Wacky repair ideas you've seen or heard...

[MartyNeilan]

The MANY music teachers who say you only have to oil rotary valves on the bottom (under the caps). Ummmmmmmm, what about the other spindle on top?????

Plus, I have seen tuba mouthpieces used to rub out bell dents on other instruments.

[windshieldbug]

I have seen tuba mouthpieces used to rub out bell dents on other instruments.

Funny, I aways used the bells on other instruments to rub out the dents in my tuba mouthpieces!

[Kenneth Sturgeon]

When I took lessons from Chester Roberts, he had this old Cervany BBb which he affectionately and accurately called (in his big boomy Chester Roberts voice) his "Kaiser Bass!" The 4th valve clock spring mechanism had broke. So, instead of taking it to a shop for repair, he rigged part of a hacksaw blade to it. Weird, but effective. (and alittle noisy).

K

[Ace]

This is a story about repairmen, rather than actual repairs. In 1956, the bell on my New York Bach Strad trumpet (#7665) was seriously damaged. I took it to a well-thought-of repair shop on Pico Blvd in Los Angeles that served a lot of pro players in LA/Hollywood. The guy was a one man shop and (uh, unlike repairmen today) was notorious for taking his time getting the work done. Months later, no horn, so I decided to follow the advice of a brass player at 20th Century Fox----"Take the guy a bottle of Jack Daniels and say you want the horn next week." It worked. Four days later the trumpet was ready and as good as new. Of course, that wouldn't work these days because repairmen no longer drink alcoholic beverages.

[clintontuba2]

when i was in h.s., one of the girls in our section was playing an old 3+1 Besson BBb, they were great horns, but the particular one she had, the 4th valve would always go down, but not come back up. so we would send it in for repair, and the valve would still stick....so she rigged a string around the valve cap that attatched to her left index finger to pull the valve up each time she used it. pretty tacky, but it worked.

[Rick F]

I remember a H.S. trumpet player who had his mpc stuck in his horn. He asked someone to help him (who me?). He used the door jam on the hinged side, inserted the mpc in the opening and told me to apply pressure by closing the door some. He slowly turned the trumpet and said, "it's turning!" When he took the horn out, the mpc was still stuck but the lead pipe was twisted about 45 degrees. He said, "well this worked for my Dad when it got stuck last time!"

[Tom]

I've seen the top bow of a tuba split (cut length wise) open by a repairman for dent work in the area. When he was done, it was brazed back together and a ferulle (sp?) was stuck in the middle of the top bow to keep it together.

Crazy!

[Dan Schultz]

I got an old (1898) Conn Eb tuba a couple of weeks ago. The horn had a steel receiver on it and the mouthpiece was badly corroded into it. The steel receiver was about 2 1/2" long and was engraved on each end. It looked like it may have been professionly done but I've never seen a steel receiver. (doesn't mean it doesn't happen) What I'm wondering is if this might have indeed been a pro repair and was just done during a period when brass was hard to come by. After all... this horn survived TWO World Wars!

[Chuck(G)]

I've seen the top bow of a tuba split (cut length wise) open by a repairman for dent work in the area. When he was done, it was brazed back together and a ferulle (sp?) was stuck in the middle of the top bow to keep it together.

Crazy!

I've got a couple of junkers here with ferrules inserted in both the bottom and top bows. Seems that some repair guys think this is a good idea. I wouldn't hesitate to do this to a Bundy baritone, with the unified top and bottom bow, but on a Miraphone 186, it seems to be just so much hackery.

[windshieldbug]

Inner tube rubber, hose clamps, and black tape on a fiberglass sousaphone (I assume leak, but it may have just been decoration). The thought of it just creeped me out so much I couldn't stand to stay, watch, and find out, curious though I was!

[Chuck(G)]

The lesson: If your mouthpiece gets stuck, don't tell dad. Bring it in and let me pull it..

Reminds me of the middle school kid with his almost new Yamaha 105 BBb with a sticking third valve. His dad offered to take in to his machine shop and take a couple thousandths off it in his lathe.

I calmly thanked him and said that I thought simply replacing the valve guide should do the trick...

[windshieldbug]

I wonder where the bondo-ed and painted ones ended up . . .

I thought they ended up Here

[windshieldbug]

I was complaining to a section mate of mine once about my forth valve sticking. He took the valve at and idly looked it over. Then he said I need to smash it on the ground a few times to fix it. Knowing he didn't care for me one bit only helped convince me that he was full of it.

Once you got the valve safely back, you could've looked at him with a new respect in your eyes, and replied, "You know, I think you're right! While you were in the bathroom, I took out your valves and smashed them on the ground, and they don't seem to be sticking at all now!"

[bigboom]

The lead trumpet player in our marching band 2 years ago had a litttle trouble with his old trumpet that he used for rehearsals, his leadpipe fell off entirely. it was at band camp and there wasn't a replacement available. they used what they had, which was duct tape and bubble gum, to fix it. He still plays it like that, he doesn't think it would be worth fixing anymore and he's probably right.

Ben

[Doug@GT]

A guy I went to high school with decided he wanted a silver tormbone. So he wrapped the entire horn with white masking tape and spray painted it silver. It actually looked pretty good...

[rascaljim]

i had a repair guy recommend putting lock tite on the screws in my bearings on my rotary horn.... yeah right buddy... he was a repair guy visiting one of the highschools I teach at... probably a friend of a friend
Jim