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LV wrote:Urb,

Leaky valves/slides can make a horn play flat. This might be worth investigating before the "chop" (heavy oil/thick grease...). FWIW

So can loose solder joints, dented leadpipes, cracks in the tubing, foreign objects inside the horn, and bad waterkey corks. As LV said... check the horn over closely before you take a hacksaw to it. Then... if you decide to whack it, where and what you cut might depend on the location of the main tuning slide.

How old is it? (sorry, model numbers don't click in my addled brain)

Just wondered if it was old "low" pitch, which would be A=435, but it's not nearly that old. If you do cut it, the repair people here could tell you best how to go about it. I imagine you could take a little off of the end of tuning slide outers, and a similar amount off of the end of the inners (so you won't have any soldering to get into).

Urb, the tuning slide can be cut all right, but usually, not only the tuning slide legs are cut, but also the outer slides to match. If that's what needs to be done, leave this one to a technician--it's not difficult and shouldn't cost much. But if done wrong, it'll look terrible.

I assume you've tried a shallower/smaller mouthpiece.

urbie watrous wrote:I'm in Flagstaff, AZ, where we really don't have a brass technician in town. I had someone do a little work on the horn when I got it, and she did a good job, but she's really a woodwind specialist. The nearest brass tech that I know of is in Prescott, which is about 100 miles from here...Urb

Phone Gerry Evoniuk at Desert Winds music in Tempe @ 800-597-7139 or e-mail him [gerry@desertwindsmusic.com]. While his website [http://www.desertwindsmusic.com/index.html] says they specialize in ww instruments, he does very fine brass work as well. I can attest to this as he has worked on a number of my own horns, plus many of my colleagues'. You might even be able to ship it down into the valley via bus (rather cheaply).

Just a thought, for what it is worth.