[Saxophone Video]

Good evening everyone, my name is Dominic. The instrument that you see before today

is the final product of my senior project.

Saxophone restoration is the topic of my senior project. My research paper is all about the

parts of a saxophone and how they work together. Due to this, the correlation between my

research paper and my project is parallel. Through the process of researching and writing my

paper, I was able to better my knowledge of my senior project, as well as learning many different

principles that I am interested in. I learned through the course of my research that the saxophone

is much more complex than it seems. For instance, 24 different pads are used overall, while the

instrument can be split into nearly 50 different pieces.

As previously stated, my final product is my restored Conn New Wonder II (Chu Berry)

alto saxophone. I have played the saxophone for six and a half years and have always been

interested in the construction of the instrument; therefore, I chose to complete this product to see

if I could have a future in the saxophone business. During my process of restoring this vintage

saxophone, I had many steps that I had to complete to be successful. These included: First the

disassembly of the horn, this is one of the scariest parts of the restoration process for me. I had to

completely remove and disassemble all of the many parts on the saxophone; I would like to

demonstrate this for you now. Next comes the cleaning and polishing, for this I experienced my

first problem, chemical cleaning. Chemical cleaning is the process that removes corrosion, built

up grime, and in the worst case scenarios mold and mildew. It does this by submerging the

striped down horn in extremely harsh chemicals that remove all of the previously listed things.

However, after buying the saxophone, sax-gourmet pads, cork, and other assorted necessary

repair items I had exasperated my budget, this means I could not afford to have this

professionally done or to buy the professional cleaning agents with a bath enclosure. So, I

improvised using my own tub and a water and lavender bleach mixture I chemically cleaned the

sax. After this I used silver polish cloth to polish the silver on the sax. Next, the repading and

reassembly process, this was by far the most difficult and time consuming step. This involved

removing every old pad and gluing a brand new pad to every cup, this was extremely time

consuming simply because of the number of pads that had to be replaced. After every pad was

replaced the horn needed to be reassembled this was equally as time consuming, and at this stage

I dubbed the disassembled saxophone “the worst jigsaw puzzle ever.” Finally, checking for

leaks and readjusting pads is the last step, for this I used a piece of tape from an old cassette and

slid it between the tone hole and the depressed pad, and I would like to demonstrate this process

now.

Mr. Cheyne, the instrument repair teacher at Reinhardt, was my project facilitator. Being

relatively close and a very knowledgeable specialist in this area, I chose him to facilitate my

project; also, my band director, Mr. Robert Opitz, suggested that I choose Mr. Cheyne as my

facilitator. As my project facilitator, Dr. Cheyne assisted me in understanding the basics of

saxophone restoration.

I learned a lot on my journey through the senior project but, one of the really fantastic

things that I learned is that no matter how overwhelming a task can seem when you truly

dedicate your time and hard work to it, you can overcome anything. But, in the end, I will not be

pursuing this further, mostly because, while I do enjoy playing the saxophone and some parts of

the process were fun, most of the time the sax was just a hassle. I will be attending Georgia

Southern University in the fall majoring in biology, and I plan to go to medical school after

graduation from there. Thank you, are there any questions?