Those of you who play woodwind instruments (and despite its metal construction, a saxophone is technically a woodwind) know what a hassle maintaining its numerous moving parts is. There are literally hundreds of springs, levers, felts, pads, corks and rods on a saxophone, any one of which can break or fall off at any time. Long term wear usually consists of felts and corks compressing and thus no longer functioning within their extremely fine tolerances, and leather pads (which seal the tone holes) becoming cracked after repeated soaking by condensation during the act of playing the instrument. The result is increasingly inefficient seals on the tone holes, making it harder to get notes to speak.

Born in Seattle Washington in 1953, John Doheny studied clarinet as a child, and played in youth orchestras. Switching to saxophone in his mid-teens, he began his  professional career in 1972, backing strippers in cabarets in Vancouver, Canada, an experience he asserts “taught me what it means to be a professional musician.  We played six sets a night, six nights a week, and I learned the techniques of pacing, stamina, and consistency, skills which have served me well throughout my subsequent career.”