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Is there hope for this Dukoff?

2K views 10 replies 6 participants last post by  Martinman 
#1 ·
Somehow, I managed to play on this piece for over a year and break a few lig screws before I realized how badly it was made. Check out that lopsided machine work where the body meets the shank...

Does this late 80's Dukoff D5 have a future as a functional saxophone accessory, or is it destined to be a doorstop?

 
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#6 ·
I suppose I could have made this clear earlier...

The table seems to be in line with the chamber, but the body is so far out-of-round that it forces some torque into the ligature. It's nearly impossible to keep the reed properly alligned with the tip and rails. I've had the same experience with the stock metal lig and a Vibrafree lig.
 
#7 ·
saxofunk said:
I suppose I could have made this clear earlier...

The table seems to be in line with the chamber, but the body is so far out-of-round that it forces some torque into the ligature. It's nearly impossible to keep the reed properly alligned with the tip and rails. I've had the same experience with the stock metal lig and a Vibrafree lig.
If there is no problem with the chamber, table and tip geometry, I would imagine that bringing the body back "into round" could be done during a reface.
 
#8 ·
I contacted MOJO and he was kind enough to offer some comments. There is hope, but it's not cost effective, especially since I had written this piece off and replaced it with a Ponzol a few years ago.

I appreciate y'all's input on this... it's nice to have a friendly forum. :salute:
 
#10 ·
Give me a year, a couple of days of boredom during an ice storm, and see what I can accomplish. :D

I went after the Dukoff today with a couple files and removed a lot of extra metal from the body. This took a fair amount of time, a couple hours just to get it down with a coarse file, then some time on a fine file, finished it off with 400 grit paper and wet sanded with 600. So it's shiny, but a bit swirly - hey, it's silverite, it has never been perfect.

I did not touch the rails or table - so all the pro mouthpiece guys can relax. The tip had a very small burr so I touched it just enough to clean it up. It's now fully functional! Both the metal and Vibra-Free ligs fit squarely now. It hits about 50% on the vacuum test, and I suspect that's in the facing... may have that touched up one day (it's unlikely that I'll get brave enough to try refacing!). Meanwhile, I'll let the kids use it, my 5 year old is very excited about his "new" mouthpiece - he's proving his mad altissimo skillz as I'm writing this. If he could reach the keys he would be able to get more than one note!

Before:



After:



(I just notice that the trial reed in the photo is one I rejected, note "YUCK" is written on it - LOL!)

Thanks all for your input, and a shout out to MOJO for exchanging some PMs a while back. :salute:
 
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