The Shop

The Shop
My name is Jake Rendell. This blog is a description of the various skills and information that I have learned and will learn while studying at Minnesota State Southeast Technical, in the Band Instrument Repair Program. Before coming to study in the BIR Program, I graduated cum laude from Laurentian University with a B.A. Music - Vocal in 2010, and First Class Standing with a B.Ed. I/S Music from Lakehead University in 2011. This final certification from MSC-ST will finish in May of 2012. I will try to update this blog on a weekly basis.

Week 24 - February 21st - 24th

This week has been all about working trombones. Next week is the last week of brass lab, and there is still so much left to do. On top daily lectures, I must finish one trombone, and would like to finish the cornet and my antique restoration. Wish me luck.

Looking at the old Hawkes and Son trombone, I've given it a chem flush and began polishing it. There is quite a bit of plating missing from the horn, and there are 100 years worth of dents in it, but it's not too bad. I removed the bell from the assembly and began taking out dents.


Looking at the main tuning slide assembly, there were quite a few dents under the decorative rib. I removed the rib and the slide tubes and began restoring it's shape. I did as much dent work as I thought would be worth it and re-soldered the rib. It isn't perfect, but it looks a lot better than it did.

 

The lower outer hand slide has a pretty nasty gash in it. I am trying to keep as much of this horn original as possible, but in doing so I know it will never return to optimal playing condition. I've come to realize that rather than restore and sell this horn, I would like to keep it as a wall-hanger. So to repair the hole in the slide tube, I cut a section of brass tubing to fit around the outer and wired it on. Next week, I will solder it together and try to get the slide in working order.


Turning our attention to the project trombone, There were a few slide issues that had to be resolved. I swabbed out the outer tubes again and aligned the tubes. Using a sized mandrel, a nosepicker, and a variety of hammers, I removed many of the dents in the outer tubes. The slide isn't perfect yet, but it has come a long way.







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