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Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

This is an old Bundy trumpet I had in my “instrument grave yard”. Parts are missing and there is some serious damage to the 1st valve, but it is in the best shape of my parts horns. I decided to give the trumpet to the customer and have them pay for the labor.

My plan was to move the leadpipe down closer to the bell so the mouthpiece would be even with the bell tail. To compensate for the longer pipe entering the 3rd valve, I chose to shorten the tuning slide receiver pipe and shorten the bell. This has the added benefit of moving the valve casings closer to his face and the instruments length would stay the same.

Almost all of hte bracing had to be moved on the trumpet. I also decided to add an additional brace between the otter tuning slide tube because of the extra length. This brace is common on the older Conn’s but not the Bundy’s.

Because of having to move so many braces and solder joints, I choose to give the trumpet a “scratch” finish to his most of the work.

Because his hands are too small to kick a 3rd valve slide, I added a 1st valve kick so he could tune the D. It was essential that the trigger for this kick be offset towards the palm of his hand. I got so involved with fabricating the kick mechanism, I forgot to take process pictures. Here is the after shot.

This project was so rewarding. Sure they always take longer than you expect and most of the time you loose money, but knowing I was able to play a small roll in helping someone enjoy life a little more means the world to me. Who knows, this may wind up being his “thing”…and that would be cool by me!

Here is one form the “you don’t see these everyday” file. This is a 1930′s King Master Series Bb/C trumpet. Repairs to this instrument will include removing a very stuck rotor that changes the key of the instrument, remove dents, make and install a custom tuning slide stop and chemical clean the instrument. Enjoy the pictures!

Considering this horn is over 60 years old, it was in relatively sound condition. One of the water keys was missing and two of the finger buttons had to be replaced. I used a “donor” horn from our graveyard to find the missing parts. The owner was not concerned with keeping the instrument original, so I used waterkeys from a newer model Olds trumpet and replaced both so they would match.

Repairs were not extensive. A couple of solder braces were broken and I had to resolder the new saddle for the missing waterkey. I elected to do the dent work after the chemical clean so they dents would be more visible. The pistons and casings were polished before cleaning.

Only a small amount of lacquer was on this horn. I suggested a satin finish with no lacquer to the owner, so a commercial based stripper was used to remove the remaining lacquer. After degreasing and a chemical bath, an abrasive pad was used to give the horn a satin finish. All of the inner slide tubes were hand polished.

The felts on the inside and outside of the valve casings are very important because they determine the calibration of the valves which affects how the horn plays. Reassembly includes recalibrating all of the valves to assure proper alignment with new felts. The old valve springs were replaced resulting in better valve action. Synthetic waterkey corks were also used.

A new case and this cornet is ready to go. Total repair time was about 2.5 hours.

This horn required repairs in addition to the overhaul. Even though we offer finish work through our shop, the owner did not care about the appearance of the horn and did not want it refinished. This saved money and time.

Nothing went easy during disassembly. Every rod and pivot screw was stuck. Several were so rusted they had to be cut out and replaced. All of the key rollers had to be cut and replaced as well. After a two day disassembly, I re-soldered several braces and post and rubbed out a few dents.

After those repairs were made, the body and keys were chemically cleaned.

Next we fit keys, leveled tone holes,  replaced a couple of finger pearls and several broken or weak springs, re-corked and re-felted and dry fit the pads. The owner chose to go with top-of-the-line Lucien Deluxe pads with plastic dome resonators. On higher end saxophones, we can offer different pad and resonator options.

Assembly went smoothly due to good preparation. I did have to make several new rods and and replace a few pivot screws. I prefer to us a sax jig to hole the sax during assembly. This allows me a rotate the instrument easily without bending keys. The white tube you see inside the main stack is a florescent leak light. Once the new keys and pads are installed, this light helps me detect leaks.

Repairing one of the bent rods. 

The end result of this project turned out excellent. The sax plays great and the physical appearance was greatly improved; especially if you consider we did no finish work.

The overhaul took about 3 working days.

YOUR USED INSTRUMENT = CASH!

Here is how it works:

1. Drop off the musical instrument you would like to sell at our store.
2. Fill out and sign a brief information form.
3. THAT’S IT! We do the rest. We prepare it, list it, collect the money, ship it and mail you a check. It is just that easy!

Advantages:

1. Earn extra CASH!
2. FAST & EASY! We do all the work.
3. Our Expertise and 100% POSITIVE eBay presence gives buyers more confidence in the item they are purchasing, resulting in higher bids.
4. Lowest commission rates in the business.
5. We assume the risk so you don’t have to.

Does this look like the inside of your brasswind? If you disassemble and clean your instrument on a regular basis with soap and water, maybe not. Most people, however, do not clean their instrumet as often, or as well, as they should and even the best efforts with soap and water can miss areas which are difficult to reach.

The three top pictures show typical build-up inside of a brasswind. Once your horn has build-up like this, it is virtually impossible to clean the horn with soap and water. At Hill City Music Repair, we use environmentally safe chemicals to disinfect, degrease and clean the instrument (see bottom three pictures). We offer this service for any brass or silver brasswind. It is also available for woodwinds (plastic and wood instruments excluded-we use a different process for them), such as saxophones and flutes, after first removing keys of course.

We recommend having your brasswind chemically cleaned every couple of years, more often if you do not regularly bathe your instrument. After a chemical clean, your instrument will function better, look better, smell better and play better.