One of the most reputable & trusted repair techs, Stephen Howard, has just spent 2 years working on a new resource book for saxophone players. The Haynes Saxophone Manual: Choosing, Setting Up and Maintaining a Saxophone, is the first book of its kind–a book for saxophone players who want to know how to keep their instruments in top playing condition.
Anyone who has ever bought a Haynes manual before, knows that these books are a comprehensive encyclopedia of their subject matter. This new Saxophone Manual appears to be no exception. It is a hardcover edition that contains 208 pages, with 500 colour illustrations.
Here is how the new Saxophone Manual is described on the Haynes website:
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.
Source: haynes.co.uk
Stephen Howard is a member of SOTW, and he did talk about his new book on that forum. This is what he had to say about it:
It’s essentially a maintenance book. There’s not much point covering full repairs as I’ve never been convinced that a manual is an effective way of learning the craft – and for the vast majority of players it simply won’t be an economic proposition to kit themselves out with the necessary tools.
The book describes how the action works and what the various parts do and how they interact with each other, and then goes on to explain how to inspect and perform minor repairs and adjustments – such as replacing corks and regulating the action, checking for leaks, adjusting the springs and setting the action height. General maintenance such as cleaning, care and lubrication is covered as well as dealing with a number of issues such as sticky pads.
For the advanced tweaker there are sections on replacing pads and springs.
I have deliberately kept the number of specialist tools to a minimum – a few screwdrivers, a decent sharp blade and spring hook will get you through most of the techniques.
The book is aimed at anyone who plays the sax and has an interest in learning how to look after it and keep it running in between professional services – and with an approach that’s based on the theory of how the action works it should help players to better understand what can go wrong and how it can affect the playability of their horn.
It’s heavy on photographs too, which should make things clearer.
I’ve even bunged in a couple of in-jokes, and kept the swearing to an absolute minimum.
At the present time the book is not yet available in North America. Booksellers like Amazon.com and Amazon.ca, are showing that it will be released in mid-February. Amazon is allowing you to pre order the Saxophone Manual now.
If you don’t want to wait, or would like an autographed copy of the first edition, you can order a copy from Stephen directly. Just go to the order page of his website, and you’re all set.
I haven’t got a copy yet, but it will be the first saxophone book of the New Year that I buy. In this day of on-line everything, I’m really excited that someone put this much time and effort into a hard copy resource.
For me, there is nothing like sitting down with a book that is filled with great pictures. The tactile sensations and the ability to physically turn pages, add an important layer to the overall learning experience, and feeling I get from whatever resource I am reviewing.
Beautifully put Helen! There really is something about feeling the weight of a book, the sensation of turning pages and of looking down instead of ahead at great photographs…
Amusing anecdote:
Apparently people have been wondering how the book came to have a Bauhaus Walstein alto on the cover. Stephen had been trying to contact several manufacturers to no avail, and you would think most would welcome such an opportunity. He says that when he got the Walstein people on the phone, it took them all of about five seconds to say yes. I can only imagine several companies will be kicking themselves over this for years to come.
It’s a really nice looking horn too, and Stephen (and quite a few other UK people, like Pete Thomas) really like them. They really need to spread their distribution channel, recession or no recession. People want these horns.
That’s a pretty funny story alright. You’d think one of the big 4 would have jumped at the chance, that’s for sure. Oh well, their loss is Bauhaus Walstein’s gain.
I’m reading the book right now but you’ve beat me to the punch. Good review.
Sorry ’bout that Jim. I’ll be interested to hear your thoughts when your done reading it.
I’m going to order my copy from Amazon.ca in February. I can’t quite believe something like this has never been written before. It’s long overdue.