Any advice for repairing an alto saxophone?

I am planning on buying an alto saxophone from my roommate. It is incredibly underloved, but before I buy it from her, I need it appraised and I need to see how much the repair will cost. Can someone give me a site that will show me how much alto sax accessories cost? We're talking new mouthpiece (nothing fancy), new key pads, etc.





Thank you.Any advice for repairing an alto saxophone?
If you plan on doing the repairs yourself, stop right now. It is incredibly difficult, even for people that have been playing and working with the instrument for years. I tried ';repairing'; one of my horns after 13 years of playing and I still ended up taking it to a technician.


If you want a mouthpiece, a local music store will carry perfectly fine ones, and www.wwbw.com has great prices too. www.wwbw.com even lists pads and stuff like that, but just let a technician do it. You will be much happier, and the work will be 1000 times better than you can pull off.Any advice for repairing an alto saxophone?
If you know what company made the saxophone, send it there if at all possible. If not, send it to a reputable saxophone or woodwind repair technician.That way, you have a better chance for the saxophone to get a better quality of repairs compared to sending it to a music store. Plus, they can give you a decent appraisal.





If you do send it to a local music store...buyer beware. Most technicians at the local msuic store consider an instrument ';fixed'; if they can ';play'; it. I've had problems in the past with local band/orchestra repair technicians because of this. So, if you go this option, have a good saxophonist try it out first. That way, they can hear and feel what additional work needs to be done.





A good website to check out for sax accessories woudl be the ';Woodwind and Brasswind Company.'; I think their address is www.wwbw.com. If not, then just google their name. Again, if you have a saxophonist friend (or better yet, a private teacher), he/she can give you recommendations on what types of saxophone accessories to buy and where to purchase them. I would also recommend getting a decent saxophone case too--something big enough to stash your instrument, accessories, and music.





Good luck!
There's a website below, but you'd be better off searching for Alto Sax in your area. That will give you an idea of the going rate, which is where you'll be having it repaired. You can also take it to a local music store to have it appraised and get an estimate on the repairs.