While I was poking around through SOTW the other day, I came across the posts, and ultimately the website, of Martinmods of Miami. As I looked over his site, I was intrigued by the keywork modifications he was doing to the left hand table keys on spilt-bell, and left hand bell keyed vintage saxophones.
This is how he describes his modifications:
Left-Hand Table Keys: Pinky Saver! Vastly Improved Over Original Design
- Arms extended 3/8″ for 37.5% more leverage – no more reaching backward for that C#
- Minimal increase in key motion
- Bb/C# plates meet at 45 degree angle for more natural finger movement
- Double rollers on Bb/C# plates
- G# arm re-routed parallel to other arms, between B and C#, to avoid C# criss-cross
- Contoured Bb plate
- Brass or Mother of Pearl rollers
- Non-Destructive Modification: You keep your original key arms/key plates. I can restore your horn to it’s original condition with it’s original keys.
For those of us who regularly wrestle with the pinky tables of our vintage horns, Martinmods’ new table looks rather promising.
Source: eBay
Source: eBay
Source: eBay
Source: eBay
Source: eBay
Source: eBay
Source: eBay
Martinmods’ website has links to some YouTube demonstration videos, as well as information about who he is as a player, and what made him come up with the idea. (You know the old saying: Necessity is the mother of invention.)
Martinmods also notes some other projects he is working on, which will be available in the future, including: Palm Keys – Thumb Rest (octave Key) – Thumb Hook – Side Keys – RH Table Key Rollers (brass) – Neck Tenons – Tone Holes.
BTW, Martinmods does have the thumb hook for sale on eBay already. It is available for ATB/Magna Martin horns. The other modification he is selling, that I didn’t see on his site, is a sharp E2/F2 fix.This brass insert is fitted for the Martin baritone’s bore, but may work for other baris as well. (Although he doesn’t mention this particular modification on his website, Martinmods does have an article about why E2-F#2 on baris (especially Martins) are problematic in the tuning department.)
I had my old conn bass done by martin mods some years ago and never regretted it . I also had him put anti friction rollers on big keys.
Pinky table is sturdy and at a more natural angle.
I have considered having Lance do make some keys for my Buescher bass. Given that he is now in Seattle, it would be more practical. I know of of a bass player—can’t remember who anymore—who got Lance to make the keys for him, and then had his own tech fit the keys to the horn. If Lance lived a long ways away, that would likely be the way I would go. I don’t like parting with any of my horns for a longish period of time—especially when it is thousands of miles away and/or in another country.
From pictures of low Bb Dolnet’s I’ve seen, they have the typical forward-curved one-piece bell with large flare. The low A horns have significantly less flare in the bell section, it tips forward only at the very end, and it’s two pieces. They almost look like two entirely different horns from the front (except for the highly unusual, characteristic Dolnet wrap to the player’s right). I think that the horn I have would have been better served by having the cone angle reduced between the low C# tone hole and the end. This would be more effective than sticking stuff in the bell, and make the horn lighter to boot.
To be quite honest, the more I play the Dolnet bari, the more annoyed I am by its “quirkiness”. The art deco theme thing is fine, and the double articulation of the bell keys is fine too, but there are some significant design flaws:
* Non-articulated low C#, with the post on the “vintage” side. This is almost inexcusable in a low A horn, in my opinion. I’ve figured out how it could be done without too much modification (cut the C# rod, add a post between the two halves, reverse the bottom spring and add one at the top, etc.), but it’s always going to be a short, stiff lever.
* Short low A lever. It’s designed to close Bb and B when A is pressed, but this takes WAY too much pressure because the lever is short, and wrapped funny (backward compared to a Mk VII or S80).
* The aforementioned intonation issues at the bottom. The palm keys are also sharp but at least I can (and do) put crescents in those and adjust the venting.
* Lots of key whip! I can’t seem to get the damn thing to stay in adjustment for more than a week at a time.
When it works, it’s a solid horn with a good tone, and outside of some awkward transitions from low C# downward, it does what any low A bari does. Considering the public appearances I’ve had on bari in the past 10 years (three), it’s probably adequate for hauling around. But I do have to fight it quite a bit, and I get tired of it. It was /just/ cheap enough at the time, but it’s time to move on if I have any serious intentions for bari playing.
It’s to the point where I’m putting off recording my own trio/quartet writing because I don’t want to record with it — because I don’t trust it to do WHAT I want, WHEN I want, and few things piss me off more than blowing a recording because of a mechanical problem. Goddess only knows I’m fully capable of screwing up without mechanical assistance.
Talk about necessity being the mother of invention! Jeez! That’s a lot of work, and even more trial and error I suspect, you went through with your Dolnet.
Are other Dolnet baris like this, or is it a quirk of yours? I don’t know much, anything really, about Dolnet horns. A former student of mine had an alto and I played it a few times, but that’s my only experience with the brand.
Were their low A baris like the Conns, in that the bell was basically just extended 6 or inches without a gradual flair? Does that have something to do with its tuning issues?
Now this is something I could absolutely go for. Since it’s impractical to redesign the pinky cluster to have its axles on the other side of the keys, this is the next best thing.
My bari (Dolnet Bel Air, low A) also has its intonation problems, but the bad ones are all from low C# down. This I mostly solved by putting an 18 inch long piece of sprinkler pipe (plugged at both ends with a piece of a drum stick) into the bell. It is secured by automotive silicone, so removing it would be as simple as reaching inside, breaking the seal, and rolling off the leftover silicone. This still left the low A very sharp, for which I made a ring out of an engine belt for a car I no longer have, and stuffed that down the bell to just above the low Bb tone hole. It helps, but not enough, as the low A is still about 20 cents sharp. The only real fix here would be to separate the bell at the ring (there is one about 6 inches down the bell, it’s not one piece like most) and use a longer ring. The ugly way to do it is to stuff a homemade cone into the bell, lengthening it. It sounds fine but looks stupid.
This really looks like a labor of luv for this fellow. Very nice stuff for vintage sax owner.