Interesting Projects...... (or an instrument repairer's blog)
(Please note that most of the pictures on this page have now been reduced to thumbnails so they will download more quickly - just click on any of the thumbnails to enlarge them and then use your browser buttons to return when needed).
This page is for a bit of fun and interest. Like most repairers I take a few 'before & after' pictures when I get involved in something special, sadly often I don't realise just how special the repair is until its halfway through and then its too late! But I have still captured some interesting images that I thought it would be nice to share. These images are not copyrighted but if you should make use of them elsewhere I merely wish to point out that a gentleman or lady would acknowledge their source wouldn't they? So if you don't acknowledge their source you obviously don't consider yourself to be either a gentleman or a lady do you?
Absences and presences of grey hairs give a clue to the age of some of the photos and proof of just how long I have been in the trade!
Converting a British brass band style BBb tubas into a shoulder mounted display marching tubas......
When first asked if I thought this conversion was possible my reaction was 'probably but I won't know all the problems until its tried'. How true this was and we certainly found quite a few unexpected problems to solve but happily found solutions to them all. The 'we' being myself and my colleague, fellow NAMIR member Allen Hughes of Colwyn Bay - these things are not easy to work on single handed and in this project two heads were definetly better than one. A lot of traditional bandsmen may not be familiar with this type of instrument and so the first picture is of a USA produced DEG Dynasty marching tuba being modelled in its normal playing position.
Some may recognise Adam Kennerly of the Kidsgrove Scouts Band doing the modelling work, concern for the light fitting above explains the anxiety on Adam's face!
The next two pictures are of a British style brass band BBb tuba and one that has been converted.
The main problems encountered in the conversion had been concerned with getting the right valve and mouthpiece positions to give a good balance on the shoulder with the mouthpiece in a comfortable playing position whilst keeping the instrument in tune. But it was also important to find new positions for the various tuning slides that were within the main wrap of the instrument as much as possible so they were not vulnerable to damage. Suffice to say the end result was good enough to warrant the conversion of another two and so here are the pictures of the Mk 1, 2 and 3 converted tubas.
Although it may not be too clear in the pictures, all three have also been fitted with swivels on the mouthpipes so that the mouthpiece can be adjusted by the player into the most comfortable position when being played and swivelled towards the main instrument body when not being played for its protection.
All 3 conversions were done to ex-Salavtion Army 'Triumphonic' BBb tubas which were well suited for conversion and rare amongst the older 3 valve BBb tubas in having 19inch diameter bells giving a similarly proportioned instruments to the DEG Dynasty tubas. OK, these were not cheap conversions and with so much unsoldering and resoldering work the cosmetics of the instruments were spoiled a bit but the end result was 3 working shoulder mounted tubas produced by recycling 3 redundant tubas at around a quarter of the cost of new ones.
Finally, a few pictures of some of the work in progress:
Before and after of schools tuba bell........
Just quite how young persons could be allowed to abuse the bell so badly on £2000s worth of tuba defies belief but the amazing thing about this repair was not the amount of original damage but that the lacquer pretty well stayed in place during all the reshaping which is a testament to the durability of modern lacquers when they are correctly applied. Typical of a repair on a schools instrument it was done on a 'limited budget' and the challenge was to straighten the bell out as far as practical without soaking up the whole music department's budget for that year. Perfection was never the target but the end result was still very satisfying.
Repair to bell rim of Yamaha 668 French Horn......
This Yamaha horn arrived with a very usual problem with the bell rim, cracks were spreading inwards from the rim of the bell for about 50% of its circumference and about 6 cracks so far.
With the benefit of metallurgical experience it was quite clear that this was a case of the infamous 'season cracking' or 'stress corrosion cracking', something which is not seen very often nowadays in brass alloys but can be a problem when brass is exposed to ammonia. I can only speculate that this horn has possibly been left in some ammonia rich cleaning solution at some stage in its life which has caused this problem. Anyway regardless of the original cause, these cracks had already caused the rim to split around the rim wire in places and if left to spread were going to scrap an otherwise very good and quite valuable horn. The common way of repairing a splits in bells, especially in the rim area, is to solder a patch over the split - it doesn't always look very neat but at least makes the instrument playable. Because there were so many cracks I decided not to do it this way but to make up and fit a reinforcing ring around the complete bell rim i.e. a bell garland. Pictures below show some of the stages in making and fitting the garland ring and the end result. Even more pleasing was that the playability of the horn was not noticeably impaired.
'Stood on' Alto Saxophone before, during and after ........
This alto had quite literally been stood on - if you look closely you can nearly make out the boot print, at least a size 8! Not an easy repair to accomplish with quite a bit of unsoldering of pillars, bodywork straightening and then resoldering of pillars.
Stood on flute before and after .......
Flutes get stood on as well!
4 Conn Vintage Soprano Saxes meet again.......
This must have been the largest gathering of Conn soprano saxophones this side of the Atlantic since WWII! Those that know me will know I am quite a fan of vintage Conns and as long as you can cope with the top end intonation problems the Conn soprano takes some beating. I don't see too many of them in the workshop but I was amazed 2 years ago to have 3 arrive in the workshop in the same month. Bringing down my wife's this brought four of them together, all made by the same workforce within a few years back in the mid 1920's. A simply amazing coincidence. When I have time I will dig out the serial numbers.
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Ophiclide testing..........
I see even fewer ophiclides than Conn sopranos, in fact this is only the second one I have ever worked on but it was a great photo opportunity!
Tuba bottom valve cap repair........
This was quite a long time ago now, but a local band had what seemed to be a well used but still useful Imperial 4 valve Eb tuba donated to them. However, when the bottom valve caps were unscrewed from the valve cluster it was discovered that the threads on the bottom of the valve casings were falling apart.
The first photo shows the valve cluster after its removal from the instrument. New bottom caps and thread inserts have been machined to suit.
The second photo shows the valve cluster at a critical stage when the bottom of the valve casings were being counterbored to receive the inserts which were subsequently soldered into place.
Another equally tricky part of this repair was making a new 3rd valve piston as it was also discovered this is in an advanced state of decay. Sadly I never photographed that process but am happy to report the said is still in regular service some 14 years later and still with the same band, Band Tref Aberteifi (Cardigan Town Band).
Split tenon on Buffet Crampon Elite Clarinet.......
This was definitely one of those 'not for the faint hearted' repairs. A Buffet Elite clarinet (famed for the thin walled body and lack of metal reinforcing rings on the tenons) had developed a crack spreading from the upper tenon on the bottom joint, passing through the area where the inset carbon fibre reinforcing band should have prevented this happening. Close examination of the 'carbon fibre band' revealed there were no reinforcing carbon fibres in the band which was probably why it had not prevented the crack forming. The repair then involved the machining out of the old carbon fibre insert, fitting a new insert made up of a carbon fibre ribbon/epoxy composite and finishing the area where the insert had been fitted to restore its original appearance.
The first picture shows the tenon area before the repair
(keywork removed). Some of the original 'carbon fibre band' has been removed to
see whether or not there was any carbon fibre in it but the crack can be seen
running left to right towards the tone hole.
The second picture shows the same end after the old insert has been machined out.
The third picture shows the same end after the crack has been sealed and the new carbon fibre/epoxy composite band has been fitted and finished to blend in with the natural wood finish on the rest of the bottom joint
Badly damaged knuckles and mouthpipe etc on Besson Sovereign Euphonium.........
Just simple before and after pictures which say it all - I should add the picture with the badly dented valve knuckles etc is the 'before picture' and the dent free one is the 'after picture' and these really are of the same euphonium with the same valve cluster!
Not exactly a repair...........
but my grandaughter Ffion , just happened to be visiting the same time as a new Monnig bass flute was in for a checkover and I could not resist the photo opportunity. It was a few years ago so she is a lot taller now and has front teeth again, but the flute is the same size!
They don't engrave saxophones like this any more.........
This was a Martin Handcraft alto that came in for some pad work. It was a gold plated model which probably explains why the engraving had survived so well as there had been no need to polish it and relacquer etc which would have destroyed the sharpness of the engraving. I have seen some fabulous engraving on Conn altos (including the 'wood lodge scene') and on some British made presentation cornets but the quality of this engraving surpassed anything seen so far especially as it included this wonderful portrait of another lady. Look at the hair. Must have been a Martin 'Ladyface'!
