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[greenbean]

Learned to get "really picky.... .really fast" with repair shops. A lot of people use a guy at a very well known music store in the greater Pittsburgh, PA area. I won't!!! He's good, but......... just not good enough for me!! Used him for quite some time when I got a teaching job in the area. Before that, I used an old guy about 45 minutes away from where I lived. He was great. Music store guy....... not so much. I have another guy that I use almost exclusively now. Reason for "almost" is that I have different places for different instruments and different repair jobs. Some jobs simply require perfection, not "that's the best I can do!" It's like going to a doctor. Pick the very best you can afford right off the bat, for the serious issues. You're gonna end up there later, anyway!!!

This ^.

Trust me, I won't take my bassoon to a brass tech for any reason. Ever.

[timothy42b]

Pick the very best you can afford right off the bat, for the serious issues. You're gonna end up there later, anyway!!!

And here's why. When I supervised maintenance, I always sent my worst plumber first. If he could fix it, I was way ahead of the game, saving my rare experts for the really tricky jobs. If he couldn't fix it, I'd send the next worst, until I got it done. You never have enough of the top skills so you have to carefully use them.