You play saxophone, you may or may not play flute….
On occasion I’ll play the flute, got it from my sister after she stopped playing. But the flute isn’t that much different than a saxophone in a good number of ways.
Read a post on Zalman Studios today about flute maintenance and noticed how many of the ideas also apply to saxophone.
Nathan came up with a short checklist for taking care of one’s flute:
- send it away for a COA [Clean, Oil, and Adjust, the lowest level maintenance service] at regular intervals,
- keep the tenons clean inside and out,
- wipe the thing down every day and change your tarnish strip (you have one, don’t you?) every 6 months
- take a Q-tip and alcohol to the blow-hole once a week,
- blow the dust from under the keys once a month,
- brush your teeth before you play
Let’s compare that to what we can do on saxophone.
1. Cleaning, oiling, and adjusting on a regular schedule will help your saxophone stay healthy too.
2. Keeping the tenons clean- there’s only one tenon on saxophone- the connection between the neck and the body and it’s important to take care of.
3. Wiping down the saxophone – keeping the pads clean and dust off your saxophone is a wise plan. You don’t have to get OCD over it, but take care of your horn and you’ll have less problems.
4. Using a Q-Tip- you can use this on the pads when junk starts to build up. They’re made of cotton and are pretty gentle.
5. Blowing the dust off- dust does accumulate a bit on the saxophone too in certain spots, depending on how you play and store it.
6. Brushing your teeth – definitely! And drink water before and during playing the saxophone. I have touched on this issue before!
There are probably a few key ideas missing and saxophone does have a number of differences from flute though…..
Additions to the list for saxophone maintenance:
- Taking the reed off, storing it, and keeping it clean will be good for the reed and your health. You can either let it dry out or keep it wet, preferably using alcohol (I use vodka) to clean it off.
- Approximately every month, clean off your mouthpiece with warm (not hot) water and soap. The build up of stuff inside can’t be fantastic for your sound and it’s more healthful.
What would you add to the list for saxophone (and other woodwinds)?
Ground rules for cleaning mouthpieces might be a useful addition to the list. Same for reeds.
Good call Ron, just added a couple points about reeds and mouthpieces. Reeds are interesting because sax players have all kinds of different rituals with them. Some guys will just leave them on the piece and have the reed form a seal that isn’t broken until it is taken off. Not my approach, but some good players do it.
Hey Neal,
Great stuff! If you look at vintage or older horns in general, you can get an idea of the area’s that need the most attention to cleaning especially when it comes to protecting your lacquer. One area that always suffers is the neck. This is because of all of the direct contact it has with the oils of your hand. In addition to regular cleaning, I use a small polishing rag to handle the neck of my sax. I use it when putting together and taking apart my horn as my goal is to not get ANY oil or dirt from my hands on it at all.
Hey Kevin,
Thanks for the comment. Sounds like a good plan for preserving the neck. The neck on my tenor has some speckles on it….. since it does get more oil from your hand on it from each time you put the sax together. But overall I have taken pretty good care of the sax, always swab it out, take it in for maintenance, etc. The ‘old’ looking Mark VI’s still can sound great even with a little wear.
-Neal
Hi Neal,
My wife sometimes calls me “Monk” because I’m kind of a neat person but I just like to take care of my nice stuff. I have a beautiful Selmer Super Action 80 and I want to take good care of it… I will admit those older Mark VI’s sound awesome. One of the sweetest sounding horns that I have ever heard was this guy that was playing in a jazz quartet on a cruise ship. He was AWESOME but man that was one ugly sax. It was a Mark VI with about 10% lacquer left. It goes to show that you don’t have to be pretty to play well but for me, style points DO count….
Hey Kevin,
That’s a funny nickname, you a big fan of Thelonious Monk too? Nothing wrong with taking good care of your saxophone, some people think I’m meticulous, but apparently you beat me in that game. I think my limit would be when the saxophones start smelling funny….
-Neal