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Does anyone have any experience with horns overhauled by Borodi? All those nice shiny overhauled tubas and sousas on eBay look great and brand new, but what about performance? Do they do the valve jobs, fine tuning, and make the necessary adjustments so they will play as good as they look? Also are they buffed so much that the metal is thin? Just curious if any of you have played or own anything from them. I know they did my bell conversion on my 20J years ago but I was thinking about having a horn sent to them to be completely overhauled. The price seems right for what he quoted me. I do know there are other great top notch shops out there but probably would charge way more too. All opinions welcome.

Hi,
I bought 4 years ago a Conn Sousaphone 20k and I have to be honest and say that it looked almost like a brand new Sousaphone when I got it! I thought that the job was very well done and the instrument was dent, bump and scratch free. If I would need again another instrument or have bought an antique instrument and wanted to have it overhauled, I would not hesitate and go back to them. It was also very easy to deal with the owner, George. I thought that price was also fair considering the brand and the quality of the work. My sousaphone was from the late 60's, so getting an overhauled sousaphone that looked like a brand new one, was a good deal!
Mike

nworbekim wrote:i bought one instrument from george, i will not buy another.

Can I ask why?

Over the years I have bought an overhauled Conn 20J, a 14K sousaphone and an Olds bass trombone from George Borodi. The tuba and Sousaphone were absolutely excellent. The valves were tight, the finish flawless and just great horns. The trombone also became great after I had the valve trigger mechanism reworked. It was disappointing he shipped it to me with a crazy jury-rigged trigger. His prices are very fair,he is easy to work with and I'd recommend him for an overhaul, but would definitely inspect the goods before accepting them.

pdonoh wrote:Over the years I have bought an overhauled Conn 20J, a 14K sousaphone and an Olds bass trombone from George Borodi. The tuba and Sousaphone were absolutely excellent. The valves were tight, the finish flawless and just great horns. The trombone also became great after I had the valve trigger mechanism reworked. It was disappointing he shipped it to me with a crazy jury-rigged trigger. His prices are very fair,he is easy to work with and I'd recommend him for an overhaul, but would definitely inspect the goods before accepting them.

Thanks for that reply. Good info. I always enjoy looking at those shiny new looking 20J's and sousas he has on there. That's good to know he does good valve work too. The only thing I'm worried about is them buffing away alot of the metal to barely anything, and that they might buff the engraving away. Mine has the naked lady and I DEFINITELY dont want to lose that. How are your engravings on those horns? Can you tell anything about the thickness of the metal? Thanks

I bought a Conn 14K from George about six or seven years go.
I trust Ron Partch in Toronto with my life and he told me $600 in further repairs were needed to keep the horn functioning (forget the details).
After five years of heavy use the valve section, which was old to begin with, began to completely disintegrate requiring a complete rebuild. That cost me about $1200 and I considered just writing the horn off altogether. But went through with the repair anyway. The horn is still playing great though and who knows, could last me another decade.

George struck me as a good guy, but based on my experience I don't have faith that every component used in his overhaul process is going to stand the test of time. If I need another horn I will buy a new one.

I ordered a sousaphone recently without visiting the shop. All of the dents were removed, tubing well-rounded. The lacquer job has a few small defects. The inside of the horn has some sticky black residue. It came with a SURPRISE large patch on the bell! I was not happy about that. George returned some money for the bell. One of the valves looked like it had been rolled around on pavement and another had some lime on it. One of the spit valves is slow, either not adjusted properly or the spring is worn. We're still trying to work out the valves. The second batch of valves he sent me has one valve that is too tight to move and another with scratches. I'm returning them and waiting for another set of valves.

Thanks for the replies. Wow good to know. I will be taking my horn somewhere else for the valve work, cleaning, and all the fine tuning and adjusting. Once its in perfect playing condition I might send it to Borodi for buffing and new lacquer but that's it. I'll trust you and save myself the headache and trouble. I guess their main thing is refinishing and making instruments look new but neglecting it's performance qualities. Looks like they do good work on buffing and refinishing so I think I might use them for that. But not repairs. Thanks alot!

Are there HSs and Koligs that want red and other odd color sousas??

We had blue fiberglass ones but nor blue lacquer/brass.