The third-generation saxophone maker makes sure the craftsmanship of the musical instrument and its playing quality are worthy of the reputation build by his grandfather more than half a century ago. He inspects the quality of the final polish, inserts a torchlight into the tube to check whether there are any flaws and then plays it to ensure position of its keys are correct and the pitch is accurate.

Chang, 50, learned the trade from his grandfather, who 58 years ago made the first Taiwan-produced saxophone, thereby launching a cottage industry that rapidly mushroomed as others turned to the craft as an escape from poor farming jobs.

Houli, a small rural town of some 55,000 residents in central Taiwan where the Chang family live, was the industry's epicentre and still houses 15 of Taiwan's remaining 25 saxophone makers. During its peak some 10 years ago, the quiet farming town, provided almost half of the world's amateur use saxophones, according to the island's Musical Exporters Association.

But its heyday has since passed and, in the face of emerging competition from manufacturers in countries such as China, the fortunes of Houli, and Taiwan's saxophone industry as a whole, are at a low ebb.

"We are now struggling to preserve the unique business launched by Grandpa and the good name he had made for Houli as one of the world's saxophone manufacturing centers," says Chang, a patient, soft-spoken person who remains in good spirits.

"I started learning the skills when I was a teenager, working in the workshop during the day and studying at night -- since times were hard then, you know, almost all children had to help their families make a living," he says.

"I was lucky to learn the saxophone expertise, as most of my peers had no other choice but laboring on the farm," he adds.

-- 'Grandpa disassembled the saxophone and sketched all the parts' --

Chang's grandfather, well-known artist and musician Chang Lien-chang, made the country's first saxophone from his own drawings.

While most other men of their age were working on paddy fields and vegetable farms at then impoverished Houli in the early 1940s, "Grandpa Chang", a Chinese brush painter, and three other young men from better-off families formed a small western-style jazz band. He played trumpet.

The band was short-lived. A fire destroyed the home of band member Chang Chi-pan and damaged his Japan-made saxophone.

"Instead of wasting time mourning the loss of the saxophone - which was very rare in Taiwan those days during the Japanese occupation - Grandpa disassembled the damaged one and sketched all parts in the slightest detail," Chang says.

In the following two years, Grandpa Chang looked for raw materials such as copper and silver, and measured, hammered, welded, drilled and polished to eventually produce by himself Taiwan's first saxophone.

By then it was 1947, the Japanese had left Taiwan after 50 years of colonization and war was raging in China between the Communists and the Nationalists who, two years later, fled the mainland to set up a government here.

During the painstaking production process, a piece of copper accidentally flew into Grandpa Chang's left eye, blinding it. But his first saxophone was soon sold in Taipei to a Filipino musician "for two bags of cash" during a time of economic depression, his grandson recounts.

Encouraged by the profits, Grandpa further developed the manufacturing skills and shared his know-how with townsfolk who then set up their own workshops to make the instruments for export - mainly to Japan, Southeast Asian countries and the United States.

Industrial sources say that even half a century ago, the quality of some Taiwan-made saxophones were able to meet international standards for mainly amateur players.

By the time Grandpa Chang died in 1986, aged 73, he had created a thriving industry.

In memory of the saxophone pioneer, his grandson has opened a small museum next to the workshop featuring some tools and parts Grandpa Chang had used and offered to buy back the instruments he had made with the label "Lien Can" on them.

-- 'We are unable to further improve quality due to limited resources' --

Good craftsmanship and cheaper prices pushed the popularity of Taiwan-made saxophones for decades. But the number of local makers has been shrinking in the past decade due to overseas competition. In Houli alone, about 10 workshops have closed. Several others have switched their operations to mainland China where labor and raw materials are much cheaper.

Local makers -- each of which has no more than 15 full-time craftsmen -- turn out an average of 3,000 saxophones a month each. A saxophone comprises some 400 parts. Over the years, craftsmen have developed precision tools to mass produce certain components but at least half of the work is still done manually.

The manufacturers produce custom-made saxophones carrying the names of foreign brands who place orders through trading companies. But this leaves them at the mercy of traders who constantly try to press down prices.

"Manpower shortage and the lack of a marketing network have limited profits of most saxophone makers," says Chang. "Also, we are unable to achieve technical breakthroughs to improve quality due to limited resources."

Young people are no longer interested in the "boring and tedious work" which is comparatively less rewarding than most other trades in the industrial society, he says.

Taiwan's saxophone success story mirrors the successful economic development of this island - a once backward rural land which was gradually turned into a manufacturing powerhouse from the early 50's.

But like all other labor-intensive industries once thriving here, growing competition from China - as well as Brazil and Czechoslovakia - has threatened the survival of local saxophone makers.

Now with help of the government, they are joining hands trying to (and) build a local brand - "Saxhome" - with upgraded quality to boost competitiveness and revive the declining industry.

Taiwan's economic authorities last year added the saxophone industry to a program preserving native businesses of unique cultural tradition, providing advanced technology to help beef up quality of locally-made saxophones.

"Our ultimate goal is helping local saxophone makers create a Taiwan brand - Saxhome - with standardized high quality which will not only bring prestige but also be more financially rewarding," says Tsai Chang-wen of the Machinery Industrial Research Laboratory under the Industrial Technology Research Institute.

Foreign brands such as Selmer of France and Yamaha from Japan sell for up to seven times the price of a locally-made saxophone

Some skillful craftsmen such as Chang are able to make top-quality saxophones but so far only for foreign brands, partly due to a lack of money to promote their own names, says Tsai, coordinator of the Saxhome project.

"We are giving local makers technical assistance to improve the application of raw materials -- such as copper -- and skills to refine the product. We also use sophisticated facilities to test the pitch and timbre of the instrument to help boost the playing qualities," he explains.

The first research project is soon to bear fruit when Chang's workshop starts to produce a new line of saxophones carrying the "LC" brand - the initials of Grandpa Chang's given name -- with its specifics tested and standardized by the research lab, Tsai says.

-- 'Maybe my daughters can take over the family business one day' --

One of Taiwan's ambitions is to use its production expertise to design a new saxophone which is smaller in size, easier to play and cheaper, he adds.

KHS Music Co. Ltd., Taiwan's leading saxophone maker and music instrument distributor based in the northern Taipei County, says only a high-quality brand can ensure profits and guarantee the industry's future.

"Many overseas buyers are now outsourcing to China or Vietnam where costs are half or one-third less. Unless the quality is improved, local makers will find it hard to win the price war," says KHS manager Eric Wu.

KHS has been exporting its own Jupiter brand saxophone for 25 years, mainly to the United States and Europe. But to cut costs, it has also opened production facilities in China.

Chang is hoping that his four daughters, who formed a saxophone band two years ago to promote the instrument, will continue the family legacy by applying technological advances and, more importantly, "knowledge in marketing".

"Maybe some of my daughters can take over the family business one day and inject more vitality in it, to make it alive," says Chang, whose wife Wang Tsai-jui serves as a coordinator of the family trade. They have no son.

The four girls, aged between 11 to 19, play respectively soprano, tenor, alto and baritone and now often perform over the weekends at garden parties or small celebrations all over the island, sometimes joined by their parents.

"Only through playing the instrument can we find out room for improvement," Chang says.

The quartet often helps at the family workshop with tasks such as inspection and packaging, but all are familiar with the production which has been part of their life.

"I don't know whether I can carry on the family tradition in a better way, but I would like to try," says eldest daughter Chang Yu-tse who is now majoring in saxophone at the National University of Arts.

Yu-tse also plays flute while her three sisters have background in clarinet and percussion instruments. Her goal is "to launch our own brand, own logo, one day and boost the international image of Taiwan-made saxophones", she says.

Chang, however, says he would not force any girl to join the business which he describes as "tough and lonely".

"I respect their interest and their own career planning. Nowadays young people are more independent in making choices, unlike our time," he says.

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