- a pad that is cut can be removed, wrapped in plastic, and re-seated, and this usually survives the night
* A keychain flashlight
* A 1" key ring
* Paper clips!

And stuck to the outside of the tin, pieces of electrical tape and gaffer tape.

If I'd thought to pack one of these, I would never have had to improvise this:

I had a spring on the new soprano go completely AWOL tonight. I don't know where it went, it just disappeared. I asked the people on either side of me if they had a rubber band, and they did not... well the trumpet player had two hair bands but they're attached to his horn, since he uses them to pull the first and third valve slides back in automatically.

I switched back to alto until I had a long enough rest to dig through my supplies, and I found a piece of electrical tape about 10 cm long stuck to my case. I cut it in half lengthwise, then folded it so it stuck to itself, giving me a moderately stretchy ribbon about 4 mm wide. I used this the same way I would have used a rubber band to spring the key for the rest of the night.

If I had made the emergency repair kit, I would have figured out much sooner that the spring was not just unhooked but GONE... because I would have had some light. Also I would have had hair bands and the temporary fix would have been done in seconds.

Why paper clips? Lots of reasons! They can be used to mark the next tune in the book if you don't have a scrap paper lying around (or it's already been turned into a set list), they can keep the pages from flying in the wind, and if bent appropriately they make good spring hooks -- or even temporary springs, if there is time to dismantle the instrument.

Is there anything I've forgotten?

Mal-2k8
User ID: 9335603 Mar 9th 5:30 AM
I didn't mention what the key ring is for. I have found that the difference in neckstrap height between two adjacent-size instruments is usually about one inch. If I put a key ring on the strap ring of the larger horn, I don't have to keep hiking my neckstrap up and down every time I change horns, I just clasp into the key ring instead.

Captain Beeflat 2008
User ID: 1738604 Mar 9th 6:56 AM
Or instead, you could buy a reliable saxophone, or check it over occasionally :-). Surely a better, and more compact solution would be to take a spare horn.
An old pal of mine used to carry in his car, a box which he called his "Gentleman's Emergency Kit"...it consisted of a toilet roll, a toothbrush and a packet of three. He claimed that it covered all contingencies.

Mal-2k8
User ID: 9335603 Mar 9th 8:04 AM
What, no towel? How are you supposed to be a proper hitchhiker without a towel?

"Spare horn" is not an option, since I only have one of each variety (SATB, hopefully SACTB before too long). The whole point of such a repair kit is that it will work on ANY of them, and flutes and clarinets as well. Is it really such a sacrifice to carry around a kit that fits in a mint tin?

Captain Beeflat 2008
User ID: 1738604 Mar 9th 11:05 AM
Sorry, but I still think that a reliable horn is the best option, with a back up if you have any doubt.
There is neither the time, nor enough light to carry out any repairs where I play.
A guitarist can be an understandable nuisance if he has to change a string....a saxophonist who needs to re pad and re spring in mid gig is something else.
I strip my R&C tenor every two years in order to oil it, and check it over....it has never let me down & it never will. Carrying a rubber band as a substitute for a broken spring could perhaps be considered excusable but anything more shews a lack of confidence.
Of course it is not a sacrifice to carry around a tin...it is the need for it and the opportunity to use it which would be my concern.

alan (uk) '08
User ID: 1278884 Mar 9th 11:10 AM
I seem to remember spending months at a time doing residencies in 'out of the way' places with just a few elastic bands, a roll of insulation tape, and a bottle-opener in the sax case.... (as well as the sax, mouthpiece, lig, cap, sling and reeds, naturally..). I think these days they call it 'minimalism...

Now I often have a spare horn in the car for individual gigs !

Mal-2k8
User ID: 9335603 Mar 9th 3:36 PM
I admit some of the things in the kit address either things that should have never have left the house that way, or things that don't really need to be fixed till you get home. The shrink tubing, felt dots and cut-up mouthpiece pad fall into this category.

As for the rest, are you seriously saying that because these things SHOULDN'T happen, one should be willfully unprepared for them if they DO happen? Have you never had a call to play something you haven't touched (let alone inspected) in months? Never had to pick up someone else's instrument at the last second? Never had a palm key pad decide today IS a good day to die?

Which reminds me -- the kit should have a couple twist-ties in it too. When a palm key decides to split, the plastic wrap can be wrapped around the entire pad end of the key and secured with the twist-tie in a couple seconds. It's not ideal, but the whole patch job is non-ideal by definition.

I was sitting in with a local wind ensemble at the request of a friend, who apparently had mentioned that I (like himself) will play pretty much whatever is put in front of me -- whether or not that is up to the necessary standard is another point entirely. I was asked to bring the bari, but when we got assembled, the bari player (who had been missing for months) had actually showed up. The director hauled this ancient Bundy bass clarinet out of his car and asked if I would play that. Half the things on my list are there because of what I had to do to that bass clarinet just to get anything beyond a squeak. I didn't play the first two songs of that rehearsal and had to sight-read them on the gig a few days later, because I was busy making the instrument moderately playable. I actually had to raid the cafeteria (we were rehearsing at Cal Poly Pomona) for a plastic trash bag and twist-ties to make the side jump-keys seal properly.

I bet that piece of $H!+ still isn't properly repaired.

Mal-2k8
User ID: 9335603 Mar 9th 3:54 PM
Other examples of bait-and-switch I've had on that sort of gig:

* called to play clarinet, ended up playing mallet percussion and tympani
* called to play bari sax, ended up playing first horn
* called to play tenor sax, ended up on third trumpet

When I get the last minute call as a ringer, it's almost pointless to bring an instrument at all. I rarely end up playing it. The only things I'd flat-out say "no" to in a wind ensemble are low brass (don't have the lip for it), bassoon (don't know how), and technically-challenging unpitched percussion (horrible technique). I don't think I'd accept another request to play tympani either. I had them in tune the whole show, but my lack of technique was pretty evident.

For five consecutive years, I was called upon by a local high-school honor band as a ringer -- it was sort of an open secret that about 20% of the band was really college players called in at the last minute, or even local professionals and teachers. Since the gig usually went to "whoever shows up", we often found ourselves on far distant doubles. If I had a dollar for each time I had to play something I don'

Mal-2k8
User ID: 9335603 Mar 9th 3:55 PM
Other examples of bait-and-switch I've had on that sort of gig:

* called to play clarinet, ended up playing mallet percussion and tympani
* called to play bari sax, ended up playing first horn
* called to play tenor sax, ended up on third trumpet

When I get the last minute call as a ringer, it's almost pointless to bring an instrument at all. I rarely end up playing it. The only things I'd flat-out say "no" to in a wind ensemble are low brass (don't have the lip for it), bassoon (don't know how), and technically-challenging unpitched percussion (horrible technique). I don't think I'd accept another request to play tympani either. I had them in tune the whole show, but my lack of technique was pretty evident.

For five consecutive years, I was called upon by a local high-school honor band as a ringer -- it was sort of an open secret that about 20% of the band was really college players called in at the last minute, or even local professionals and teachers. Since the gig usually went to "whoever shows up", we often found ourselves on far distant doubles. If I had a dollar for each time I had to play something I don't own, I'd probably be able to afford one of them.

Bruce Bailey 2008
User ID: 2477284 Mar 10th 12:02 AM
I keep chewing gum in the case. If a pad falls out, chew up some gum and use it uder the pad to hold it until you have the time to fix it properly.

soybean
User ID: 0401124 Mar 10th 4:18 AM
A spare neck-strap in case one breaks (this happened to me). I also keep a spare mouthpiece and a couple of reeds in every sax case just on the chance I might leave my mouthpiece at home.

Captain Beeflat 2008
User ID: 1738604 Mar 10th 6:33 AM
There really is no end to the things that go wrong; why not carry a spare neck in case the octave rocker falls off; or perhaps the solder holding the bottom stack will fail. Isn't it dreadful when all the palm key return springs simultaneously fail?!
There is a lesson here...play one instrument and play it well...like Ben Webster. It really sounds as if you, Mal, are attempting to play too many instruments; most of which do not receive enough maintenance.
I remember seeing a spoof film of a sax quartet where everything progressively fell off the alto...it was sometime before the audience realised that it was indeed a spoof...it was only when the bell fell off did they stop feeling sorry for him and start laughing...sounds like one of your typical gigs Mal. :-)

jazzbug1 2008
User ID: 0735934 Mar 10th 7:02 AM
I keep a rubber band, cellophane tape, a screwdriver, and a needle nosed pliers. In a pinch, toilet paper, wrapped in tape can serve as a pad. In all these years of playing everything from bass sax to soprano, I've only had a few failures. My favorite was, with the spotlight on me, losing the lower half of my baritone and seeing a pad rolling across the floor. The rest of the solo was in the alto range.

Captain Beeflat 2008
User ID: 1738604 Mar 10th 7:41 AM
Could have been worse JB. One of the top pads could have fallen out & then nothing would work.

jazzbug1 2008
User ID: 0735934 Mar 10th 11:21 AM
I would have to "lip sync" some other player, hopefully not a piccolo.

alan (uk) '08
User ID: 1278884 Mar 10th 6:43 PM
Mal - in answer to your "are you seriously saying that because these things SHOULDN'T happen" question - I should point out that that was when I was a young(ish..) pro with 'fire in my belly'... Travelling toolkits, and pessimism, were for old men !

If the tenor died, I also had my alto and a flute with me... And, as most of those residencies were on (or near) US air bases in Germany or Italy, if they could fix fighter planes and bombers with 'nukiler' capability, I was certainly able to quietly get my horns fixed - for a couple of beers or a 'teenth'.

8-)) Great days, or I think so - pity I can't remember a lot of them with any accuracy !

Mal-2k8
User ID: 9335603 Mar 10th 8:12 PM
I've been trying to cut back, I swear! Last gig I took only four instruments (alto and soprano, flute and piccolo), so there is some hope... of course it looks like I'm going to check out a vintage C-mel some time this week, so this may be but a brief remission.

I really could get by on the gig with nothing but alto and flute, or alto and piccolo, but I do a lot of this for variety. A lot of the charts are written for alto and something else (either tenor or soprano), depending which side of the page I pick. I do have to make some octave compromises at the bottom end if I stick to alto alone, which I don't like to do. I don't think the audience notices, or for that matter that anyone outside the horn section notices, but it still bothers me.

Thing is, the horn section is a trumpet, me, and a trombone. The brass players can use mutes but at the volume levels we play that is a tall order. Same with asking for flugelhorn, baritone horn, or anything else conical. So the only variety in the sound of the horn section is ME. I can provide essentially three options: I play ABOVE the trumpet, which basically means piccolo (flute isn't loud enough for anything but ballads); I play BETWEEN the trumpet and trombone -- the normal state of affairs, for which alto is well-suited; or I play BELOW/WITH the trombone. I don't do as much of the latter as I might like, since my tenor is such a wreck. I could take the bari, but it's fricking HEAVY, and we have yet to find a way to mike it effectively in such close, loud confines. It also got knocked over at one show when everyone started jumping up and down on stage, and I haven't exposed it to that danger since. If I'm going to bring a bari, it has to be in my hands most of the time -- and it would be really nice to be sitting down.

The soprano may not see nightclubs too much after this, as I really haven't written myself anything that requires it. But I'd like to get back to carrying a tenor or something close to it (a C-mel?) for a somewhat different sound and role.

Most salsa bands carry four horns -- two trumpets, sax, and trombone, or two trumpets and two trombones -- and early on we realized the finances just didn't work that way most of the time. So I got the bright idea of using my alto in the roles of both second trumpet and second trombone, covering whatever had to be covered at any given time. It works, and it has kept me gigging for seven-plus years, but it's a compromise. Also, it means I don't get to play the "toys" anywhere near enough (that's what they call anything other than my alto and tenor), and it is the "toys" that make us sound different from all the other bands.

Next up on the list -- in fact it's BEEN next on the list for years -- is a Treble G flute, which would provide that chippy charanga flute sound without having to be played in the fourth octave constantly. This would replace both flute and piccolo, at least in this band. It probably wouldn't replace flute for casuals, but who knows? They're just really hard to find at anything less than the cost of a used car, and I don't have $3k+ to drop for a "double".

WW2008
User ID: 0498634 Mar 10th 8:18 PM
I built my reputation with the local high school marching band as being able to emergency fix any malfunctioning instrument with duct tape, bobby (hair) pins, electrical tape, and rubber bands.

My favorite was when a bari sax player left his neckstrap at home and we were 400 miles away. Duct tape and a bent wire coat hanger made a temp strap until the local music store opened and we got a real neckstrap.

By the way, that kid NEVER forgot his neckstrap again during the next four years. Yet another great field repair.

Mal-2k8
User ID: 9335603 Mar 10th 8:38 PM
Neckstraps! I've had to improvise those when my double strap is in the case I didn't bring. Usually I'll just take the shoulder strap off my duffel bag, clip one hook to the other, and if necessary tie a knot in it to shorten it. Camera straps work even better -- almost as well as the real thing.

My "double strap"... well, a picture is worth a thousand words.

http://mal-2.com/sax/doublestrap.jpg

Two neckstraps, one cushion. The thin one works on alto, the thicker one on tenor or bari (amazingly, my tenor and bari require the same neckstrap height). It works well, but it means that when I forget ONE of them, I forget BOTH of them.

I've seen bari sax and bass clarinet players who use guitar straps exclusively, with each end hooked in a different place, but anything requiring that much thought and preparation is no longer improvised, but engineered.

Captain Beeflat 2008
User ID: 1738604 Mar 11th 5:32 AM
I have adjusted the length of the carrying strap for my tenor shaped case to be exactly the length for an "over one shoulder" neck strap.
I have used this type of strap ever since the more usual "around the neck" item was cutting off my blood supply & I developed pins and needles in my hands.
A secondary advantage of my current method means that if I have forgotten to take my neck strap then I have also forgotten to take my saxophone!

Next 20 Messages

Mal-2k8 User ID: 9335603	Mar 9th 5:26 AM I should have thought of this sooner, I would have had a lot less trouble tonight... Assuming a box of convenient size -- say an Altoids tin -- what would you stock in an emergency sax repair kit? Here are the items I've thought of: * Appropriately sized screwdrivers * A small, cheap folding pocketknife * Hair rubber bands (the kind with cloth over the rubber) * Cigarette papers * A small piece of sandpaper * Toothpicks (for lost point screws) * A couple inches of shrink tubing * Self-sticking felt circles * Clear mouthpiece pads -- these can be cut into strips and used in place of missing silencing corks in a pinch * A lighter * A stick of hot glue * Plastic wrap -- a pad that is cut can be removed, wrapped in plastic, and re-seated, and this usually survives the night * A keychain flashlight * A 1" key ring * Paper clips! And stuck to the outside of the tin, pieces of electrical tape and gaffer tape. If I'd thought to pack one of these, I would never have had to improvise this: I had a spring on the new soprano go completely AWOL tonight. I don't know where it went, it just disappeared. I asked the people on either side of me if they had a rubber band, and they did not... well the trumpet player had two hair bands but they're attached to his horn, since he uses them to pull the first and third valve slides back in automatically. I switched back to alto until I had a long enough rest to dig through my supplies, and I found a piece of electrical tape about 10 cm long stuck to my case. I cut it in half lengthwise, then folded it so it stuck to itself, giving me a moderately stretchy ribbon about 4 mm wide. I used this the same way I would have used a rubber band to spring the key for the rest of the night. If I had made the emergency repair kit, I would have figured out much sooner that the spring was not just unhooked but GONE... because I would have had some light. Also I would have had hair bands and the temporary fix would have been done in seconds. Why paper clips? Lots of reasons! They can be used to mark the next tune in the book if you don't have a scrap paper lying around (or it's already been turned into a set list), they can keep the pages from flying in the wind, and if bent appropriately they make good spring hooks -- or even temporary springs, if there is time to dismantle the instrument. Is there anything I've forgotten?
Mal-2k8 User ID: 9335603	Mar 9th 5:30 AM I didn't mention what the key ring is for. I have found that the difference in neckstrap height between two adjacent-size instruments is usually about one inch. If I put a key ring on the strap ring of the larger horn, I don't have to keep hiking my neckstrap up and down every time I change horns, I just clasp into the key ring instead.
Captain Beeflat 2008 User ID: 1738604	Mar 9th 6:56 AM Or instead, you could buy a reliable saxophone, or check it over occasionally :-). Surely a better, and more compact solution would be to take a spare horn. An old pal of mine used to carry in his car, a box which he called his "Gentleman's Emergency Kit"...it consisted of a toilet roll, a toothbrush and a packet of three. He claimed that it covered all contingencies.
Mal-2k8 User ID: 9335603	Mar 9th 8:04 AM What, no towel? How are you supposed to be a proper hitchhiker without a towel? "Spare horn" is not an option, since I only have one of each variety (SATB, hopefully SACTB before too long). The whole point of such a repair kit is that it will work on ANY of them, and flutes and clarinets as well. Is it really such a sacrifice to carry around a kit that fits in a mint tin?
Captain Beeflat 2008 User ID: 1738604	Mar 9th 11:05 AM Sorry, but I still think that a reliable horn is the best option, with a back up if you have any doubt. There is neither the time, nor enough light to carry out any repairs where I play. A guitarist can be an understandable nuisance if he has to change a string....a saxophonist who needs to re pad and re spring in mid gig is something else. I strip my R&C tenor every two years in order to oil it, and check it over....it has never let me down & it never will. Carrying a rubber band as a substitute for a broken spring could perhaps be considered excusable but anything more shews a lack of confidence. Of course it is not a sacrifice to carry around a tin...it is the need for it and the opportunity to use it which would be my concern.
alan (uk) '08 User ID: 1278884	Mar 9th 11:10 AM I seem to remember spending months at a time doing residencies in 'out of the way' places with just a few elastic bands, a roll of insulation tape, and a bottle-opener in the sax case.... (as well as the sax, mouthpiece, lig, cap, sling and reeds, naturally..). I think these days they call it 'minimalism... Now I often have a spare horn in the car for individual gigs !
Mal-2k8 User ID: 9335603	Mar 9th 3:36 PM I admit some of the things in the kit address either things that should have never have left the house that way, or things that don't really need to be fixed till you get home. The shrink tubing, felt dots and cut-up mouthpiece pad fall into this category. As for the rest, are you seriously saying that because these things SHOULDN'T happen, one should be willfully unprepared for them if they DO happen? Have you never had a call to play something you haven't touched (let alone inspected) in months? Never had to pick up someone else's instrument at the last second? Never had a palm key pad decide today IS a good day to die? Which reminds me -- the kit should have a couple twist-ties in it too. When a palm key decides to split, the plastic wrap can be wrapped around the entire pad end of the key and secured with the twist-tie in a couple seconds. It's not ideal, but the whole patch job is non-ideal by definition. I was sitting in with a local wind ensemble at the request of a friend, who apparently had mentioned that I (like himself) will play pretty much whatever is put in front of me -- whether or not that is up to the necessary standard is another point entirely. I was asked to bring the bari, but when we got assembled, the bari player (who had been missing for months) had actually showed up. The director hauled this ancient Bundy bass clarinet out of his car and asked if I would play that. Half the things on my list are there because of what I had to do to that bass clarinet just to get anything beyond a squeak. I didn't play the first two songs of that rehearsal and had to sight-read them on the gig a few days later, because I was busy making the instrument moderately playable. I actually had to raid the cafeteria (we were rehearsing at Cal Poly Pomona) for a plastic trash bag and twist-ties to make the side jump-keys seal properly. I bet that piece of $H!+ still isn't properly repaired.
Mal-2k8 User ID: 9335603	Mar 9th 3:54 PM Other examples of bait-and-switch I've had on that sort of gig: * called to play clarinet, ended up playing mallet percussion and tympani * called to play bari sax, ended up playing first horn * called to play tenor sax, ended up on third trumpet When I get the last minute call as a ringer, it's almost pointless to bring an instrument at all. I rarely end up playing it. The only things I'd flat-out say "no" to in a wind ensemble are low brass (don't have the lip for it), bassoon (don't know how), and technically-challenging unpitched percussion (horrible technique). I don't think I'd accept another request to play tympani either. I had them in tune the whole show, but my lack of technique was pretty evident. For five consecutive years, I was called upon by a local high-school honor band as a ringer -- it was sort of an open secret that about 20% of the band was really college players called in at the last minute, or even local professionals and teachers. Since the gig usually went to "whoever shows up", we often found ourselves on far distant doubles. If I had a dollar for each time I had to play something I don'
Mal-2k8 User ID: 9335603	Mar 9th 3:55 PM Other examples of bait-and-switch I've had on that sort of gig: * called to play clarinet, ended up playing mallet percussion and tympani * called to play bari sax, ended up playing first horn * called to play tenor sax, ended up on third trumpet When I get the last minute call as a ringer, it's almost pointless to bring an instrument at all. I rarely end up playing it. The only things I'd flat-out say "no" to in a wind ensemble are low brass (don't have the lip for it), bassoon (don't know how), and technically-challenging unpitched percussion (horrible technique). I don't think I'd accept another request to play tympani either. I had them in tune the whole show, but my lack of technique was pretty evident. For five consecutive years, I was called upon by a local high-school honor band as a ringer -- it was sort of an open secret that about 20% of the band was really college players called in at the last minute, or even local professionals and teachers. Since the gig usually went to "whoever shows up", we often found ourselves on far distant doubles. If I had a dollar for each time I had to play something I don't own, I'd probably be able to afford one of them.
Bruce Bailey 2008 User ID: 2477284	Mar 10th 12:02 AM I keep chewing gum in the case. If a pad falls out, chew up some gum and use it uder the pad to hold it until you have the time to fix it properly.
soybean User ID: 0401124	Mar 10th 4:18 AM A spare neck-strap in case one breaks (this happened to me). I also keep a spare mouthpiece and a couple of reeds in every sax case just on the chance I might leave my mouthpiece at home.
Captain Beeflat 2008 User ID: 1738604	Mar 10th 6:33 AM There really is no end to the things that go wrong; why not carry a spare neck in case the octave rocker falls off; or perhaps the solder holding the bottom stack will fail. Isn't it dreadful when all the palm key return springs simultaneously fail?! There is a lesson here...play one instrument and play it well...like Ben Webster. It really sounds as if you, Mal, are attempting to play too many instruments; most of which do not receive enough maintenance. I remember seeing a spoof film of a sax quartet where everything progressively fell off the alto...it was sometime before the audience realised that it was indeed a spoof...it was only when the bell fell off did they stop feeling sorry for him and start laughing...sounds like one of your typical gigs Mal. :-)
jazzbug1 2008 User ID: 0735934	Mar 10th 7:02 AM I keep a rubber band, cellophane tape, a screwdriver, and a needle nosed pliers. In a pinch, toilet paper, wrapped in tape can serve as a pad. In all these years of playing everything from bass sax to soprano, I've only had a few failures. My favorite was, with the spotlight on me, losing the lower half of my baritone and seeing a pad rolling across the floor. The rest of the solo was in the alto range.
Captain Beeflat 2008 User ID: 1738604	Mar 10th 7:41 AM Could have been worse JB. One of the top pads could have fallen out & then nothing would work.
jazzbug1 2008 User ID: 0735934	Mar 10th 11:21 AM I would have to "lip sync" some other player, hopefully not a piccolo.
alan (uk) '08 User ID: 1278884	Mar 10th 6:43 PM Mal - in answer to your "are you seriously saying that because these things SHOULDN'T happen" question - I should point out that that was when I was a young(ish..) pro with 'fire in my belly'... Travelling toolkits, and pessimism, were for old men ! If the tenor died, I also had my alto and a flute with me... And, as most of those residencies were on (or near) US air bases in Germany or Italy, if they could fix fighter planes and bombers with 'nukiler' capability, I was certainly able to quietly get my horns fixed - for a couple of beers or a 'teenth'. 8-)) Great days, or I think so - pity I can't remember a lot of them with any accuracy !
Mal-2k8 User ID: 9335603	Mar 10th 8:12 PM I've been trying to cut back, I swear! Last gig I took only four instruments (alto and soprano, flute and piccolo), so there is some hope... of course it looks like I'm going to check out a vintage C-mel some time this week, so this may be but a brief remission. I really could get by on the gig with nothing but alto and flute, or alto and piccolo, but I do a lot of this for variety. A lot of the charts are written for alto and something else (either tenor or soprano), depending which side of the page I pick. I do have to make some octave compromises at the bottom end if I stick to alto alone, which I don't like to do. I don't think the audience notices, or for that matter that anyone outside the horn section notices, but it still bothers me. Thing is, the horn section is a trumpet, me, and a trombone. The brass players can use mutes but at the volume levels we play that is a tall order. Same with asking for flugelhorn, baritone horn, or anything else conical. So the only variety in the sound of the horn section is ME. I can provide essentially three options: I play ABOVE the trumpet, which basically means piccolo (flute isn't loud enough for anything but ballads); I play BETWEEN the trumpet and trombone -- the normal state of affairs, for which alto is well-suited; or I play BELOW/WITH the trombone. I don't do as much of the latter as I might like, since my tenor is such a wreck. I could take the bari, but it's fricking HEAVY, and we have yet to find a way to mike it effectively in such close, loud confines. It also got knocked over at one show when everyone started jumping up and down on stage, and I haven't exposed it to that danger since. If I'm going to bring a bari, it has to be in my hands most of the time -- and it would be really nice to be sitting down. The soprano may not see nightclubs too much after this, as I really haven't written myself anything that requires it. But I'd like to get back to carrying a tenor or something close to it (a C-mel?) for a somewhat different sound and role. Most salsa bands carry four horns -- two trumpets, sax, and trombone, or two trumpets and two trombones -- and early on we realized the finances just didn't work that way most of the time. So I got the bright idea of using my alto in the roles of both second trumpet and second trombone, covering whatever had to be covered at any given time. It works, and it has kept me gigging for seven-plus years, but it's a compromise. Also, it means I don't get to play the "toys" anywhere near enough (that's what they call anything other than my alto and tenor), and it is the "toys" that make us sound different from all the other bands. Next up on the list -- in fact it's BEEN next on the list for years -- is a Treble G flute, which would provide that chippy charanga flute sound without having to be played in the fourth octave constantly. This would replace both flute and piccolo, at least in this band. It probably wouldn't replace flute for casuals, but who knows? They're just really hard to find at anything less than the cost of a used car, and I don't have $3k+ to drop for a "double".
WW2008 User ID: 0498634	Mar 10th 8:18 PM I built my reputation with the local high school marching band as being able to emergency fix any malfunctioning instrument with duct tape, bobby (hair) pins, electrical tape, and rubber bands. My favorite was when a bari sax player left his neckstrap at home and we were 400 miles away. Duct tape and a bent wire coat hanger made a temp strap until the local music store opened and we got a real neckstrap. By the way, that kid NEVER forgot his neckstrap again during the next four years. Yet another great field repair.
Mal-2k8 User ID: 9335603	Mar 10th 8:38 PM Neckstraps! I've had to improvise those when my double strap is in the case I didn't bring. Usually I'll just take the shoulder strap off my duffel bag, clip one hook to the other, and if necessary tie a knot in it to shorten it. Camera straps work even better -- almost as well as the real thing. My "double strap"... well, a picture is worth a thousand words. http://mal-2.com/sax/doublestrap.jpg Two neckstraps, one cushion. The thin one works on alto, the thicker one on tenor or bari (amazingly, my tenor and bari require the same neckstrap height). It works well, but it means that when I forget ONE of them, I forget BOTH of them. I've seen bari sax and bass clarinet players who use guitar straps exclusively, with each end hooked in a different place, but anything requiring that much thought and preparation is no longer improvised, but engineered.
Captain Beeflat 2008 User ID: 1738604	Mar 11th 5:32 AM I have adjusted the length of the carrying strap for my tenor shaped case to be exactly the length for an "over one shoulder" neck strap. I have used this type of strap ever since the more usual "around the neck" item was cutting off my blood supply & I developed pins and needles in my hands. A secondary advantage of my current method means that if I have forgotten to take my neck strap then I have also forgotten to take my saxophone!