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Not sure how desperate, but the tuba exchange in Durham NC has a good repair guy there. Not sure how far that is from midlands.

I would suggest Chris Bluemel, a former Army tuba player who (the last I heard) owns a shop in Charleston, S.C. He and his wife are great folks, and he is quite astute in instrument repair.

RE: Yamaha slides - I had a customer once ask me to make a slide trigger for his YEB-321 Eb tuba, much like the trigger on some of the Hirsbrunner euphoniums, that simultaneously pulled 1st and 3rd. I thought that the main obstacle was going to be fabricating the parts, but aligning and lapping the slides to where they would actually work free was quite the nightmare.

Chris' shop is The Instrument Doc and his web address is http://www.theinstrumentdoc.com

The best shops in SC are not in the Midlands, unfortunately. You've got a good recommendation in the Low Country (Charleston). There are also good options in the Upstate (in Anderson and Greenville) and in Rock Hill (whatever part of the state that is; it's suburban Charlotte at this point).

The guy in Rock Hill is Paul Grobusky. He will pick up and deliver in Columbia.

Hal Hunsinger and his colleagues at Draisen-Edwards in Anderson (864-225-4668) is my preference. It's a good two hours from Columbia, though.

(I have heard about the guy in Charleston, but I just about couldn't live any farther from Charleston and still be in this state, so I haven't met him.)

Contact Ron Davis, Tuba Professor at the University of South Carolina (main campus Columbia. SC). You can get his e-mail address off of the University of South Carolina website. Ron is a good man and he will give you his honest opinion.

Mark

Thank you to the OP for making this thread! And, thanks to all of you who have contributed options for repair on my tuba! I'm going to get in touch with some of these people and see what we can be done for my tuba.

Thanks again everybody!

Here is another vote for the Instrument Doc in Charleston, SC. The repairs are done at the Wando Park site. By the way, this is easy to get to from the midlands, just take I-26 to Charleston, I-526 to Mount Pleasant, then a couple right turns for a block or so each. Chris has written a book on instrument repair as well as I understand taught college level instrument repair classes and is the store owner. David Ruddy is the store manager, also a tuba player, as well as brass repair person. I have had them do some work on my horn and have also taken a couple of tubas from our community concert band for them to be worked on. I have been very happy with all work preformed as have the other two tuba players in the band.

Best of luck

Thanks guys for the support. Please let me know if I can be of assistance, I'm only 1 1/2 - 2 hours from Columbia.

Chris Bluemel
The Instrument Doc, LLC
Mt. Pleasant, SC
843-276-9239

Chris at Instrument Doc does GREAT work!