My name is Mike Barnes. I have owned and played a wide variety of Saxophones both vintage and modern. My passion for the saxophone with how it looks, and sounds has spanned many years. Saxophones have been with me throughout my working career, in one way or another!
Prior to creating Saxstuff, I had a successful career in aerospace engineering for 25 years, both in the UK and abroad. I was involved with multiple disciplines on many types of aircraft from airliner production to fully armed front line fighter jets under hostile conditions. I therefore understand the need for working to a high standard with fine detail, I apply that to every challenge I undertake.
Saxstuff started as a hobby initially, mainly out of the need to find a set of key guards for a King Super 20 Tenor Saxophone I took on as a “Project”. On closer inspection, as well as key guards, this particular sax was also missing several other small parts. Unable to source them, either new or secondhand, I resorted to having to make my own. However, before this could happen it required the making of appropriate tooling to form the guards. This in itself took a considerable amount of thought, time and effort to create.
Making the key guards from brass sheet required the material to be annealed. This process keeps the brass workable without cracking during the hammering and shaping process. For me, there is something very therapeutic about beating a piece of flat metal sheet into a complex 3-dimensional shape! After some initial “trial and error” moments, forming of the guard was complete and the distinctive shaped holes were then carefully cut out by hand using a jeweller’s saw and the holes drilled for the fixing screws. After a final tidy up with some precision files, the guard was polished up and fitted to the Super 20.
As it turned out, I seemed to be quite good at doing this particular kind of thing. I then set about making the other remaining parts including tooling needed for “Project Super 20”. Whilst creating some of these other parts presented numerous challenges, I took them all in my stride.
After completing the work on the Super 20 I wondered how many other people had found themselves in the same situation needing these parts that frequently seem to go missing. After all, I now had the tooling and expertise to create these items
I scrolled through and responded to the “Parts Wanted” sections of various online saxophone forums such as ‘SOTW’ and ‘Cafe Saxophone’ This has since resulted in me making a wide range of saxophone parts for many customers in some 28 countries worldwide. Whilst I initially thought about making parts for other makes of saxophones, I have ultimately ended up specialising exclusively in King Super 20 and Zephyr replacement parts. Saxstuff is probably the best current source for replacement Zephyr & Super 20 spare parts in the world today. I am extremely passionate about my work and I look forward to hearing from you with a view to creating the parts you require.
**Spare parts can sound a bit dull and boring, perhaps that’s why some of my customers prefer instead, to call it “Magic in Metal”**