I post this with great trepidation, but I believe it is the right thing to do in the interests of transparency of my business and also passing on knowledge earned the hard/stupid way. Keep in mind that nobody but me lost money on this deal. I even refunded shipping charges, both ways.
It is with reddened face and sweaty palms that I report to you the following, the most humiliating experience of my career thus far- by a loooooong shot. The next worst was when I said "sex" instead of "sax" to a 50 year old female customer :shock:, which is peanuts in comparison.
I have recently made the biggest and dumbest mistake of my repair career. A comedy of errors that luckily in the end wasted only time and my money, vs. the money of others.
I purchased a Dolnet tenor on ebay (from the Netherlands) and overhauled it. I took it into work to have my coworkers playtest it, me not being a great tenor player. Having a violin repairman with perfect pitch in the room, we always use (or used to, anyways, as this story will illuminate) him for our tuner, with great success. His feedback was accurate and more illuminating than the tuner (he could even tell us about the intonation of the overtones in each note), so most times if he was around we just used him.
So, everyone proceeds to pass this particular horn around the shop with him listening. Octaves sound great, fifths, thirds, half steps, everything is very even and according to him very in tune up and down. He even goes so far as to remark how even it is for a saxophone. We continue to pass it around, playing it for fun, and put it back in its case. Everyone loves the horn. I play a few arpeggios and octaves myself, and satisfied, I try to find a neck plug for it to put it away in its case. I have an original 10m neckplug, and it is too small, rattling around in the receiver. Wow, I think to myself, this is a large bore horn.
A few days later a moderately well-known recording artist drops in and tries it out in a practice room with a tuner (although for reasons that will be seen later, I don't think he turned it on) for about a half hour. Loves it, but decides not to buy.
A week or so later, one of my coworkers borrows the horn for a gig. Forgetting his mouthpiece bag at home, he has to borrow a mouthpiece from a maker he doesn't like. He has trouble playing in tune all night, but manages to play it well enough that his troubles are not noticed by the rest of the band. Tells me about it the next morning in the context of how much X mouthpiece maker sucks.
A friend of mine borrows the horn to play around with. He takes it home and keeps it for a few days. Reports back that it is badass.
A while later I sell the horn to a guy I haven't met, but who is a SOTW member. He reports intonation problems and returns it. He asks if it could be high pitch. I seriously doubt it, I say. No marking on the body indicating that, and the bore is larger than a 10m! We do another deal on something else and part ways amicably, but each of us sort of thinks quietly that the other one is wrong about the Dolnet.
I get the horn back, and everyone in the shop is amazed about it being returned on account of intonation, particularly the violin player.
I sell the horn again to a guy in Japan, whom I haven't met but who is also a SOTW member. He also reports intonation problems! I send him a box of mouthpieces to try out. He says he can get sort of close, but it goes wacky up high and down low. He returns the horn, I refund him, we part ways amicably. I am starting to feel a little crazy and pretty nervous at this point.
The horn arrives on my doorstep. I am thinking to myself at this point "Well, since I really like the horn and its been such a pain so far, I think I'll just keep it. I've been wanting a tenor!". I get the horn out and play some arpeggios, octaves. Sounds good! My wife, also a violin player, says "Sounds in tune to me!".
I break out the tuner. Realization dawns. I begin to sweat profusely, I stammer and falter and sink into my chair. I have a horn that is perfectly in tune with itself- in the key of B. A high pitch horn. PERFECTLY a half pitch sharp! My dear sweet violin repairman, my dear sweet wife, not knowing what note I was fingering, only heard the pitches being in tune, not knowing that I was expecting pitches a half step away. One guy had it in a practice room for a half hour with a tuner and said it played great. Another guy took it home with a tuner and said it played great. Now I think that these tuners couldnt have ever been turned on! Three of the people who played the horn are signed to record labels, two as tenor players, and one as an alto player. Taken all together with the violin repairman with perfect pitch, I thought I had a rock solid group of playtesters, with many of them using tuners- although apparently not turned on, or only paying attention to the green light vs. the actual note being produced.
And it could have all been avoided if I had sat down myself and used a #$^#%^ tuner.
So, my biggest error, illuminated in public for all to see. Why? Because Dolnet saxophones have no indication on the body that they are high pitch! I have taken some measurements of this horn (prior to it going either on my wall as a hubris deterrent, or out on the street if I can't bear the shame) so that if you see one on ebay like I did you can ask for some measurements and perhaps save yourself the trouble. That is the reason for this post.
Bell diameter: 15.4cm = 6"
Inner tenon diameter (body): 2.8cm = 1 1/8"
Top of body tenon to bow length: 69.8cm = 27 1/2"
And honestly, I am about as humiliated as I have ever been. Have some mercy if you can. I wrote all this out in the hopes of saving people some trouble and money when buying a Dolnet- trouble and money I myself have spent.
This experience does NOT change my belief that Dolnet's are badass horns. Just changes my opinion about using anything other than a quiet room and a tuner and my own self for intonation checks.
Oh, and does anyone want a horn in the key of B natural? Plays perfectly in tune!
It is with reddened face and sweaty palms that I report to you the following, the most humiliating experience of my career thus far- by a loooooong shot. The next worst was when I said "sex" instead of "sax" to a 50 year old female customer :shock:, which is peanuts in comparison.
I have recently made the biggest and dumbest mistake of my repair career. A comedy of errors that luckily in the end wasted only time and my money, vs. the money of others.
I purchased a Dolnet tenor on ebay (from the Netherlands) and overhauled it. I took it into work to have my coworkers playtest it, me not being a great tenor player. Having a violin repairman with perfect pitch in the room, we always use (or used to, anyways, as this story will illuminate) him for our tuner, with great success. His feedback was accurate and more illuminating than the tuner (he could even tell us about the intonation of the overtones in each note), so most times if he was around we just used him.
So, everyone proceeds to pass this particular horn around the shop with him listening. Octaves sound great, fifths, thirds, half steps, everything is very even and according to him very in tune up and down. He even goes so far as to remark how even it is for a saxophone. We continue to pass it around, playing it for fun, and put it back in its case. Everyone loves the horn. I play a few arpeggios and octaves myself, and satisfied, I try to find a neck plug for it to put it away in its case. I have an original 10m neckplug, and it is too small, rattling around in the receiver. Wow, I think to myself, this is a large bore horn.
A few days later a moderately well-known recording artist drops in and tries it out in a practice room with a tuner (although for reasons that will be seen later, I don't think he turned it on) for about a half hour. Loves it, but decides not to buy.
A week or so later, one of my coworkers borrows the horn for a gig. Forgetting his mouthpiece bag at home, he has to borrow a mouthpiece from a maker he doesn't like. He has trouble playing in tune all night, but manages to play it well enough that his troubles are not noticed by the rest of the band. Tells me about it the next morning in the context of how much X mouthpiece maker sucks.
A friend of mine borrows the horn to play around with. He takes it home and keeps it for a few days. Reports back that it is badass.
A while later I sell the horn to a guy I haven't met, but who is a SOTW member. He reports intonation problems and returns it. He asks if it could be high pitch. I seriously doubt it, I say. No marking on the body indicating that, and the bore is larger than a 10m! We do another deal on something else and part ways amicably, but each of us sort of thinks quietly that the other one is wrong about the Dolnet.
I get the horn back, and everyone in the shop is amazed about it being returned on account of intonation, particularly the violin player.
I sell the horn again to a guy in Japan, whom I haven't met but who is also a SOTW member. He also reports intonation problems! I send him a box of mouthpieces to try out. He says he can get sort of close, but it goes wacky up high and down low. He returns the horn, I refund him, we part ways amicably. I am starting to feel a little crazy and pretty nervous at this point.
The horn arrives on my doorstep. I am thinking to myself at this point "Well, since I really like the horn and its been such a pain so far, I think I'll just keep it. I've been wanting a tenor!". I get the horn out and play some arpeggios, octaves. Sounds good! My wife, also a violin player, says "Sounds in tune to me!".
I break out the tuner. Realization dawns. I begin to sweat profusely, I stammer and falter and sink into my chair. I have a horn that is perfectly in tune with itself- in the key of B. A high pitch horn. PERFECTLY a half pitch sharp! My dear sweet violin repairman, my dear sweet wife, not knowing what note I was fingering, only heard the pitches being in tune, not knowing that I was expecting pitches a half step away. One guy had it in a practice room for a half hour with a tuner and said it played great. Another guy took it home with a tuner and said it played great. Now I think that these tuners couldnt have ever been turned on! Three of the people who played the horn are signed to record labels, two as tenor players, and one as an alto player. Taken all together with the violin repairman with perfect pitch, I thought I had a rock solid group of playtesters, with many of them using tuners- although apparently not turned on, or only paying attention to the green light vs. the actual note being produced.
And it could have all been avoided if I had sat down myself and used a #$^#%^ tuner.
So, my biggest error, illuminated in public for all to see. Why? Because Dolnet saxophones have no indication on the body that they are high pitch! I have taken some measurements of this horn (prior to it going either on my wall as a hubris deterrent, or out on the street if I can't bear the shame) so that if you see one on ebay like I did you can ask for some measurements and perhaps save yourself the trouble. That is the reason for this post.
Bell diameter: 15.4cm = 6"
Inner tenon diameter (body): 2.8cm = 1 1/8"
Top of body tenon to bow length: 69.8cm = 27 1/2"
And honestly, I am about as humiliated as I have ever been. Have some mercy if you can. I wrote all this out in the hopes of saving people some trouble and money when buying a Dolnet- trouble and money I myself have spent.
This experience does NOT change my belief that Dolnet's are badass horns. Just changes my opinion about using anything other than a quiet room and a tuner and my own self for intonation checks.
Oh, and does anyone want a horn in the key of B natural? Plays perfectly in tune!