It has been seven years since I attended my first sax repair and maintenance workshop. If you weren’t around by then, you can read the blog entry I wrote about it. There’s a little summary video on my YouTube channel too. To give you some quick context, at the time, my trusted sax repairer had just retired. I struggled to find a suitable replacement, to the point that I decided to give the process a go myself. The workshop was more than I expected, it introduced to a fascinating world! As I declared on my post, I could easily see myself doing sax repairs as a hobby after. Whilst I didn’t keep up with it due to my many commitments, and eventually found a new person I can trust with the maintenance of my saxophones, I never lost interest.
This year, I decided it was time for a refresher. My schedule is quite full these days, and sometimes I’m faced with situations on the road that I need to sort out immediately. There are also urgent tweaks that just cannot wait until I can make my way to the shop.
Last Saturday, then, I travelled to Cambridge, where I had a wonderful six hours sax repair workshop with two great tutors and instrument repairers, makers and restorers: Daniel Bangham, the head of Cambridge Woodwind Makers, and Paul Windridge, whose shop is based in Leicester. They reminded of everything from last time, and I also learned a few new tips and tricks. I’m very thankful for all their advice and useful information. Perhaps it’s obvious when you say it, but being able to care for your instrument does wonders to build your confidence! Besides, now I’m better equipped to deal with eventualities while I’m on my own.
If you’d like to learn how to do this, I have an interesting piece of info for you: both the making of woodwind and brass instruments are considered endangered crafts by the Heritage Crafts Association. This means that, if you want to get training in order to help preserve this knowledge, you might be able to access financial aid. Learn more about what crafts are considered endangered and what the association is doing about it by checking their Red List of Endangered Crafts.
