How to Fix a Compressed Neck Cork

WARNING:Be sure to tape up the lacquered part of your neck near the cork with a good insulator! Otherwise, the steam could crack and peel your lacquer. I learned that the hard way with my Yanagisawa S991.

Thanks to Pete Thomas’s Saxophone Repairs page, I learned how to fix something that’s peeved me for decades! I thought I’d post it here for any of you saxophonists who are tired of wrapping paper around your neck cork in order for your mouthpiece to fit. I usually just have my repair guy recork the neck now and then. In this case, the Lawton mouthpiece I got for my tenor was a little looser than my Link, so I’d been wrapping a bit of painter’s tape around the cork. Well, guess what? You can expand the compressed cork by holding and rotating it in the steam from a tea kettle! I could actually see the cork expanding. It was a little uneven and lumpy, but no matter. Oh, Pete’s site also mentioned an alternative method of wetting the cork and holding it well above a gas flame. I don’t recommend this approach! I thought I was holding it well above the flame, but I still managed to burn some of the cork. If you don’t have a tea kettle, buy one! Tea is a lovely beverage.

Your cork won’t hold up to too much of this. It’s an effective fix in a pinch, but in the long run you’ll be better off getting the cork replaced.

DISCLAIMER: I’m pretty good at tinkering with my saxophone. You might suck at it. If you botch a repair, it’s not my fault, okay?