What do I need to do to maintain the sax?
-Sandy
My response
The most important things you can do to maintain your saxophone happen before and after you play it.
And while you are playing your saxophone do not eat anything or drink anything besides water.
Before playing saxophone you should have some time after you have eaten and you may want to brush your teeth before you play. Sugar and other things in food and drinks are not good for the pads on the saxophone and can cause problems.
While you play, drink water.
After you play your saxophone, I recommend swabbing the saxophone with a cloth or silk swab with a string on it. I do not recommend the fuzzy sticks since they can break down and stay in your horn. I use a separate smaller silk swab made for clarinets for the neck and mouthpiece.
You can also leave your saxophone out on a stand to dry if it’s in a safe place. Depends a bit on the humidity and environment.
Placing a saxophone that has a lot condensation inside a case is not a great idea.
You probably should get your saxophone checked by a repairman about once a year. They have tools such as leak lights to check pads, oil, etc. A few things you may be able to take care of on your own, but only if you know what you’re doing. Small adjustments to the saxophone can cause big problems if not done the right way.
I put it in the box and keep it with me, all the time, even in the toilet. Even a sax has to pee sometimes…….
As Neal mentioned earlier, never grab the sax by the body, always try to grab it by the bell to pick it up and I always keep the neck attached to the sax, it lessens the chance of damaging the neck, by dropping it, it’s safer with the sax.
As a repair tech, I don’t charge any $$ to look at a sax, and I assume most techs don’t either, so when in doubt, let a tech look at it when problems pop up or oiling is needed.
What is the best and safest way to keep pads from sticking?
Part of it is making sure sugar and anything sticky don’t get in the horn through eating/drinking.
Cleaning the horn and allowing it to dry can help.
In general, certain keys will tend to stick, like the pad for G#. That pad is normally shut, which makes it dry less easily. I have seen some people suggest leaving your horn out to dry and putting an old reed there to keep the tone hole open, then it can dry better.
If there is stuff on the pad that shouldn’t be there, you can clean them gently with a cloth.
And I have also read about using lighter (like a zippo) fluid and a Q-tip, but I haven’t tried that yet myself.