Using Cans of Air on the Pads

[Bryan Kendall]

My Repairman once told me this.
Get a can of air - the type used by Professional Cmeramen and photgraphers use to "blow off" their lenses before a shoot. You can use this to blow the dust off of your pads (and the lint from horn swabs and cleaning cloths). It works great and can get dust and any junk out of places that are usually "impossible" to clean. I used it once by putting the air tube into the tiny, tiny octive key on my Buescher Eb Sopranino Sax....and to my surprise a large piece of lint from the case flew out. It played much better after that! The low Bb, B and C on my baritone used to get full of dust (it can be dusty in California and Central America where I live) and the air took it off easily.

Try it you´ll like it.

[Gordon (NZ)]

I use compressede air a lot, but a caution....

Do not use it to blow dust away from the mechanism if the mechanism pivots are in an oiled state. The air will blow a thin film of oil over the entire mechanism, creating a big future dust problem.

BTW air pressure is insufficient to blow most deposits from pads.

[Grumps]

I had two old horns in smelly, rotting cases and when I replaced the cases I used a can of compressed air to blow the smell off the horns before moving them into their new cases.