Saxophone Maintenance 101 – How To Take Care of a Saxophone

Proper saxophone maintenance ensures optimal performance and prevents costly repairs. This article covers everything you need to know on how to take care of your saxophone.

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Daily Care

[Video] Daily Saxophone Maintenance Steps – Full Walkthrough

Properly Storing the Saxophone Between Uses

Reed Care

Periodic Care

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Daily Saxophone Care

The most important part of saxophone maintenance is daily care, or care each time you play. Let’s talk about what you’ll be doing almost every time you pick up the saxophone:

1. Playing prep (before playing). Rinse your mouth with water to avoid blowing any remnant food or drink particles into your instrument. Or if you can, avoid eating or drinking anything other than water before you play. Food and sugary drinks of any kind will cause bacteria growth inside the saxophone, leading to sticky keys and other messes. Trust us, you do not want this mess!
   
2. Apply cork grease (before playing). Before putting the mouthpiece on the saxophone, check the neck cork. If the cork feels dry to the touch or if the saxophone mouthpiece does not slide over the cork easily, apply a light layer of cork grease. This helps condition the saxophone cork so it stays soft enough to do its job well for many, many years.
   
3. Swab the saxophone (after playing). When you’re ready to put the saxophone back in the case, you’ll need to swab your saxophone using a saxophone-specific swab (see swab choices here). Saxophone swabs are essentially pieces of absorbent cloth attached to a weighted string. Pulling the swab through the saxophone helps collect and remove the dripping moisture left inside the sax. Swab cleaning your saxophone is vital to help keep your key pads from becoming waterlogged, sticky, and rotten.
   
4. Dry the key pads (after playing). Dry off any additional moisture inside the saxophone by blowing dripping moisture off the keys. In particular, check out the palm keys (high D and up), as that’s where moisture most commonly collects.
   
   You’ll also want to use a pad dryer (like this) to dab and dry the key pads (the soft leather pad underneath the keys). This specific saxophone care step will help prevent your keys from sticking and help prevent sticky brass oxidation from forming on the raw brass edges of the metal tone holes. You want to keep your saxophone’s pads and tone holes dry and clean.

[Video] Daily Saxophone Maintenance Steps – Full Walkthrough

This video walks you through all of the steps above to show you exactly what to do:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=8qZOoYJ8bCI%3Fsi%3DzEL1X6k-9So3l-1Z

Properly Storing the Saxophone Between Uses

Believe it or not, the way you store your saxophone in the case is part of proper saxophone care and maintenance, and if not done correctly, it can cause significant disrepair in a short time. Here’s what you need to know about storing the saxophone:

1. Use a saxophone end cap! The end cap (or end plug) is a small, usually plastic cap that fits into the end of the saxophone body before going in the case. The primary damage that occurs from not using the end cap is that the exposed octave key post gets damaged from moving around inside the case and can bend, rendering it dysfunctional.
   
   All saxophones come with an end cap, but if you don’t have one or want additional protection, consider investing in a GapCap saxophone cap. What do we mean by additional protection? Surprisingly, the end cap that came with your saxophone may not fit well enough to prevent movement of the saxophone inside the case, and movement inside the case leaves wiggle room for sax whiplash if the case gets a huge hit or impact. A quick way to test this is to lay your sax down inside the case with the end cap on, then wiggle the sax all around to see if the sax moves against the case padding. If it does, your saxophone may not be stable enough inside the sax case to protect the instrument. The GapCap sax cap helps remove any loose fitting gap inside your case with adjustable ends for a custom fit with your saxophone neck socket and saxophone case. There are other benefits to using a GapCap sax cap. It was the first saxophone end cap designed to give shock absorption if your sax case takes a bad fall or hit, and the open end of the design allows for more airflow inside the horn, which helps prevent buildup and helps prevent sticky keys (we’ll talk about that next).
   
2. Prop open problematic keys to prevent gunk buildup and sticky keys. Have you ever heard of sticky saxophone keys? If you haven’t experienced it yet, you likely will at some point. But you can significantly reduce your chances with one quick and easy step.
   
   Sticky keys on the saxophone can cause everything from mild frustration to utter embarrassment. There’s nothing like trying to play a G sharp, but the key sticks and plays G natural instead. Ouch! (G sharp is one of the most common sticky keys).
   
   Key Leaves sax key props and Vent Vine™ for saxophone gently keep the most stick-prone keys safely open inside your case while storing. Keeping sax keys open prevents buildup inside the saxophone (on the saxophone tone holes) from gunking up your key pads.
   
   You can learn more about how Key Leaves work here.
   
3. Never lay your saxophone case lid side down.
   Most saxophone lids close down over the saxophone keys where the tone holes are facing up. So, if you lay your case down on the lid, you are turning the saxophone so all the tone holes face down and drip any humidity directly onto the saxophone pads. That’s bad for the longevity and health of your saxophone. This is an easy thing to avoid.
   
   Pro Tip: For best saxophone storage health, set your saxophone case vertically so the bow rests near the floor. That means any moisture left inside the saxophone has to work even harder to drip toward the delicate leather key pads.