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I am considering buying a used Besson Sovereign EE flat with stainless steel pistons, but do the casing or the pistons wear out, and can they be rebuilt? I want to be careful because the cost of a used horn might not be worth it if a valve or casings job can't be done. Thanks for any reply. I hope this issue might be of value to others. William from Greece.

William,

Maybe one of our great repair experts will chime in here, but I can add something, as this was covered when I wrote Bloke about a possible repair job on a Besson or Boosey Eb if I got one. The problem is not that they can't be rebuilt [although I don't know exactly how to best replate stainless valves, I'm sure it can be done] but that the valve block has to be detached from the horn for rebuilding and the cost is up over $1000. Unless the price of the used horn reflects the need for this repair, the valves ought to be in good shape. That said, my 1975 Besson BBb, despite having less than 50% of its silver plating left and being a school horn full of dings and dents, has quite tight valves. Perhaps the students lugged it around a lot more than they played it. At 30 lbs, it is easy to mishandle and ding up. I guess sweaty adolescents did in the plating.

HTH,

So, bloke, does that mean the valve job comes to more like $1750?

royjohn wrote:So, bloke, does that mean the valve job comes to more like $1750?

royjohn wrote:So, bloke, does that mean the valve job comes to more like $1750?

More like it will seem like it. You won't have the instrument for a year or so while the work is being done, among other inconveniences. Plus, when you have the instrument apart, you'll spend a bunch on other stuff, just because it's apart.

Now, to the question:

Nearly all modern instruments have stainless steel valves. They are stainless because they have chromium and nickel in their alloy, and they aren't that much different than something like Monel, which is also a nickel alloy. I'm not sure it costs any more to rebuild stainless steel valves than it does to rebuild Monel or even nickel-plated brass valves. When being plated, they may need a bit more machining and a strike coat of copper to improve adhesion, followed by nickel. So-called triple chrome plating on steel parts includes a copper strike coat followed by nickel and then by chromium. But the stainless alloy might not even need that.

Rick "time is money" Denney

somebody please correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that Besson only started using stainless in the mid-1990s, no? I can't imagine an instrument that young would need a valve rebuild anytime soon!