RE: CX12 tight slide action

["MLeFree" <mlefree@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I've lost track of who originally posed questions about a sticky CX-12
slide.  I've read some detailed procedures to correct the problem.  However,
no one has mentioned that the problem can also be caused simply by improper
alignment of the comb assembly and the cover itself.  It is quite
possible--even easy--to misalign the comb assembly as it sits in its channel
in the comb before the spring is even in place.  If you take a very close
look at the channel in the cover onto which the comb assembly sits, you will
see a tiny ridge along either side that is raised a fraction of a mm.  This
is the channel into which the slide sits when the instrument is fully
assembled.  The comb assembly can easily be installed slightly skewed with
respect to these ridges without it being even slightly noticeable.  If you
do this, the comb assembly can be pressed against the slide itself impeding
its motion, making it difficult or even impossible to move it.  I suggest
that anyone who has problems with their CX-12 slide sticking carefully
dissemble it and examine the surfaces of the comb and cover where they
contact.  This is especially true if the problem crops up after it's been
disassembled.  If the slide was OK when you first got the instrument, you've
done something to change that.  If you can detect any lines or deformations
in the surfaces of these crucial but tiny ridges, that's a good indication
they the comb has been assembled slightly skewed with respect to the cover.
Reassemble the parts being extremely careful to make sure that the comb
assembly is properly aligned with and seated in the cover before inserting
the spring.  Try inserting the slide after you think you've seated the comb
assembly into the cover, but before you install the spring.  Make sure you
can slide the slide easily along the full extent of its travel when you
apply thumb pressure to the back of the comb assembly prior to installing
the spring.  Then as you complete the assembly by installing the spring,
make sure you can still press the slide as you progress with the
installation.  I know I've had the same exact immobile slide symptom that
was easily corrected just by being super careful in the assembly process.
The bad thing is that once the aberrant depressions or grooves are in the
fated ridges in the cover channel, the tendency for the comb assembly to
seat improperly there again is increased.  From then on you must be even
more diligent to get the comb assembly properly seated in the cover.

Works for me; maybe it'll work for you too.

Good luck and happy CX-ing!

Michelle