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Saxophone Cleaning/Polishing

24K views 19 replies 13 participants last post by  swood 
#1 ·
I have a Jupiter Capital edition alto sax that I bought when I started playing sax 5 years ago. At the time, I was a careless eight-year-old and I never swabbed it out or used a padsaver. I didn't even take the time to wipe it down with a dry cloth To get off excess spit and fingerprints. Now, I am thirteen and my horn looks like a piece of spitty, fingerprinty crap. I was wondering if there is a repair for this I could do myself, and, if not, what type of repair to ask for at the shop if they have one. Any insight you can give me is greatly appreciated. I just want to know how to get dried spit and fingerprints off of the finish and insides of my sax.:soapbox:
 
#2 ·
I think many on the forum here would suggest the polish Wenol. You can get it from www.musicmedic.com as well as other places. Just that and a soft rag will polish the outside nicely. Brasso is an excellent polish which you can find in even grocery stores, but it's a little more harsh, so I wouldn't use that on a lacquered surface unless it's necessary.

For the inside, Brasso would be excellent. Soft Scrub is also decent for things like that. Often, I just afix an old toothbrush to a dowel rod (be careful of that little octave pip in the upper body), put some on, and scrub if you're doing the inside as well.
 
#5 ·
Well, I've used a padsaver for 2 years after it was recommended to me by my teacher. I leave it in the horn everytime I practice or play a concert and I have found no ill effects yet. I do not play for incredibly long lengths of time, and I find a padsaver much easier to use. I hesitate to use any type of solvent on the lacquered surface. I think I'm going to get it cleaned, polished, and PC2 checked by the repair technician at my dealer.
 
#6 ·
Many many times I get flutes in with silver polish along the edges of the pads, becuase people have attempted to clean/polish the instrument with keys fitted. Theres also an abundance of torn pads from the same process. Ideally you want to remove the keys and use a nice silver polishing solution, theres many out there take a pic.

Do a trial run, remove just one key pay attention to how it fits etc, polish that key externally and then refit it. With confidence continue, if this was too difficult no probs just take it to your nearest tech to do for you..
 
#11 ·
Judging from my hiking shoes over the years, I don't leather going through a damp/dry cycle is possibly worse off than a slightly more stable cycle. As long as mould does not become an issue. So it may depend on climate. Players who use them don't seem to have a problem, unless they are the lint-dropping type, where the lint wrecks pads.

BTW. Re "If you swab the horn and leave the swab outside the case, the horn has an advantage" ... if you want to, there is nothing stopping you from keeping a pad saver outside the case.
 
#13 ·
They do if you use the bottom end to gently shove a towel (something I always keep in my gig bag) into the bow far enough that it soaks up anything that might be in there. Pour out any puddles, use a towel to dry up the rest, use the padsaver in the body (and yes, I leave it in there... it's dry by morning), and use a silk swab on the neck.

EpicSaxophonist, you might just try using a thin, VERY lightly-dampened cloth on the lacquered parts of your sax. That seems to do the trick on mine.
 
#19 ·
Think of them as "character marks".
 
#17 ·
When was your sax last serviced? If it's been five years since you've had it and never maintained it, then it's well overdue a service and that includes removing all the keys and washing the body, crook and bell to remove all the dirt that's collected. Any defective pads, key corks/felts and springs will also be renewed while it's all apart, so I suggest you get it serviced.

Once it's all clean again, get a padsaver and leave it in the bore when the sax is in its case and that'll keep the bore clean. I wouldn't recommend them if they were harmful and I've used them on all my saxes all the time so I can say with first hand experience I haven't had any problems with them. Get the HW padsaver - it's the red/black striped one. You can get one for the crook as well, or use a flexible brush cleaner for that.

For the outside, use a cotton cloth or an old T-shirt to wipe the body and keys down with after playing and you can use furniture polish, but spray it on the cloth instead of on the instrument so you don't get any polish in where you won't be able to clean it off.
 
#18 ·
A little preventative maintenance goes a long way: I brush my teeth and wash my hands before picking up the sax, I use a pad saver, also I put the sax in front of the fan to dry up the saliva and use a neck saver or a sock with a string tied on 1 end to swab out the neck. The mouthpiece also gets swabbed out every time. I started this pre playing and post playing ritual with my rental sax and carried it forward to my own alto sax. Ain't nothing like a clean sax 24/7.
 
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