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Saxophone Manual: Choosing, Setting Up and Maintaining a Saxophone
The saxophone is arguably the most iconic of all instruments, but with its graceful form and soulful tone it’s easy to forget that it’s still a machine. It’s a complicated machine, too, and even a slight fault in the mechanism can affect the way it feels and plays. This innovative manual explains clearly and simply how the mechanism functions and what can be done to maintain it, as well as to improve its performance with professional set-up techniques, with few or no specialist tools. This manual is essential reading for everyone who plays the saxophone.
208 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
December 6, 2013
I picked this book because I needed a nonfiction book to review for a class, and since I play the baritone sax, I thought that this would be a good nonfiction book for my nonfiction review.
The significance of the title in relation to the book is that the book goes over various problems that a saxophone could have, and how to fix them on your own, unless if the author recommends professional should do it instead.
The author wrote this book to inform general readers on ways to fix a Saxophone if it is a DIY thing, or if you should take it to a professional to be fixed.
The ideal audience of this book I'd put into two parts: those who want to own a saxophone (chapters one, two, and 23.) and those who own a sax and want to do maintenance themselves.
Three things that I learned from this book are:
1 You are less likely to get sick from playing your own sax when you mouthpiece is dirty compared to you are doing everyday things.
2. When assembling and taking apart a sax, you have to put on and take off keys in a specific order.
3. When you are replacing pads on a sax, if you burn the pad, even with the slightest singe, you have to start all over again.
The theme of the book is more about ways to repair specific problems on a saxophone than equally choosing, setting up and maintaining one.
Three reading strategies that I used were:
1 Use prior knowledge, as this is a sax repair book, one would need prior knowledge on a sax in order to know what keys are what.
2 Monitoring: I monitored what I was reading to try and understand what I was reading. The pictures supplied in the book helped as well, such as in the replacing needle springs section, I at first, did not understand the spring is too small and spring is too big. But after looking at the pictures and reading, I understood that it meant thickness not length.
3 Make inferences: throughout the book, it sometimes will say something among the lines of 'it will cost a few thousand pounds' so I made the inference that this book was most likely printed, or the author most likely lives over in Britain.
Although it was mind-numbingly boring, (as to be expected from a repair manual) I would recommend this book to sax owners/ to be sax owners, but to only read the book on an as need basis.
The significance of the title in relation to the book is that the book goes over various problems that a saxophone could have, and how to fix them on your own, unless if the author recommends professional should do it instead.
The author wrote this book to inform general readers on ways to fix a Saxophone if it is a DIY thing, or if you should take it to a professional to be fixed.
The ideal audience of this book I'd put into two parts: those who want to own a saxophone (chapters one, two, and 23.) and those who own a sax and want to do maintenance themselves.
Three things that I learned from this book are:
1 You are less likely to get sick from playing your own sax when you mouthpiece is dirty compared to you are doing everyday things.
2. When assembling and taking apart a sax, you have to put on and take off keys in a specific order.
3. When you are replacing pads on a sax, if you burn the pad, even with the slightest singe, you have to start all over again.
The theme of the book is more about ways to repair specific problems on a saxophone than equally choosing, setting up and maintaining one.
Three reading strategies that I used were:
1 Use prior knowledge, as this is a sax repair book, one would need prior knowledge on a sax in order to know what keys are what.
2 Monitoring: I monitored what I was reading to try and understand what I was reading. The pictures supplied in the book helped as well, such as in the replacing needle springs section, I at first, did not understand the spring is too small and spring is too big. But after looking at the pictures and reading, I understood that it meant thickness not length.
3 Make inferences: throughout the book, it sometimes will say something among the lines of 'it will cost a few thousand pounds' so I made the inference that this book was most likely printed, or the author most likely lives over in Britain.
Although it was mind-numbingly boring, (as to be expected from a repair manual) I would recommend this book to sax owners/ to be sax owners, but to only read the book on an as need basis.
June 27, 2018
This book is aimed at people who play saxophone and want to maintain their instrument(s). It's like the well-known Haynes repair manuals for automobiles and has much the same style...background, step-by-step, and lots of high-quality illustrations. It's hard to imagine many home repairers would want to completely disassemble their saxophone, but that's covered. On the other hand, every player (and sax) should benefit from the routine maintenance items in the first chapters, like cleaning and periodically oiling the instrument, even cleaning a sticky pad.
Stephen Howard brings 30+ years' experience repairing woodwinds to this book. He writes clearly and with occasional humorous touches, such as what to expect when you have disassembled your saxophone and are now taking it to a professional repairer.
Stephen Howard brings 30+ years' experience repairing woodwinds to this book. He writes clearly and with occasional humorous touches, such as what to expect when you have disassembled your saxophone and are now taking it to a professional repairer.
March 23, 2022
Clear and easy to read.
April 21, 2011
As a music geek I had to read this. Now I know why I pay my repairman the big bucks. i recommend it only to the most dedicated sax players with an interest in deep knowledge of their instrument.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews