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What would be a ballpark figure for replating a leaky valve cluster on an old Conn 30J or a huge old 3-valve Holton BBb? The reason for this is that I recently ran across one of each in a school where I was subbing. There is a remote possibility of aquiring one or both of them and I just want to know what I would be getting myself into.

Secondly, what might be a good ballpark figure to expect to pay for a pretty beat up specimen of either horn?

I would want to leave them as-is because I don't have the money for a major overhaul, conversion, or for adding valves.

Thanks in advance.
Sousie

Cool, thanks very much.

Sousie

Captain Sousie wrote:Secondly, what might be a good ballpark figure to expect to pay for a pretty beat up specimen of either horn?

I sold a 20J in reasonable condition for $900 about a year ago. That seems to be an average price on ebay for one. They'll cost more with an upright bell, and more still if they have four valves. The 20J and the 30J differ only in the valves, with the former have short-action valves and the latter having conventional piston valves, and I doubt that alone will affect the price much.

If you were to buy from a dealer who assumes some of the risk of you liking the instrument, then you would expect to pay more. Thus, the lower price seems a more reasonable value for buying from a school, where they don't have to take any risk or spend any resources to complete the sale.

"Reasonable condition" for one of these means that it looks okay from a distance and it plays as well as one should expect.

Here's a picture of the 20J I sold (it's on the right, of course). It looks better in pictures than in real life.



Rick "noting that shine obscures many dents in pictures, but reveals them all too clearly in person" Denney

Captain Sousie wrote:What would be a ballpark figure for replating a leaky valve cluster on an old Conn 30J or a huge old 3-valve Holton BBb? The reason for this is that I recently ran across one of each in a school where I was subbing. There is a remote possibility of aquiring one or both of them and I just want to know what I would be getting myself into.

I asked Anderson a few monts ago. I think it was $40 each to replate and hone them. Of course you'd still need to lap them in and such. And it depends on the intital condition. Probably obot $60/each if you send the whole valve block, though I didn't ask.

I have had a price quoted at about 150 per valve. Didn't include repair work to disassemble.