|
| |
- Yamaha tuba and euphonium valve guides - The
teflon valve guides of old have been superceded by new teflon valve guides
with steel inserts. Ideally, you could just pop a new one in and it will
work perfectly. However, most of the time we are finding that the valve
guide must be filed down slightly before it works perfectly. Take it off
the valve to do the filing, and use a very fine file.
- Yamaha YTR 2335 trumpets - the tuning slide
crooks are hydroformed, meaning that they are expanded into a mold using
hydraulics. This creates a seamless, one-piece slide. The slide
ferrules are just to stop the slide from going in too far, and are press-fit
during the hydroforming process. Take care when a slide gets stuck in
the trumpet! If you bend it, you may as well just replace it. The
retail cost is somewhere under $40, and the cost to repair it or
modify it to pull it without damage is usually higher than the cost of a new
slide.
- Bach trumpets - In 2003 and 2004 we have
found new Bach trumpets in several models to have metal shavings still in
the instruments when delivered. Why is this? There could be
several reasons, but we believe that it has to do with relatively new
methods of instrument cleaning prior to shipment (implemented for
environmental reasons). This should NOT affect the instrument IF you take
care to inspect it as soon as possible and clean out any foreign material.
A simple bath with liquid dish soap and water, followed by rinsing with
water and THOROUGH drying before lubrication and re-assembly can take care
of this situation. Not sure you want to do this??? Take it back to the
dealer or to your nearest NAPBIRT repair
technician. They can take care of this with minimal fuss. Be
sure to alert your dealer to the situation no matter how you decide to
handle it.
- Low cost, foreign-made instruments - This
can be a real problem: You bought an inexpensive instrument, maybe
even at a big box store, and now it's not working. Can you get
service? Not from the big box store, and probably not from your local
repair shop. BUT MAYBE YOU CAN GET SERVICE. Check your warranty.
Some of these lines DO carry warranties, and DO have local service
affiliates. At Brass Arts Unlimited we do not fix these instruments.
In our opinion, if you get one year or two years of service out of it,
you've gotten all you can expect. If you get more, then fantastic!
But, these instruments are not meant for long service lives. Parts may
not be available on some models. Weigh the pros and the cons, but our
opinion is that if it's beyond the warranty period, you should consider
upgrading to a better made instrument.
- Armstrong sax guard screws - A recent
request for an Armstrong sax guard screw turned into a hunt for the right
part. They are no longer available! So, we took an old sax of
ours and pilfered the guard screws as repair parts. We have a small
stock of these unique screws available.
- Conn horns with "crackle lacquer" - We seen
several Conn horns, mostly Conn 8D's, with crackly-looking lacquer.
The lacquer is not durable, and can easily come off in the ultrasonic
cleaner. It's usually most readily visible on the mouthpipe right
about where it bends. If your horn is like this and it's still
warranted then take it back.
- Conn horns without registration marks on the valve
bearing plates - We thought we'd seen the end of these horns back in
1999, but there are some current vintage horns with this problem. If
your horn has no registration marks under the valve caps, then take your
horn back to where you bought it
|
