Question: Why does the D key on my Selmer tenor bounce so much?
There can be a couple of reasons.
1. There must be cork on the key itself and felt on the body of the saxophone to help prevent the bounce. If the cork hits directly on the body then it will tend to bounce and be noisy.
2. Many of the Selmer Tenor saxophones, depending on the vintage, have a very short spring on the D key in the lower stack. Bad design! With this design it is hard to balance the spring tension in the lower stack. A longer spring can be put on the key but it is a lot of work and will coat some money. The spring would need to be lowered on the post to avoid the foot bar and a spring hook would need to be added further up the key.
What is key bounce? Key bounce refers to when you release a key (mostly keys that stay open) and let it return to its original position then it does not stop firmly but will make a little bounce before stopping. This is common in the lower stack keys, Low C# key and can happen on any key of the saxophone.