New member intro -- musical instruments

jdumars

Member
Joined
Feb 12, 2008
Messages
24
Location
Nashville, Tennessee
Hi all,

Rob at GRS turned me onto this forum, and I have to tell you all how excited I am about this! Wow, the workmanship here is just unreal, and I have so much respect for everyone's artistry.

Here's my introduction...

I'm 37, living in Nashville, Tennessee, but have spent most of my life in Oregon. I am a life-long music enthusiast who specializes in saxophone. When I was around 15, I saw my very first engraved saxophone in a photo, and it completely blew me away! I couldn't believe how beautiful engraving looked on an instrument, and it totally inspired me. Being the young and intrepid lad I was, I found the first sharp thing I could (and old broken chair leg that had a metal point embedded in it) and started "engraving" my alto sax. I then found my step-dad's electric engraver and tried that with a little better results. I was discouraged enough by the sad appearance that I gave up trying to do it on instruments. Instead, I focused on drawing the patterns, and inventing my own. I became obsessed with this for literally 10 years, drawing patterns all over everything I got my hands on. I also occasionally broke out the electric engraver and tried it out again, with the same poor-quality results.

Everything changed in 1998 when I visited the Elkhart, Indiana home of Selmer instruments and saw a demonstration of hand engraving with the proper tools. It lasted all of 5 minutes, but I remembered every detail of how she held the tool, how it moved, and such. But, I had no idea where one found such tools, nor how one would learn such a thing.

Years passed, and I kept drawing. My drawings became better and better, until I could duplicate virtually any engraving pattern I saw. I found the James Meek book, as well as some other books on the subject and was really excited, but again had no tools.

Finally, I happened upon a set of tools on eBay in 2002! I bought them and immediately began destroying my beloved 1939 Selmer alto with them -- as well as stabbing myself repeatedly in the learning process. I learned the hard way that there's no glove in the world that can stop a graver when it slips. I also learned there's no good way to work on brass instruments in a vise, so you're stuck holding it and working it at the same time.

Once I had the basic "zig zag" or walking stroke with a flat graver down, I tried my hand engraving a baritone sax, and amazingly it turned out relatively good. I quickly damaged the tips on my gravers and had to learn sharpening (picture Charlton Heston shaking his fist at the sky angrily here!), which was... completely maddening. Finally, I discovered E. C. Muller/Lyons and purchased a ton of gravers that I could work on to try and get it right.

Over the next few years, I got the courage up to start working on other people's horns. Unfortunately, I still hadn't gotten my technique right, and frequently impaled my left hand. I also discovered how inconsistent and difficult brass (and especially curved brass surfaces) are to work with. I made some colossal boo-boos on other people's instruments, but got good at working them into the pattern.

Nowadays, I do pretty good with the flat gravers. I have even started into straight push cuts, but have not had the proper tools. One of the things I am hoping to learn through participating here is how to do this the right way, and hopefully make my way into the world of steel engraving.

It's so refreshing to find other people as obsessed with this art as me. It makes me feel a lot less crazy!

Below are some examples of my work. You can also search YouTube for saxophone engraving and see a few videos I made. I welcome feedback, tips, tricks, or whatever. I am just thrilled to be here!

An old project:


My most recent projects:



I am so obsessed with engraving that I even engraved the beach when I was there last:



There are a ton more photos on my website and also on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8770912@N04/
 

Tira

~ Elite 1000 Member ~
Joined
Nov 9, 2006
Messages
1,552
Location
Doylestown, PA
Jason, Welcome!

I've been a fan of yours for a while and I'm glad you have found us. I love the sax engraving you do. We have a few other instrument engravers on the forum as well.

Stop by often and you'll be hooked here in no time like the rest of us. The coffee is always on.... :)
 

jdumars

Member
Joined
Feb 12, 2008
Messages
24
Location
Nashville, Tennessee
Thanks Tira! I am really flattered, especially seeing the work you do! Wow!

I am already hooked. I am also inspired to break out some copper plates and try some of the techniques I see referenced here.
 

CJ Allan

Elite Cafe Member
Joined
Jan 17, 2008
Messages
242
Location
Hazel KY
Very, Very Nice.......!!

I've always wanted to try doing a sax sometime.....
But the only instruments i've got around to so far is several pickguards and a couple of my harps.....

Your work is very inspiring .......Thanks for showing.. :)


......cj
 

pilkguns

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Nov 14, 2006
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in the land of Scrolls,
Jason, glad to have you aboard. I invited you to join a year ago or so but I guess you did'nt get the e-mail. Maybe you can come to the Engrave-In and do a talk about some of the difficulties of working in thin walled brass tubes. I have done some trumpets, including the one the one that is used to start the Kentucky Derby.
 

jdumars

Member
Joined
Feb 12, 2008
Messages
24
Location
Nashville, Tennessee
Hey Scott, I'd love to be involved as I can. I feel a little sheepish though, because I am 100% self-taught and probably have all sorts of bad habits that would make people cringe! I never did get the email probably because I get so much spam that I can't even tell what's real and what's not. Most of the time I just delete it all. It sucks having my business mail address unusable due to 200+ bogus messages a day.

That's super cool about the Kentucky Derby horn! Wow! A few great jazz players have horns I have done, which is pretty cool. :)
 
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Roger Bleile

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Bad Habits?

I feel a little sheepish though, because I am 100% self-taught and probably have all sorts of bad habits that would make people cringe!

Jason,

To most of us it doesn't matter how the chips get on the floor. The end result is what matters. If Ron Smith told us that he engraved the 73 Winchester shown on this forum with a brick and a nail would the gun be any less beautiful? Your horns have an exceptionaly fine result that is appropriate to the subject and the fact that you are self taught shows your passion for the art all the more. Welcome to the fold!

Roger
 

Peter E

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Canton CT
Jason,
I had also seen your sax engraving video on U-Tube. I found it VERY impressive. You have a very definite talent and it is a pleasure to see your work.

Keep posting...please.

Peter
 

Ron Smith

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Jason, I agree with Roger. Your passion is obvious to me and I am self taught too. Most of the engravers my age are. I also have a lot of bad habits, but with no one to show you that is the way it is. It looks like you got it to work for you and that is what matters. If you saw me engrave with a hammer and chisel, you would see how unorthadox my methods are, but like Roger said. It is the end result that counts and if that end result is grace, it points to what is inside. Outstanding my friend and welcome to the forum. You will like it here............Ron S
 

monk

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we all welcome your insanity here. we all have the disease. probably all of us have seen your marvelous sax work. i've done some trumpet work, but i think you could give me some real pointers. when you just take it upon yourself to do this, it can be risky. but usually the mistakes can be hidden with an arc welder and a couple pounds of body putty, pop rivits, and sheet metal !
 

Mike Cirelli

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Jason nice work on the horns. Do you spray a clear coat on them when your done.
I think you have Tira beat by engraving the beach. You see Tira likes to engrave unusual and large items. Tira it looks like you may have a new goal maybe a house would do it;)
 

sam

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Welcome aboard the Cafe, Jason. We're glad to have you here, and your work is just great! / Sam
 

jdumars

Member
Joined
Feb 12, 2008
Messages
24
Location
Nashville, Tennessee
Thanks again everyone! I am glad I'm not the only one with "the sickness" -- maybe a thread could be started there. I engraved the front door of the apartment complex I lived in... it had this huge brass kick plate, and I couldn't stand looking at it blank every day. At my day job, we just moved into a new building and some people were decorating columns with chalk. Well, I made the columns into engraving patterns and did the fill around the patterns in different colors to "blacken" them. They're still there. :) I also drew patterns all over the white boards. Those didn't last.

Oh! Clear coat... no, I don't do anything to it after I am done. The reason why is that having tried various coverings, it always looks worse. Clear coats refract the light in an unflattering way. I tell my customers to treat it like a new tattoo and keep the area wiped down and clean. I have had examples from the 20s and 30s that were engraved through the plating or lacquer, and with very simple care, it stays perfect without leaching into the surrounding finish.

The first horn I did for another person was a tenor that someone had sprayed on black epoxy lacquer. Much to my horror, when I started engraving through it, brittle chips of it flaked off the horn! It looked horrible. I decided there was only one way to salvage the job; cover it up! So I went and bought a small paint patch kit that was a very good match for the type of black paint on the horn, and very carefully brushed over what I engraved. But, you could very clearly see where the line was. So I had a good idea... re-engrave the part I had just filled with the new paint! Once I did this, it looked fabulous and kept the unstable paint surrounding it from crazing, chipping or cracking. It was labor and time intensive, but it worked.

I am so honored and humbled to be in such great company here.
 

Tira

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Messages
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Mike,

I think the only thing that would be larger than the beach would be if I took flying lessons and got into sky writing. I defer to Jason on the largest engraving of the beach. I will have to say that the next time I'm at the beach I'll have to give that one a try. :)
 

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